Products « Ukeeku – A place to reflect on ukuleles

Summer NAMM 2010

June 22, 2010 at 2:49 am | Posted in Eleuke, Events, Papas Boxes, Products, Shows | 5 Comments
Tags: uke, ukulele, posts, cigar box, cigar, laser, Eleuke, BugsGear, Solid, Chris Martin, Kala

I love tradeshows. I like meeting new people and seeing new stuff. I have been to a few technology shows since by day I do computer stuff and am also a computer nerd along with a ukulele nut. Both actually come in handy from time to time.

The atmosphere at NAMM is over whelming in so many ways. You want to look at everything and the noise from all the instruments is deafening at times. It made it real hard to hear the instruments or to take any kind of video that you could hear anything on. The summer NAMM is pretty much just one giant room, not like winter, so I am told, were it is several floors and there is an acoustic floor. I really hope I can make it to that one.

Audra From Mimsukes.com with here Ohana sopranino

While at NAMM I talked with a ton of people and vendors about everything about ukuleles, straps, and home recording. I have about 30 different business cards from the vendors alone and I also made a couple connections with people that sell them like Audra from Mim’s Ukes. She Has a Hawaiian shaved ice store and she also sells ukuleles there (and online) in Charlotte North Carolina. Also in the post before this I have a pic of Chris Martin of martin guitars holding 2 of his ukes.

Funny story about Meeting Chris Martin, I actually almost knocked him over coming out of the Martin booth, so I stopped and asked if I could take his picture and he said sure. The funny part was that I texted 2 of my friends that were with me that I had just met Chris Martin. They thought I met the Chris Martin from Coldplay. It was not until I showed them the picture that they realized who I actually met. and for the record I would rather meet the Chris Martin that I met. Very cool and nice enough to talk with me for 5 minutes

Cool stuff that I saw:

Bamboo Pauleles

Bamboo ukes from Kiwaya called Pauleles. Played nicely and I am hoping that I will have a chance to review one along with their Kiwaya KS-1. I don’t have a picture since it was not at NAMM, but Cordoba is also coming out with a bamboo uke very soon.

Banjo ukuleles from Morgan Monroe, and they are under $300 street price!!! That to me seems like one of the holy grails right now. They are loud and really well built. I am hoping that sometime in November, when they catch up with orders, to get one in my hands to review and show people.

Morgan Monroe Banjo Ukulele

: Morgan Monroe Resonator Banjo Ukulele

Mahalo Camp Ukulele

So, I was at the Saga Music booth looking at the Mahalos and I see what I know to be a camp ukulele, but I look at it and it says banjo ukulele. I scratched my head and laughed a little. An owner of a music shop wanted to know what I was laughing at. She thought I was being condescending about the products on the wall. Yes they are on the lower end, but they are still ok. I said to her “that is not a banjo ukulele” She asked then what is it because she has one in her store an no one will buy it. I told her that it is a camp ukulele, I have seen several of them and it is called that. She rushed over and grabbed the sales guy and told him “you need to talk to this young man, he knows his stuff!!” I proceed to tell him what it is and he pulls out a pen and changes the name of it on the little tag hanging with it and tells the marketing guy to also change the name in the catalog. It was a good feeling to have someone change something because you recommend it. Excuse me as I go deflate my huge head.

Maholo Wall

Felix Bass

One of the interesting ukuleles I saw were the Oriolo ukes. The Oriolo family owns Felix the cat and the brothers decided to start a guitar company. They look fun. I like the way they did the base with Felix’s head, his nose is a knob of some sort.

Grapic on a Orio Guitar

Felix Ukulele

Riptide Golf Ukulele

On the topic of interesting design, Boulder Creek Guitars had a booth showing off their guitars and ukuleles. They are the ones with the off-set front sound hole and one on the side. They have the regular laminate mahogany and a line of solid wood ukes, but they are also coming out with a couple with a printed top. The designs are fun. One with a wave and the other with a golf theme.

Riptide Wave Ukulele

For completely crazy design I would give that to Eleuke. A “tie dye” electric. I like the idea, I am not in love with the colors they used.

Eleuke Tie Dye

Kala Pocket Uke

We cannot leave Kala out. They had all of their well known products like the U-bass, and that is all the guitar and bass people talked about, and the travel ukuleles. They had 2 things that I really thought were cooler than everything else. The pocket uke and the new 10 watt “Round about” amps.

