Compass Rose 12-Fret Tenor Ukulele

A Howe Orme-inspired ukulele built by Rick Turner Guitars in Santa Cruz, California.

October 22, 2025

Rick Turner (1943–2022) was a brilliant luthier. Made famous by his Model 1 electric guitar played by Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham, Rick was also known for his Renaissance line of acoustic-electric guitars and basses, for being a cofounder of Alembic, and for building and modifying instruments for the Grateful Dead. To read more about his significant legacy, read our tribute to Rick. Fortunately, Rick Turner Guitars lives on, with several of his former employees building his designs in the same Santa Cruz, California, shop that he founded in the late 1990s. While Rick Turner Guitars had an emphasis on electric and acoustic-electric instruments and pickups (Rick co-founded both Highlander and D-TAR), there were many acoustic-instrument side projects, including prolific runs of ukuleles. The current iteration of Rick Turner Guitars is continuing this tradition, and I recently had a chance to demo a new Compass Rose 12-Fret Tenor ukulele. In addition to the brand-new uke, I take a look at Rick’s personal all-koa ukulele in this video, thanks to Rick’s son Ethan Turner

The original Compass Rose ukulele design was a collaboration between Rick and former business partner Barry Pearlman. Inspired by Rick’s affinity for vintage Howe-Orme instruments, the ukes feature a floating fingerboard extension and a body shape based on a Howe-Orme mandolin from Rick’s collection. Current Compass Rose ukes are available in a wide variety of wood choices and trim levels, and our demo instrument is on the fancier side. It has spectacular flamed maple for its back and sides, which are matched with a gorgeous Engelmann spruce top. The uke has eye-catching Paua-shell purfling, tortoise-style celluloid binding, and the distinctive “Compass” motive for the rosette, with a matching “north” symbol extending the concept to the peghead. The peghead itself features the unique pointed shape found on most Turner instruments, and it is outfitted with a set of planetary-gear Gotoh tuning machines. The fit and finish and overall craftsmanship is superb.

Rick’s personal ukulele, which he played in the Santa Cruz-area band Uke Ellington, features a similar design as the new Compass Rose, but is built with stunning figured koa.

Playing a ukulele should put a smile on your face, and picking on the Compass Rose certainly had that effect on me. With a powerful, well-defined tonal character, it feels and sounds a bit like a miniature classical guitar, and I immediately gravitated toward playing fingerstyle chord-melody on it. It was also a lot of fun for more typical ukulele strumming, where chords rang out clearly with plenty of volume.

It’s wonderful to see the Rick Turner Guitars team continuing to build instruments in the spirit of the company’s late founder. Anyone looking for a special high-end tenor ukulele would do well to get their hands on a Compass Rose.

Compass Rose 12-Fret Tenor Ukulele Specs