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woland99
Aloha
USA
6 Posts |
 Posted - 04/26/2007 : 09:13:34 AM
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Howdy - I am complete uke beginner but I have been playing guitar
for almost 30 years. I would like to to buy tenor uke - I enjoy the
sound of guitar capo'ed on 5th fret so AECG tuning seems interesting.
Can somebody reccomend some decent intruments brands/vendors?
My budget is in $300-400 range.
I do not know if I want 4, 6 or 8-string intrument - any suggestions
and pointers you might have will be greatly appreciated,
JT
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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 10:14:57 AM
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hi jt,
austin? home of shorty long? yow!
your price range puts you in the lanikai/kala/pono range. i'm not sure who sells ukes in the austin area, but there should be some *somewhere*
what kind of playing do you want to do?
aloha,
keith
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Absolute
Lokahi
275 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 10:30:10 AM
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Build your own.
1. Go to "plastic jumping flea" site and get link for fret placements.
2. Go to E-bay and order some nice wood for the box, preferably something that can be made into a deep box that is easy to hold onto. (Koa with a spruce top???)
3. Spend some time learning how to make a nut properly and get good quality material.
4. Order some Aquila strings and ukulele tuning pegs from Elderly Instruments.
And the best part:
5. Hand it down to your favorite child as a family heirloom.
If you go the E-bay wood route for your box, and follow the Plastic Jumping Flea design, AND IF you have the right tools, you can probably build one for $70 to $100. The quality of the product is then entirely dependent upon you and the time you spend developing a basic design and structure.
Just a thought. Don't do something that may cost you a finger!
(Nothing like a hand made ukulele. Even if you have to make it with your own hands!) |
Thank you. |
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woland99
Aloha
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 11:23:48 AM
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Thanks for replies!
What would I play? I think mostly fingerstyle - I used to play
classical guitar and I play a little slack-key on guitar.
JT
PS. building Bo Didley uke is interesting idea - perhaps even
making it electric - I wonder if there are humbuckers designed
for 4 strings out there.
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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 11:49:56 AM
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jt,
then, i'd recommend a four string tenor with a low G string. you already know the fingerings, and so i'd try to play as many different kinds as you can. again, i don't know where in austin you can do this, but given such a musically-alive and hopping place as it is, there must be somewhere...
i wonder if you could talk collings into making an uke? they make mighty fine guitars and mandolins. hum...
keith
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Absolute
Lokahi
275 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 4:27:06 PM
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If you've never touched a ukulele before, and play the guitar, which is a much larger instrument, I'd give some serious thought to that self-made "Bo Didley" uke (although if you have the skills, there's no reason to be so self-depracating). If I hadn't built my own, and made the sound box large enough (roughly 6" x 8" x 14" - W x H - L) to comfortably hold onto, I never would have taken up the ukulele. I got the materials from Home Depot (with flat toothpick frets), built two, and spent around $40-$50 on both, including shipping for strings and pegs and finishing supplies. I wasn't sure why I was doing it when I was building them, given the cheapie sopranos on the web available for $15-$20, with no expectation on my part that mine would even wind up playable, but if I had tried a cheapie soprano, it would have been too frustrating due to its size. I would have given up. Even the concert sized I just purchased now resides in the closet, and I've gone back to my relatively large "birdhouse" ukuleles.
I wonder if even a tenor would be big enough for you if you are used to a guitar. I'd seriously consider getting my hands on one before buying ready-made, or finding someone who can build a truly large ukulele for me. Don't just buy one because it looks pretty on the internet and sounds like its made of quality materials. The sole drawback, in my opinion, to the ukulele, if you accept its limited range as I do, is the extremely small size. IMHO, if they made them larger, there'd be more people playing them. Get a concert guitar strap as well if you do go the ready-made route, you may welcome something to help you to hold onto the tiny thing (although a short sleeved shirt can help to insure there's some friction against your arm). |
Thank you. |
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hikabe
Lokahi
USA
358 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 5:54:36 PM
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It behooves me to see the volume of advice and opinions expressed by absolute, even though he is a recent beginner.
Anyway. Don't lose sight of your goals. Get a Koaloha or Kamaka for a rich tone and fine craftsmanship. Cost does not matter, take awhile longer to save and get a fine instrument you can be proud of instead of the box you are sorry you settled with. It took a year for me to save enough for mine. I only own 1 uke, a Kamaka tenor, I play no other. Other comparable brands in the same price range or higher are GString, Kanilea, Maui, SonnyD, etc.
If music is more like a hobby for you, some lesser quality ukes will suffice like Kala, Lanikai, Tangi, etc.
If you want to play like Jake, Troy, Eddie, Ohta San or me, get a 4 string tenor. Six or eight stringed instruments are especially good for singers and tricky to pick melodies. Good luck...
Absolute... It sounds like you may be better suited for a baritone uke. It is probably as big as your birdhouse. Baritones are the most expensive for an instrument that is not as popular as the others. |
Stay Tuned... |
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woland99
Aloha
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 7:39:21 PM
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Once again - thanks for all the input folks. Building my own uke actually sounds
like interesting project - for a while now I thought about trying to build a solid
body guitar. So electric solid body uke might be even better beginner task.