Kala Round About Amps

The last new thing that I will talk about is from Papas Boxes. I did not even know they were going to be there. I just ran into their booth. They now make whole ukuleles and they are beautiful. They use lasers to etch the boxes and cut the holes. It was fun to go to a booth where the owner is really happy to meet you. I think they will be very successful with their new instruments along with the kits.

Papa's Boxes

A couple I lusted after:

A Collings

I can dream can’t I? I had to stop by the Collings booth. I played the one pictured and it is like butter. I also played a Santa Cruz, and a few of the high end Big Island Ukuleles ( I was able to take their least expensive home for a review, a SP-KRGT, so watch the site for the review). Also while I was at the Kiwya booth Augutino LoPrinzi ukuleles was also in the same booth. Very very nice ukuleles. the one pictured was really neat with the 2 shoulder holes, very loud. If I say loud I mean it, it was loud in the convention center.

LoPrinzi Ukulele

The other side:

Crappyleles

Ukuleles are popular. They are blowing up. I heard from several companies that their ukuleles sales are 75% of their sales in the last few months, so with that people want to jump into it also. I saw several like the ones below that are toys and not real instruments by any means. that makes me mad. Just don’t make them or carry them if they are such junk.

Not sure how I feel about ukulele lamps. I want one, don’t get me wrong, I just feel bad for the little guy.

Uke Lamps

I need to thank all the vendors that I talked to, I am a total spaz at times and I was also sweating like crazy, so embarrassing. Also my two friends, Paul and Marc, for hanging with me and not beating me while trying to leave and I get lost at another booth that caught my eye, and spreading the word about Ukeeku to everyone you saw.

I really want to go to winter NAMM in Anaheim CA, time will tell.

WINNER of the Eleuke

May 6, 2010 at 1:51 am | Posted in Eleuke, General, Giveaway, Products | 5 Comments
Tags: uke, ukulele, posts, fest, festival, Eleuke, Electric, Giveaway

Meet David from Rochester, MN. He is the winner of the Eleuke!

David rocking out with his spiffy hat and shirt

I must thank all 354 of you that entered, many people commented many times, and that was the real point of this. I really wanted to just get people to my site and get people involved in spreading the ukulele love. I will have more in the future.

I will be at the Ukulele World Congress and Milwaukee Uke fest (and Windy City if it happens) this summer giving others away. Also I will have some on the site.

OH, and if you are ever in need of a pick-me-up, hold a contest to give away a ukulele. People are extra nice and say some of the craziest stuff! Way better than Prozac.

So..You Got a New Ukulele!

April 28, 2010 at 4:27 pm | Posted in General, Products | 3 Comments
Tags: uke, ukulele, posts, learning, Care, Cleaning, Humidity, Humidifier

Here is a video that I had to make for a class. I liked it so much that I figured I would share it with all of my uke family.
Dont worry, I dont plan on making videos like this. Expect this to be an article someday.

Links Referenced

Pre-strumming Link - A forum post on the idea

Humidifier – The one I like to keep in my cases

Restringing video – From UkuleleUnderground

Ukestar Ukulele Strap Review

March 11, 2010 at 5:13 am | Posted in Products, Reviews | 8 Comments
Tags: Full review, home made, posts, review, Strap, uke, Ukestrar, ukulele

I have to start this by apologizing to Hannah, the really awesome strap crafter (Says it on her business card) from Ukestar Straps. Hannah was kind enough to send me one of her handmade ukulele strap back in January. No excuses, time got away from me. So on with the show!!

Most guitar players have a strap for their guitar, especially electric guitar players. Guitars are big and most people can’t hold a guitar while standing and play it (Unless you are my friend Paul, he is weird). Ukuleles are small; you can wedge it between your belly and your arm and still play it just fine, right?

The answer is yes and no. On one hand you can simply hold it with your arm and gut. It is light and that is what a lot of people do, perfectly fine, but………..You knew there had to be a but. When you wedge the uke you are creating some problems:

You are not letting the instrument completely vibrate, letting the full sound come out.
You put a nice line in your arm from holding it too long.
After a while a buildup of sweat and “stuff” will start to show where you hold it with your arm and can cause permanent discoloration.
Your strumming hand is limited to what it can do since it is locked into position of the arm holding the uke.

Me Holding my Jenny Using the Ukestar Strap

To resolve these “problems” people will buy a strap for their uke. As I mentioned before in a earlier post there are several straps. The one from Ukestar Straps is a handmade classical guitar strap style but made for ukuleles, meaning that it holds the instrument by the sound hole, but Ukestar Straps are way better than your mass produced ukulele straps from Levy.

