Ukulele Hunt » eBay

Lanikai have come up with Tuna Ukes as a way of improving the intonation of ukuleles. They have little slidey-doos on the bridge you can adjust. Take a look at Music Guy Mike showing one off at NAMM. I can see them causing more problems than they solve though.

One of these days I’m going to cave in an spend way too much money on a Martin: Martin 3K, Style 2, Martin Tiple.

Kiwaya are getting in on the slimline travel ukulele trend but it’s clear that the next stage of development is the walking cane ukulele.

Lute style ukulele.

NAMM 2012: Ukulele Window Shopping

Woodshed — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:00:20 +0000

This weekend is NAMM (the orgy of musical instrument makers) and this year the CEO of NAMM is putting his money on ukuleles. Follow the action on Ukeeku including Mahalo’s attempt at making a ukulele worse than the flying V and whatever the hell this is.

The big curiosity on eBay at the moment is this huge collection of ukuleles. Looks like an interesting set of ukes but the $55,000 price tag and the seven-word description are off-putting.

Strange ukulele-ish instrument.

Mya-moe resonator.

Ipana Tooth Paste: protects gums and makes you play the ukulele weirdly close to your face.

Doll outfits are more expensive than all my clothes put together: Barbie’s Ken A Go-Go

Best Things from 2011 to Spend Money On

Woodshed — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:00:30 +0000

I’ve only bought one ukulele this year (my aNueNue harp ukulele) and I haven’t entirely formed my opinion on that yet. But there’s other stuff I’ve bought this year (or wangled for free) that has been well worth the money.

Music

The ukulele albums I’ve listened to most this year are:

Givers – In Light
Leftover Cuties – Places to Go
Emily Scott – i write letters i never send
Tune-Yards – W H O K I L L

But there are plenty more great ukulele songs released this year. I’ve made a Spotify playlist of some of them I could find on there.

And I’ve put together a Spotify playlist of my favourite non-ukulele songs of the year.

Both are a random assortment of tracks that happened to pop into my head. I’m sure I’ve left out plenty of stuff (and quite a few great uke albums aren’t on Spotify).

Books

I am, of course, going to be completely biased and suggest you buy a copy of Ukulele for Dummies.

On less self-interested note, I’d highly recommend Lil’ Rev’s 101 Ukulele Licks for anyone looking to do some ukulele soloing.

My copy of Ralph Shaw’s The Ukulele Entertainer has yet to wing its way across the ocean but – since it’s based on his blog posts – I feel confident that’ll be well worth the money.

On a non-ukulele front, and after some initial skepticism, I took the plunge and bought a Kindle. It’s part of my drive to get rid of as much junk from my life as possible. I’ve tackled the biggest problem (CDs) and books are next on the list (ukuleles are third – don’t know what I’m going to do about that). Best thing about it: you can hook it up to Instapaper and make it a whole lot easier to read long articles on the net.

If you’re worried about me being easily bought (a very fair position to hold) the stuff I got free was: Leftover Cuties, Emily Scott and 101 Ukulele Licks. I would have gladly paid full whack for all of them.

aNueNue Harp Uke: Ukulele Window Shopping

Woodshed — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:00:32 +0000

I’ve got my hands on a new ukulele! It’s an aNueNue harp ukulele. I’m still getting to grips with it but I’ve done a couple of videos with it: Here Comes the Sun and Albatross. I’ll be doing a review of it next year but you can read Tim’s thoughts right now.

Two sweet looking (and very expensive) DeVine ukuleles: DeVine 1 and DeVine 2.

1928 National Style 3 Resonator.

John Wayne lunch-boxalele.

Young man with ukulele.

Ukulele Window Shopping

Woodshed — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:00:17 +0000

After being on the wagon for a while, I’ve given in to UAS this week and got myself a Christmas present. 10 internets to anyone who guess what I’ve bought.

Mr Kazookeylele is selling a genuine Kazookeylele.

aNueNue are continuing with their signature ukes with an electric ukulele styled after, Canadian uke rockers, Lucky Uke.

Six foot five Tangi ukulele.

Two cases of multi-instrument attribution: one described in it’s title as tiple, cuatro, ukulele and mandolin, and on that looks like a hybrid of electric guitar, mandolin and ukulele.

Heindel ‘Black Beauty’ soprano: gorgeous back, not so sure about the front (via Phredd).

Ukulele photo from 1894.

National #001: Ukulele Window Shopping

Woodshed — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:00:34 +0000

National Style 1 ukulele prototype. It’s the first of the new line of National ukes, numbered 001 given to the guy who provided his triolion for examination.

In the war of the guiatar lookalikes I think the cutest are the Tomo Strat and Les Paul. In a similarly guitar-like vein is this electric Tiki Idol (via Phredd).

1930s Maybell.

Manuel Nunes uke from the early 1900s. The ivoroid tuners look strange to me but they’re apparently an original upgrade.

Photos: May Singhi Breen shoots pool, The Wilde Twins

Tangi Violin Uke: Ukulele Window Shopping

Woodshed — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:00:21 +0000

I think Tangi have stopped making their distinctive violin ukuleles and they didn’t make many of them when they did. But you can pick one up here.

Beansprout and Mya-Moe hook up to make a banjo ukulele.

Uker of OZ banjolele.

Lightnin’ Bug resonator.

Felix the Cat ukulele (via Ukulelia).

I feel the need to point out that it wasn’t my idea to include picks in the Ukulele Starter Pack for Dummies. By the way, the book included that is a shortened version of the full Ukulele for Dummies book.