Luna neck break and subsequent repair

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I haven't blogged in a long time. Yes, I know - you don't want to hear my excuses. Fine! I'm not going to give any this time. However, today I have a post that might (or might not) make up for my long absence.

My good friend, Tom acquired a Luna Concert Uke a couple years ago and he has been enjoying the heck out of it. But recently, tragedy struck. Tom dropped it (allegedly) and it broke! Personally, I don't buy his story. Here's what I like to think happened instead...

Tom was enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee on a Saturday morning while strumming some chords. The front door suddenly burst open and two men with guns rushed in and pointed them at Tom. "Where's the money!", exclaimed one of the men. You see, Tom has recently gotten himself involved with some mafia types and some drug deals have gone south. Tom is now indebted to them for large sums of money. Tom, of course, didn't have the money on that particular Saturday morning, so like any good mafia dude who is worth his weight, Mafia man A (we'll call him) sent Tom a message. He picked up Tom's Luna uke by the neck and bashed it into the wall, thus turning the ukulele into the pile of wood that you see below...

But no worries, Tom! I know (sort of) how to repair such breaks. As for repairing your relationship with the mafia...I'm sorry, but I can't help you there.

First things first, here's what we need - wood glue, clamps, paper towels, and hope.

Thankfully, the break on the neck was fairly clean so it didn't require expert skill...just me. Disclaimer: I did tell Tom that I might further damage it trying to fix it.

After setting the clamps, I cleaned up the excess glue with power towels (and love). As for how long you should leave the clamps on, different people have different opinions. I'd say 6 hours AT LEAST. This one set clamped for over 24 hours...mostly because the time of day I did it (about 5pm). After I got home the next day from work, I took the clamps off.

As you can see, there is still some residual damage. And yep, my glue job was a little bit sloppy.

Next step was to test it's strength by stringin' it up. I chose Martin M600's because the tension is a bit lighter and I was a bit hesitant to put on something with higher tension. After stringing it up and testing, I do think the bond is strong enough to hold some Aquila's.

Voila! The Luna is once again playable and ready to be shredded upon...or lightly plucked, if that's what Tom prefers. Boy, I hate to see what the mafia will do to this ukulele next time if Tom doesn't pay up...

I suck

Yep, it's true. I haven't blogged in far too long. Sorry for my absence. Life happens. Kids happen. Job responsibilities happen. Home ownership happens (chasing raccoons out of my chimney, cutting up fallen trees, sealing cracks, etc.)

While I don't have time to update with the same frequency that I did a few years ago, I'm going to make a concerted effort to put something up every once in awhile, be it a tab, review, or another apology 2 years from now for not doing anything. :)

Schoenhut Ukulele Winner!

We had a lot of fun with the "why do you love the ukulele" contest. Congrats to Cecile from Utah! He loves the ukulele because "it is cheaper than therapy". We couldn't agree more! Thanks everyone for playing. We'll do another giveaway soon so stay tuned.

Yamaha Guitalele review

It's a ukulele! No wait...it's a guitar! No wait...it's a Ukutar? Yeah, Guitalele sounds a lot cooler. Nice Job, Yamaha! My wife got me this Yamaha Guitalele (GL-1) for my birthday this year. I thought it was a cool idea, but since it was around $100, I really wasn't expecting too much from it. But I'm pleasantly surprised by it! Smaller scale guitars (like pocket guitars) have been around for some time, but these guitaleles are new territory. Here's the report card....


Specs and details: Spruce Top, Meranti back and sides, Rosewood fretboard and bridge. Scale length 17". Geared tuners.

Schoenhut Ukulele Giveaway!!!

You've got a shot to win this toy Schoenhut Ukulele! Actually, you've got a lot of shots to win it with the "Why I love the ukulele" contest.

Here's how it works. Fill out the form below and tell us in 5 words or less why you love the ukulele. We'll pick our favorite each day for the next 20 days and each daily favorite will be entered into the drawing to win this lovely little uke.

The best part is that you can play every single day!

We'll post the daily favorite on our Facebook and Twitter so make sure to like and/or follow us there to see if your entry was the daily favorite!

We'll do it every day through May 6th! Daily entries end each day at Midnight (central time).

Here's the form. Good luck!

Bugsgear Plastic Ukulele review

Everyone loves a plastic uke, right? This time around we're taking a look at this Bugsgear Aqulele Plastic Ukulele. The name doesn't sound familiar, but you might actually be familiar with the work of this same company. It's the same people that make the quirky looking Peanut Eleuke. 

This uke is made from ABS. This soprano scale uke is intended for the ukulele player on an adventure. It can be taken along camping, hiking, or just thrown in the back of the car without worrying about it. Think of it as the "Rocky" of the ukulele world. Here's the report card.....

"A place to hang my uke" winners!