It is handmade in America with love ( I could stop here)
Many different fabrics to choose from (NOTE: She has 5 up presently, but there is a spot that you can custom order size and fabric LINK)
There are 3 sizes. Absolutely genius mainly because I see so many different sized people playing ukulele. As a 6″ 1′ man with a slight gut I got a medium, IZ would have benefitted from a large, where Jake could probably use a small.
Unlike the levy strap that has a hard plastic clip, these have an amazing clothe covered hook to protect your beloved ukulele.
For $20 you cannot beat it. A factory made one from Levy is $15. For a whole $5 more you have a product that is so much better in so many ways.

Clothe Wrapped Hook

All I can say is that my strap changed my playing. I love it, I love it , I love it. The real beauty of it for me is the fact that I don’t have to take it off to change ukes. Just unhook and hook another one on.

The Star Button on all Straps

Buy one today, Hell buy two (one for you and one for a friend)

A few fun things to know about Hannah. Besides being a strap crafter she is in a band called the Ukettes and is a graphic designer (Which explains the really professional tags and other printed materials that come with the strap)

Lil’ Rev Drop Baby Drop CD

February 2, 2010 at 3:52 am | Posted in General, Products, Reviews | 1 Comment
Tags: CD, jamming, learning, review, uke, ukulele

Funny story; I went to the 1st Annual Milwaukee Ukulele Festival last September and as most know that is where Rev lives. Lil Rev and the awesome Milwaukee Ukulele Club put together an amazing festival. I met so many people and reconnected with a million more. I actually sat and talked with most of the artists that performed. While I was there I was handing out these little promo things with my site on it (Gotta plug the site when you can) But before I would even think about handing them out I had to make sure that Rev said it was OK. So I corner him, he was running like a mad man, and asked him about the swag I wanted to give out. Luckily he thought it was great and I was on my way. A few hours later Lil rev finds me and hands me his new CD and asks me to review it. Now why did it take me so long to review it?

I lost it, thought it was in the trunk of my car. Looked everywhere and I thought that maybe the car ate it and it was getting dark. Life happened and I totally forgot about it until I was looking for a one of my electric tuners and I ran across the CD, never found the tuner. And the long of it is what brings me here.

The Review

Drop Baby Drop By Lil' Rev

Click Here to listen to samples on Amazon

The best way to describe the album is written on the back:

“Drop Baby Drop is an enchanting collection of rare blues, rooted originals, novelty, old time country, and rusty old tin-pan alley classics performed on concert, tenor, baritone, banjo, and resonator ukuleles by award-winning Uke master Lil Rev”

It is true that it has all that, but to me this album is a must if you play ukulele. I play more recent songs from the Beatles and maybe throw in a little AC/DC, but I also find myself playing a lot of the songs like the ones on this CD. This CD is a great collection of songs to really learn from. I can’t read music to save my soul so I listen to others play and use it to get the melody, rhythm, and lyrics for when I try to play the songs.

In the course of listening to the CD at least 100 times, since I found it again, I have found a few things that I would improve on. The recording quality is lacking a little, you can tell that it was recorded in a home studio. It might have been intentional to make the vocals and some of the instruments seem like they are far from the microphone or made to sound old. I think it might of needed some more mixing to balance vocals and instruments. The other issue is use of echo on almost every vocal makes it seem faked big room. Just record in a bathroom and it will come across more natural. Please don’t get me wrong these are things to be expected from an independant CD.

All in all this is a must have for any ukulele lover. Each song leads right to the next. I never find myself skipping to other songs in the album. I just put it in, crank it up, and sing a long. Also if you ever have seen Lil’ Rev play live this will bring back all those memories.

Go Buy it NOW!!!1

Amazon MP3 $8.99

Amazon CD $18.99

Elderly CD $14.95

Papas Boxes Concert Build: The Box

December 22, 2009 at 2:22 am | Posted in Brands, General, Papas Boxes, Products | Leave a Comment
Tags: cigar, cigar box, DIY, home made, learning, posts, uke, ukulele

Current Dry Fit

Being that the cigar box is the main part of a cigar box ukulele I felt I had to make it really interesting and fun. Since I used a box that never held a cigar in its life I also had to make it look like a cigar box, but how to do that is a challenge. On the other hand since it was not a real cigar box it gave me a great opportunity to do whatever I wanted, so I did!

The first thing I did was separate the top from the bottom by removing the hinges, they would not let the box close and I knew I would be gluing it shut anyways.

