Any ukulele players here?

[Song]

Originally Posted by Hurricane Ramon

Except for the nylon , all the others were gifts from my late wife to me .

They are each really fine playing and sounding instruments . I can't help but think of her with them around , she loved to hear them when I'd practice and or serenade her .

EZ :

Your instruments are very special. You should always keep these gifts to honor her...

[Song]

Originally Posted by Ryler

I clicked on your guitalele link and the song you did was just beautiful.
My husband wants to try a guitalele. He's the uke player in the house. Maybe I'll show him your vid for inspiration.

Well thank you very much for saying so!
Here is another vid of the same type of guilele I own played by Sungha: https://youtu.be/fyiSEtn2jdE

There are now many choices in these mini guitars.
Cordoba Mini, Yamaha guitalele, etc...

[Mooh]

Played uke on and off, mostly off, for years. Several years ago I started getting demands for ukulele lessons so I got serious about, and now I have half a dozen uke students and a few others who alternate it with other instruments. I haven't invested in anything expensive yet as I find the Kala ukes to be more than sufficient for my needs.

Two tenors, one all solid acacia tuned to high G, the other a laminate ebony tuned to low G, are my chief ones, but I have a resonator tenor, a koa soprano (sounds sweet but too small), an all solid acacia baritone, and a Makala plastic uke for the canoe and kayak. The only other brand I have is a Gold Tone concert size banjo-uke.

[Kalani]

Most of my weddings are on the ukulele. But people seem to appreciate the guitar more at my regular gigs.

I mainly play two ukes:
Mele tenor- solid spruce/mahogany- used for amplified gigs; great intonation, sounds weak acoustically but great plugged in; has a Fishman barn door in it

Ko Aloha concert- all solid koa- used for acoustic weddings; this uke sings, very RICH sound; afraid if I put a pick up in it sound will change.

Both strung with the low G. I find it fills in the low end nicely and translates from the guitar easier.

[Tico]

Originally Posted by Hurricane Ramon

Sure is nice when you nail a sweet deal congrats !
EZ :
HR

Thanks, but it can't compare your your highway robbery of that $14 Kamaka!
Do you have any idea what year/decade it was made?

I love treasure hunting in thrift (and low-end antique) stores.
If an item is uber high end they sometimes don't know what they have.
For some reason this one thrift store often has high end European crystal wine glasses for 95 cents that (if new in a store) would sell for way way way over $50.
Everything with a stem is 95 cents, from cheapo Libbey glass to hand blown intricate Lalique crystal with 24 kt gold trim.

Once I saw an old Martin uke with lots of abalone inlay and original hard shell case with a worn leather handle.
IIRC, they wanted around $300.
I should have grabbed it.
I left, did some research, and raced back to buy it.
The lady said it sold less than an hour after they put it in the display case.

$300 was a tiny fraction of it's value.
... the one that got away.
GRRRR.

I did pick up a killer 1977 Guild 12-string for a song at a junk shop that pretended to be an antique store, but that's another thread.

[Hurricane Ramon]

Originally Posted by We Walk in Song

Your instruments are very special. You should always keep these gifts to honor her...

Yep they are permanent , I'll never part with these gifts .

Thanks

EZ :

HR


.

[Hurricane Ramon]

Originally Posted by Tico

Thanks, but it can't compare your your highway robbery of that $14 Kamaka!

Do you have any idea what year/decade it was made?

.

There were no serial #'s when the first one's were first made after
WW2 ended and they re opened .

Their best then as is now were given a gold label as yours has .

The gold label on mine is rather simple but distinct .
The ones first made till the 60's were all the same label but ,
judging from the patina on it , it's definitely one of the earliest
of the ones made .

I'm boning up tonight , on page 50 of the operator's manual
for a T.C.Helicon VocalLive 3X -

I'm using the Kamaka on my first recordings/loops with my other guitars :

[resonator - acoustic steel - nylon , electric - midi ] and harmonicas .

EZ:

HR


.