Congrats to our contest winners! Mervin Keith is our first place winner with his "Couch Uke" picture with 43% of the vote. Runner up Jake Tolbert also earned himself a nice new wall hanger with "Uke in the Corner" taking 30% of the vote. Nice work guys! Enjoy your new ukulele wall hangers.

Special thanks to Etsy sellers Jon Woodworking and Toucan Mango. Make sure to stop by their shops and take a look at their work!

Here's the winning pictures....

Aquila Super Nylgut Ukulele Strings review

I decided awhile back that when it comes to reviewing strings, I'm not going to give a report card. The sound of strings can be so subjective that comparing one brand or type to another just seems moot. In order to find the "right" strings for your individual ukulele, you just have to try a bunch of different kinds and it all comes down to which ones YOU like the best. But that's really a topic best reserved for it's own blog post so I'll stop there.

This time around, we're testing out some new strings from Aquila - Super Nylgut. Almost every uke player has tried Aquila strings at least once so we're all pretty familiar with the overall solid reputation for their strings. Most ukulele enthusiasts seem to agree that Aquilas are best reserved for laminate ukuleles since the volume and tone of the strings tend to overpower the natural voice of solid wood ukes. I have concluded that this is generally a good application (but not absolutely always).

"A Place to Hang my Uke" finalists! Vote for your favorite!

These 5 ukuleles need to find a new home with a new wall hanger! Look through the pictures and vote using the form below to tell us which is your favorite! Just one vote per person please. Voting ends April 8th at 10pm (Central time). The winner and runner up will each get a new ukulele wall hanger! Here's the finalists....

Shower Uke by Brenda Cook

Schoenhut 5400 Ukulele review

I think that the most important question to keep in mind when doing a product review is "Who is this product intended for?". A person that runs a photography blog shouldn't review a toy camera (yes, there are some toy cameras that take actual pictures now) with the same expectation level and scrutiny with which they'd review a Nikon D4 professional camera. Doesn't make much sense, right? Like apples to oranges.


So, prefacing a little bit with that example, we're looking at the Schoenhut 5400 ukulele. Let's start off by asking the question, "Who is this product intended for?". No doubt about it, this is a ukulele intended for children - the design, the look, and the entire history of the Schoenhut company would tell you this. This is the same company that has made those awesome little toy pianos for years (I had one when I was a kid and immediately bought one for my oldest daughter when she was old enough to walk around). And much to their credit, they are taking this same approach with different instruments all geared at the little ones.

If you're looking for a "beginner" type of ukulele, I'd advise you to look at this post I did about the Best Beginner Ukuleles. I'm not comparing this Schoenhut ukulele to those. The best comparison for this type of toy uke would be to those that you could purchase at Walmart or Target in the toy section. The report card and grading scale for this review will be according to that, as it should be.

So with all that being said (whew! I'm wearing myself out already), let's begin!

Intonation - A-

This is the most accurate intonation that I've ever been privy to on a stringed toy instrument. The strings it's strung with really aren't that great and I suppose that changing these could take me from a A- to an A+ pretty quickly, but since I'm taking the review approach of it being a toy, I didn't think it would be fair to restring it. I figure that the majority of parents that purchase one of these for their kids aren't going to be ukulele players and probably wouldn't even think about replacing the strings. If you do fall in that smaller percentage that would restring it for your child, Martin M600's or some Oasis Warm strings would be a good choice since they are lower tension.

Banjo Ukulele Fix up

 

 I decided to finally fix up my banjo ukulele. It's a Slingerland from the 1920's (or thereabouts). When I originally purchased it (a couple of years ago) I meant to take the time to fix a few of it's issues, but I was having so much fun tinkering around on it that I never did. The time has finally come for it to get some much needed attention.

  

First things first - it needed to be taken apart. I'd recommend pulling out a Ziplock bag (or something similar) for all the hardware. Some of those small pieces could easily get lost and if your banjo uke is as old as mine,

Uke Leash review

 It can be a real pain playing your ukulele while standing. Is it possible? Yes. Do I like doing it? Not really. For a long time the two solutions to this problem have been to either deal with it or install hardware on your uke for a more traditional type of guitar strap. I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of end pins on my uke. I don't really like the way the look. I'm also not to keen on drilling into my ukulele.

Good news! You are no longer limited to those two options! You can just get yourself a Uke Leash!

Lori Apthorp invented this lovely little device and she deserves major props. In fact, I will state publicly that I'm envious of her for coming up with something so simple and so incredibly cool! :)

Here's how it works - you put one of end of the leash on your headstock, sling the other around your neck and put your arm through (check out the 3rd picture). That's it! And that little extra support really does make a world of difference. Here's the report card...