AnaRosa Guitars logo on the Top of the box

Since all cigar boxes have a logo or brand on the top of the lid I had to find something that would do the same thing. I toyed with a play on Ukeeku, or my last name, and then I remembered that I have the perfect logo, a small guitar import company that my friend started called AnaRosa Guitars. It is really nice, and I have used the logo for a few other ukes that I customized. Now how do I get the logo on the ukulele? I could have painted it on, bought some transfer paper that I printed it on, but in the end I laser etched it on, essentially burned it on. The really awesome people who work in the signs and promo area at the school I work at agreed to burn the logo on the back and whatever other design I had for the front.

Laser engraving the top design, on its first pass

Basically it is a laser engraver that can etch metal, wood, stone, just about anything. The one issue was that it was not powerful enough to cut through, no big deal. So I gave them the .eps file of the logo on the back and the design for the front. It took 3 passes to really carve the designs into the box. This type laser is found in most awards and trophy places. It is how they engrave the plaques and stuff. I have found that they will like you better if you give them the design in a vector format like an .EPS or illustrator file. That way they have to do a lot less work to prep your design to be burned on to the wood.

UKEEKU.COM pattern in the tiki

The top is a tiki, obviously, but I used UKEEKU.COM as the texture in the tiki to give it some interest and to promote my blog (Sorry, had to get my site on there somewhere). I had the line for the mouth cut in by the laser but I had to go back in and cut it out with a little coping saw (not fun). I refined the sound hole with some rasps. One note of issues that I had at this point: Since the box is plywood it kind of splintered inside around the mouth. Not a huge deal.

T block before it was glued in

Now for Bracing. The last time I made one of these I was confused by this step. This time I read the directions several times and I referenced this book: Ukulele Design and Construction by Henry Wickman. Since the top was thick I figured that I would need less bracing to keep it flat, hence the single brace near the sound hole. Where I messed up my last build was with the T block that you use for the side the neck will attach to the box. On my first cigar box uke I glued the top of the T to the top of the box. When really what that is for is to be a brace for the side of the box so it has more structure for when you attach the neck.

Close up of the brace glued to the top

As you can see I modified the bracing by cutting some wood off and making it more like regular bracing you would see in a professionally made instrument. I even rounded off all the corners that were not going to be glued down. I then glued the end blocks in and the bracing in the middle. As you can see I used 2 basic clips with a small piece of wood on the outside part of the box so I did not dent it. The bracing in the middle I just held in place with my hand for an hour. (I don’t have a clamp that would work that did not tip it on its side)

Lable on the inside.

: Top with clamps holding the end blocks in place

GRRRRR. Pickup plug damage

The last thing I did, before gluing the box shut, was to install the pickup, should have been easy. I figured out where to put it, marked the hole, and then drilled what I thought would be the right size hole, I was really wrong. The hole was way too small and I do not have a bit big enough to make the hole any bigger. So I fudged it a little, but that only lead me to realize that the pickup plug is too shallow to make it all the way through the side wall. At this point I was pissed because I accidentally chipped the wood on the outside when I drilled the hole. I ended up carving out the hole on the inside to a depth that I could secure the end (See picture to see the damage).

Pickup glued and taped down

I then glued down the pickup and taped down the wire, so it wouldn’t buzz, with Gorilla tape.

After everything was burned, the sound hole cut, supports in place, pickup installed, and box glued shut I started to sand. One of the things that I look for in a nice instrument is how it was finished. I am not just talking about the lacquer, but if the person making it thought about comfort. Since you hold most ukuleles up by wedging it between your body and arm, the edges need to be rounded. In general I like no hard edges at all. I rounded every corner on the box with some rough 80 grit sandpaper (DO NOT SAND THE TOP OR BOTTOM, YOU COULD SAND OFF THE DESIGN). I then moved to a 400 Grit to sand the rest of the box and the edges I sanded down. The box was pretty smooth when I bought it so not much sanding was needed.

Box in bondage

This is already long enough. Thank you for sticking with me this far, I am currently working on a tung oil finish for the neck and box. That is where I will start in the next post when I am assembling the thing.

Papas Boxes Concert Build

December 4, 2009 at 7:16 pm | Posted in Brands, Papas Boxes, Products, Reviews | 2 Comments
Tags: cheap, cigar, cigar box, DIY, home made, learning, posts, tuners, tuning pegs, uke, ukulele

New Kit from Papas Boxes

A month or so ago the kind folks at Papas Boxes sent me an e-mail saying that they were back to taking orders again. On a whim I e-mailed them and told them about my blog and they responded really quickly and asked what size, I went with concert. Not very many people have seen the soprano cigar box ukulele that I made 2 years ago, but I found the kit on EBay and it was basically a fret board, rough neck, floating bridge, and zither pins for tuning, Very basic and well-made kit. It played ok and the tuning was a little hard to do, so I bought the tuner kit and also replaced the bridge that came with it with a Grover 4 string banjo bridge. Now it plays really well and is a ton of fun. That is one of the best things about the kit. You can either put it together and play, or keep changing it and adjusting it until it is what you want.