But apart from that I would like to get good acoustic instrument. I have some years
of experience with guitars so I completely understand that $1600 electric guitar IS
indeed much better and playable instrument than $350 one. But every now and then you
can find $800 guitar that is amazing for the money. So I guess I was asking about such
deal in ukes. I am not a pro - so $400 max price was selected somewhat with that in mind.
Collings uke? Hehehe - their guitars are out of this world but I doubt there is enough
zeroes in $400 to get a Collings ;-) As for the size of uke as compared with guitar -
I am not worried about that - I know soprano would be a bit too small but tenor is
probably close in size to Tacoma's Pappoose guitars and I always liked those.
Again - thanks for all the brand reccomendation. And 4-string advice.
JT |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
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slackkey
Lokahi
USA
280 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2007 : 11:13:49 PM
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Aloha JT! My name's "slackkey" Bill from the Island of Maui, Hawaii. Try this website...(www.meleukulele.com). They're a Family owned Ukulele Business here on Maui, and they have a really great Ukulele collection there. Check-out their site! The owners are Chris and Cheryl Rock. Hope this will help! A Hui Hou...Malama Pono
"slackkey" Bill |
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Absolute
Lokahi
275 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2007 : 02:19:44 AM
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| Not a baritone fan (unless its being played by "Uncle Dave"). The GCEA tuned "birdhouse" with its concert length strings works fine for me. It's the big box that makes the difference - no problem holding onto it. It made it possible for me to take up the ukulele about a year ago. As for my comments here, what can I say? I believe in building your own ukulele - even if the soundbox is, literally, a box! (You learn a lot that way.) Besides, you guys are great! |
Thank you. |
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woland99
Aloha
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2007 : 05:40:19 AM
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One more question:
I looked up spome brands and noticed that most tenor ukes come without
truss rod. How is long time durability affected by that? Is koa wood
better (more duraqble) choice for neck wood or is mahogany stable enough?
JT |
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Absolute
Lokahi
275 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2007 : 12:07:49 PM
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The Ukulele Builders Guild of Hawaii has a web site and responded to my questions a year ago readily. You can reach their web site here:
www.ukuleleguild.org.
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Thank you. |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2007 : 5:13:37 PM
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The tension on an ukulele neck is miniscule compared to a guitar. Classical guitars are almost all built without truss rods as well, and a uke is much lower in tension than a classical.
Mahogany is almost certainly a better choice for a neck than koa, according to my luthier buddies. They seem to feel that mahogany is _the_ ideal wood for necks due to its stiffness to weight ratio and stability. The impending CITES restrictions on Honduras mahogany is causing much dismay because of that.
Fran |
E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key Guitar in California - www.kaleponi.com
Slack Key on YouTube
Homebrewed Music Blog |
Edited by - Fran Guidry on 04/27/2007 5:16:29 PM |
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Absolute
Lokahi
275 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2007 : 06:56:43 AM
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There is a tenor at meleukulele.com that indicates it uses a truss rod.
I built the necks of my two out of a piece of pine molding and strung them with concert Aquila strings (though Home Depot said they could order exotic wood molding if I was willing to pay more). My hand built ukuleles are 25 1/2 inches long, so they approach tenor length. The nut to bridge length is slightly longer than that of the concert ukulele I bought (by an inch). I've seen no sign of any change in shape of the pine neck over a year. I coated the fingerboard with polyurethane, so wear hasn't been an issue with nylon strings. (If the polyurethane starts to wear, I can just apply another coat.)
With wood, humidity, heat, and stress have effects of which you are no doubt well aware. The top piece of the mahogany plywood that I used, to which the neck is simply glued over four or five inches of its length, has bowed slightly in response to the string stress, but I used no internal reinforcement to prevent that, so as to create an instrument that is as lightweight as possible, given the quarter inch plywood from which it is constructed.
I finally solved a problem I've had forming Bb by overcoming my trepidation regarding modifying the nut any further (and possibly causing strings to buzz) with a set of Harbor Freight needle files ($15) to lower the action. I had to widen the upper part of the nut slots in the oak molding to get the needle file I used to fit and reach down to the base of the slot, but it was worth it. With the lower action, I can now easily shift from G to G7 and form Bb, which were problems for me when I had to apply a lot of force to use the top fret due to the string height. (As a guitarist using metal strings you no doubt know about the need to consider string height at the nut after 30 years, and probably even have the knowledge to provide a specification in that regard. I had to read about it on the internet during searches under various combinations of words suggesting that a ukulele sounded really bad after I had more than a quarter inch of "action" at the nut following my initial construction - what sounds that made when I fretted!) |
Thank you. |
Edited by - Absolute on 04/29/2007 07:06:01 AM |
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Absolute
Lokahi
275 Posts |
Posted - 05/03/2007 : 03:05:28 AM
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| One final thought - though your capo statement seems along similar lines. Per a post by someone else, why not just use Keola Beamer's C tuning for guitar? G-C-G-C-E-A? You can tune the G in the GCEA to low G to access the octave below middle C, and, as was pointed out to me, use the top GC combination as an opportunity for a slack key bass line. If I had 30 years experience with the guitar, this is probably the option I'd pursue, even if I had to convert my spare guitar to some Aquila, nylgut strings to produce more of a "ukulele" sound. I could then play any ukulele tab I pleased, and slack key style music as well - while I took my time choosing the right ukulele, of course. |
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