[devellis]

I have a couple of decent ukes, a concert Kanilea and an 8-string tenor G-String. The 8-string has octave strings on the two lowest courses and the concert has a low G. So both are sort of guitar-like. I have a Flea that I keep in re-entrant tuning.

They're great fun but I find that unless people are singing, I just prefer the guitar. Those two lower strings come in handy for fingerpicking. I did learn a couple of fairly complex fingerpicking tunes on ukulele at one time. I've completely forgotten them by now, I'm afraid.

The biggest benefit to my guitar playing from ukulele was the realization that from a chord position, I could add notes to track a melody. This is really easy on ukulele and I've adapted it to guitar. Although it seems really obvious now, it was a real insight at the time and it's actually one of the more useful guitar skills I've acquired, all thanks to the uke.

Guitar insights aside, ukuleles are wonderful instruments in their own right. You can learn a simple accompaniment in less than an hour as a complete beginner but at the same time, you can spend a lifetime exploring its possibilities. And it's just plain fun to play ukulele. I may need to dig mine out and dust them off.

[Hurricane Ramon]

Originally Posted by Kalani

Most of my weddings are on the ukulele. But people seem to appreciate the guitar more at my regular gigs.

I mainly play two ukes:
Mele tenor- solid spruce/mahogany- used for amplified gigs; great intonation, sounds weak acoustically but great plugged in; has a Fishman barn door in it

Ko Aloha concert- all solid koa- used for acoustic weddings; this uke sings, very RICH sound; afraid if I put a pick up in it sound will change.

Both strung with the low G. I find it fills in the low end nicely and translates from the guitar easier.

Aloha Kalani :

I also like " G " on my ukuele too .

Learning to play wasn't really hard with my knowledge of guitar it was a fast study for me to get rolling on it . It's a trip to play a Bluesy song on it .

My acquisition of my ukulele was a total surprise that I cherish to the max . It's tone is sweet and mellow . It's opened up my playing on my guitar expression too , another huge facet to draw on .

I'm inspired to to want to learn slack key now more than ever . In the 80's I listened to a lot of slack key on the Big Island , mostly on the east side around Puna , Hilo - Honokaa -Kohala , I know some cool Maui guys to play with too .

EZ :

HR

.

[ricfreak]

Lots of uke love here
Been playing since I was 11.

Don't ask me about the Ric style uke. It's a home-mod I did.

[ukejon]

Hey ricfreak....SWEET!!!!!!

[Cross Roads]

Originally Posted by Earl49

I play both about 65/35 in favor of guitar. Guitar is my primary instrument, but I lead a ukulele club that meets four times a month. I don't get out to guitar jams that often any more, but play guitar by myself at home routinely. www.boiseukulelegroup.com

I'll be! I read your post and wondered if there might be a ukulele club in my area. The looked at your link! I live in Caldwell!

[Muddslide]

I am primarily a uke player these days. Almost solely soprano, though one of my three ukes is a concert which I string low G and use for more classical oriented music.

I started on guitar in 1977, picked up bass the following year. Gigging, I tended to play bass, on which I was considered pretty good. I never progressed much beyond average on guitar (electric and acoustic both) but was a good rhythm player.

I've also played some banjo, mandolin, fiddle and tenor guitar.

Around 2000 pain in my hands and wrists got to where I could barely play guitar or bass. My wife (also a musician) suggested uke. I thought she was joking, but I bought one and it was love. For 17 years I've been nearly exclusively a uke player but my wife has a classical guitar and I play it sometimes when my hands don't hurt so bad.

I also just purchased the first steel string acoustic I've owned in years. It is mainly for my wife, but I hope to put a little mileage on it too!

[jricc]

Guitar player here...but, started teaching ukulele in my 3rd grade music class (it's now part of their curriculum) and really love it. I also started teaching a beginner group of adult students at a local music school.
It really is a fun instrument!

[gtomatt]

Another guitar/ukulele player from here in NH. In addition to my acoustic, I have a 1982 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul, Ace Frehley Les Paul, and an SG.

Ukuleles - Late 1960's Kamaka Pineapple soprano (gold label is from the 1960's I think), Kamaka HF-2 concert, and Martin T1K tenor

Matt