Neck

I do not have the tools to make a full ukulele at my house which is why I bought the first kit. The new kit I received from Papas Boxes is a major upgrade from the first one that I made. The fret board has really nice light wood inlays and it is already glued to the neck. Another big thing that they did that I like with the neck is the little head piece. If you use a clip tuner this makes it possible to clip it to the head and not on the floating bridge. The L bracket is still there but recessed along with the floating bridge. I did not go with the zither pins for tuners on this kit and got the tuners and they also included the pickup (I think they make the pickups, looks kind of steam punk inspired). They also sent a cigar box but I really wanted to find something that was all wood and did not sound so dead. I ended up finding out that almost no one makes nice sounding cigar boxes big enough to make a concert sized ukulele, so I ended up buying a plain box at a craft store. Trust me the box will not look plain Jane when I am done with it!

Bridge, L Bracket, and Drill bit

The great thing about the kits that I have received from them is that they come with everything except the drill, screw drivers, and saw. The drill bits, templates, and many other little doo-dads are included so you can make the best instrument you can. How far you take the build is up to you.

The build will be several posts in the next few weeks, hopefully done by Christmas, and will begin with prepping the body (cigar box) then putting it together, and ending it with tweaking it. My end goal will be a full review and then next summer giving it away at a ukulele festival.

Stay tuned.

Other Pics.

Dry Fit of Bridge and Neck

Pickup and Another Drill Bit

****UPDATES****
The building of the box is posted!! Click HERE

The Post on final assembly and a video is posted! Click HERE

Oscar Schmidt OU-2 Deal $49.99 Shipped

November 6, 2009 at 1:57 pm | Posted in Oscar Schmidt, Products | Leave a Comment
Tags: uke, ukulele, posts, Oscar Schmidt, cheap, sale, OU-2

Oscar Schmidt OU-2 Deal at JR.com

Oscar Schmidt OU-2 So….I got an e-mail from JR.com about black Friday deals. I guess they are doing “deals” on every Friday of November. Well today they happen to have a ukulele. This is a place where I buy a lot of my electronics, but hey its a pretty good price. $49.99 Shipped

NOTE: This is one of my first ukuleles, I love it. They did have some issues back in the day with quality, but they have been resolved. Go to my other post on Oscar Schmidt to read more about it.

DEAL LASTS UNTIL SUNDAY AT MIDNIGHT SO HURRY!!!!

Ukulele Straps

July 9, 2009 at 9:04 pm | Posted in Products | 3 Comments

How do you strap your instrument on? Do you have leather straps? Nylon? Pink fur? Or do you prefer to use no additional support for your instrument?

Now get your mind out of the gutter! I am talking about your ukulele. My friend Ben e-mailed me not to long ago and said that I should talk about the strap that he uses for some of his ukes. In a nutshell he stated that he wished that someone would have shown him one a long time ago, he really loves his.

Will.I.Am holding a uke

Traditionally people just hold their ukulele up against their body with the forearm holding the body and the other hand on the neck. But there are other options that work and yes it is a very light instrument and all but sometimes you have to take both hands off you instrument.

Another option is to install strap buttons and use a strap. Personally I am always scared to drill a hole in my uke for fear of cracking it.

Leather Strap from Bushman

: Strap Buttons from Bushman

: Strap from Etsy $20

The strap that my friend found is a classical guitar style strap. If you have not seen one, they are very handy because you do not need to make any modifications to your ukulele to use it. It just hooks into the sound hole and goes behind to hold it up. With this kind of strap you still have to hold on to the uke, but the weight is on your neck and you do not need to support it with your forearm to hold it up. REMEMBER ; You can not take both hands off with this kind of strap! It may fall. I just did not want someone to e-mail me with some story of how they used one of these and their ukulele is now broken.

I am going to order one of the Etsy ones soon, they look nice, and there are many options of color and the hook is covered, unlike the hard plastic hook on the Levy.

Please comment with your thoughts and experiences.

You can find these straps on most sites that sell instruments. They are under classical guitar straps, I just think the ones on Etsy are much cooler

Places to buy:

Guitarcenter.com (Levy classical guitar strap) $15

Etsy (the one in the picture above) $20