The Whole Ukelele Thing?

[Mandobar]

national makes GREAT ukes......and so does collings.

[Tim2723]

How come nobody's mentioned Gibson?

[JeffD]

Originally Posted by mandozilla

Where do you get 'em & what do they cost? That thing just might, I said might, get me to lay down my old mando:

Whyzit gotta be one thingeranother? Do both. We won't tell on you.

[DryBones]

Originally Posted by mandozilla

Whoa! If that's a uke then I want one. I had no idea there was such a thing as a dobro, I mean, resophonic ukelele. Is that an oldie? Are those steel strings?
Where do you get 'em & what do they cost? That thing just might, I said might, get me to lay down my old mando...awesome piking style too BTW.

I found a place that sells a lefty Republic Reso for $259. I also found a place that sells a lefty cut-away with a pickup for $265. I may need to move a mando and pick one of these things up! Variety is the spice and all that!

[allenhopkins]

Johnson started selling resonator ukuleles, based (loosely) on the old National models, more than five years ago. I think the Republics are basically the same instrument, although they sell a dull-finish "relic" one. Elderly stocks Recording Kings for about $300, which look basically like the same instrument. Some ukulele players who bought the Johnson/Republic instruments replaced their resonator cones with National cones, and reported better sound. National also makes resonator ukes, both wood-bodied and metal-bodied. National's prices start somewhere around $1200. I bought a Johnson chrome-plated resonator ukulele when they were first available, and have found it serviceable enough, especially for a sub-$300 price.

[Rod_Neep]

A full house of Martin ukuleles....

The result of UAS !!

Style 0
Style 1-K (koa) & 1-M (mahogany)
Style 2-K (koa) & Style 2-M (mahogany)



Style 3



Style 5-K



And the rare 5-Daisy



... and that's not including the duplicates, the Concert Uke, Tenor Uke and Baritone Uke.

There must be someting to this "uke thing".

Rod

[mandozilla]

Lordy Rod, you got it bad don'tcha? Looks like one for every day of the week...and then some.

[billkilpatrick]

a baritone uke is the closest i'll ever come to owning a baroque guitar or vihuela but the charango satisfies alll my uke' needs - 5 paired strings, no less, with an octave course in the middle - similar tuning to the mandolino lomardo - grandaddy of the modern mandolin:

(you tube link didn't work ... must check the "how to section"

here's the more conventional link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiMjcvJCuEk

[billkilpatrick]

try another one:

rats ... i clicked the "youtube" button and pasted-in the address but no dice ...

here's the address:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IexoUV3xfq0

[billkilpatrick]

this is fun ...

hopefully, here's the embedded video:

[billkilpatrick]

yayyy! - when all else fails, follow instructions - here's the first:

[Dave Greenspoon]

Here's another Jake video link that might help explain why more folks are starting to get their uke on...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6KfHEYksPw

The vid is a little choppy, especially at first, but turn up the volume, and definately check out the joy on Jake's face when he plays. It's The Live Oak (CA) Music Festival


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ed0IgD7Sg

Same tune done at The Knitting Factory in NYC

[Dave Greenspoon]

And just for grins, here's a Cafe redux of John Paul Jones and Paul Gilbert on the same tune....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLU08nOtUkc

[freshthreat]

Earrings of course!! He was glad they weren't baritone's.

[mandozilla]

Here's another Jake video link that might help explain why more folks are starting to get their uke on...

Maybe the Uke is like a 'gateway instrument' that will lead folks to the mandolin.

[billkilpatrick]

Originally Posted by mandozilla

Maybe the Uke is like a 'gateway instrument' that will lead folks to the mandolin.

you know, in my case, that's absolutely right. tuning in 4ths has - more or less - the same finger patterns. spanning 50 years or so, it was: ukulele, guitar, oud, charango ... but once i returned to the wonderful world of "small is beautiful," mandolin became the obvious next step.

oyez' - bill

[Barbara Shultz]

I have to say I enjoyed each and every one of the videos so far... such a wide range of music styles....

I just love music!

Barb

[Martin Jonas]

Originally Posted by Rob Brown

I'm thinking about getting an Uke for my 6 year old g daughter. She has a guitar but seems to be overwhelmed with it. She is six years old and very much into music. This may be a good start for her. The Uke I'm looking at has a beginners CD and the shop has another two disc set for beginners in the 5-10 age range.
Any thought on the idea?

As it happens, I've just ordered a uke for my daughter as her third birthday present in two weeks. She loves music and keeps grabbing picks and trying to strum my Mid-Mo while I play it. I've ordered the brand new Aquila nylgut string set for mandolin tuning to go with it, so basically this will be a nylgut-strung 4-string mandolin, not a uke. Also, the one I ordered is a Makala pineapple uke. It was really quite cheap and it won't matter too much if my daughter breaks it, and the Makalas get pretty good write-ups on the uke boards for tone and intonation. However, possibly more importantly, for a toddler used to seeing a Mid-Mo, there is no question that this one looks like a proper mandolin just like Daddy's! I mean, it's basically a pancake uke, isn't it? As I see it, it's essentially the same concept as the old 4-string Kid-Mo model, except at a tenth of the price and with more child-friendly nylon strings.

I don't have the uke yet, so I can't say whether it really will work out as I imagine it. Should be ok, though: I already have a Risa Mandostick, so I'm comfortable with the concept of uke-to-mando restringing. The tension is so much less than a steel-strung mando that even soft toddler fingers should be fine.

Incidentally, the Aquila string set for mando tuning is a bit difficult to find, but Aquila sell them directly through their web site, mail order from Italy. Postage to the UK at least is more than reasonable, so this may be something to try if you want to explore uke/mando crossovers.

Martin

[mcH]

A ukulele is a great "first" string instrument. It's what I started on, long before I took up violin and mandolin and guitar. As a kid, I loved my cheap little Harmony uke. It went with me on vacations in the car [great time filler, and I'm sure it drove everyone else crazy.] But those two finger chords were so easy to learn! I still have one. When I had tendonitis in my wrist, it was one of the few things I could still play with a wrist brace on.

I say three cheers for the ukulele!

[Timbofood]

Rod, it looks like you may indeed have a "little flea" infestation thing happening around your place! Nice collection, and they don't bite!

[JEStanek]

For some more Uke in a folk context, there is Ruth Ungar Merenda of Mike and Ruthie who plays a wide variety of ukes, including a National Resonator model. She plays fiddle pretty well as her dad, Jay Ungar wrote that "Civil War" Tune* you can't often escape at jams. The play it nice.


Jamie

*Ashokan Farewell

[JMUSIC]

Then there is http://www.folkuke.com/ Willie Nelson's and Arlo Guthrie's daughters. Kinda different but cool. John

[neal]

Originally Posted by Tim2723

How come nobody's mentioned Gibson?

Gibson ukes are my favorite, and since you ask, that avatar of mine is me and my beautiful Gibson Uke-3, I just received another Gibson uke a few weeks ago, a style 2 with a 17 fret neck, and a teens Gibson A mandolin as well. Gibson is the bomb, Rod likes the Martins, and for good reason, I like the Gibsons. I'd love to play a Collings, but they really should make a soprano.

BTW, I have a National concert mahogany uke, with a tonecone pickup I'm thinking of selling, it's on one of my youtubes, "Everything's Perfect", if anyone's interested, haven't really decided yet, but I"ll put it in the NEW classifieds, and not eBay first.