Quality - A-

Lori actually sent me a few of these (as well as some other goodies). One large leash made of Polypro, a medium made of leather, as well as one for guitar. Overall, the material on each seem solid and like they would last for years. The leather feels like it would hold up longer than the polypro, but both feel good. A cool thing about them is that you can leave the piece that goes around the headstock (the collar maybe?) and just unclip the leash. Good thinking! I suppose it's always possible that the little plastic clip

"A place to hang my uke" contest

Storing your ukuleles on the couch? Maybe on the coffee table, kitchen counter, or in the corner of the room?

All the more reason for you to enter our "A place to hang my uke" contest!

Two lucky ukulele enthusiasts will finally have a place to hang their ukes!

The deadline for entries is Midnight (central time) on March 31st.

Here's what we need ya to do....

1. Take a picture of where you store your ukulele that best displays why you need a wall hanger. It can be the actual place that you keep it or you can get creative with it and photograph your ukulele some place that no one in their right mind would put their ukulele. Hey, it's up to you!

2. Post your pic somewhere, ANYWHERE online.

3. Fill out the form below and include the url that we can see your picture at. One entry per person.

That's all there is to it! After the deadline, we'll pick out 5 finalists and let everyone vote and tell us which one they like the best.

Now for the good part! We'll give away two ukulele wall hangers - one for 1st place and one for the runner up.

1st place gets this beauty from Jon Woodworking

Runner up will get this sweet wall hanger from Toucan Mango

So what are you waiting for? Take a picture and fill out this entry form!

Jon Woodworking Ukulele Hanger review

Jon Woodworking is an Etsy shop run by...Jon. Though I'm still not sure how he came up with the name (sarcasm, folks). Jon is a heck of a nice guy and he makes some killer ukulele and guitar wall hangers. Not a lot of flash with these. Just a simple look and quality construction. Hey, what more do you need from the device that holds your uke? Looks pretty nice hangin' the Kamoa if I do say so myself. Here's the report card on this hanger...

"Two Chord Camp Songs for Ukulele" - Ukulele ebook review

UkulelePlay.com has recently released a new ukulele song book - "Two Chord Camp Songs for Ukulele" and it's delightful!

I'm sure you can gather this from the title, but this little ebook is especially for young beginners. When teaching little ones the basics of any string instrument, a few chords is a great place to start.

When I had more free time (when I wasn't married and didn't have kids) I taught some guitar lessons and one of the hurdles that I faced with new students was their frustration in the first couple of months...learning chords and scales with no songs to really play. Teaching a kid a few chords is just fine, but giving them a song with a structure to apply those chords too really helps them to see the light at the end of the musical tunnel.

This book really delivers in that way for young ukulele enthusiasts. It helps to build a fundamental base, without losing their interest with monotony and repetition.

Another nice addition in the package is the links to a free video playlist that helps guide a little bit with structure and strumming.

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up for this wonderful uke play along book!  You can check it out here on Amazon. Ukulele Play also has some other song books here on their site that you might be interested in checking out.

Kokopelli Ukulele Stand review

 Kokopelli Stands is another Etsy shop that I'm fairly familiar with. Thom makes some awesome wooden stands. Admittedly, his works are more for the guitar playing crowd, but he was kind enough to send me this smaller stand that works out very nicely for my Lanikai concert ukulele. He no longer makes stands for a smaller soprano size ukulele, but this smaller stand would also fit a tenor and baritone uke nicely.

One note of caution: I wouldn't recommend storing your ukulele next to your coffee maker as pictured here.  :)

If you're diggin' this beautiful white oak stand, check out some of the other sweet Kokopelli Stands here at their shop.  Here's the report card....

Toucan Mango Ukulele Wall Hanger review

 Wow! These are more than just ukulele wall hangers. They are hand carved works of art by Toucan Mango. Check out more of this awesome work at the Etsy shop here.

I e-mailed and requested one of these for review. I already knew that I liked his work, but seeing them up close I am very much blown away. Here's the report card on these beautiful wall hangers.

Oasis Ukulele Strings Review - part 2

I originally did a review on these new ukulele strings offered by Oasis when they were still in beta mode. You can read my full review of them here.

They weren't available for purchase yet at that time and Dave hadn't yet decided on an official recipe, but my opinion of them hasn't really changed since then. They sound great!

The wait is over and they are now available in four different types - "bright" Low and High G, as well as "warm" Low and High G.

The ones that I originally reviewed were of the "bright" variety and I liked them very much for my less expensive Lanikai LU-21C.  I put the new "warm" set on the Lanikai and I think that I might like the warm better...just a personal preference, I guess.  I like a more mellow type of sound out of my ukes.  I like to hear the voice of the instrument and I felt like the "warm" set has a slight edge in that area over the "bright" set.

But no matter which sound you like better, they are both very clear sounding Fluorocarbon strings.  You can grab a set yourself (make that two sets since there is enough for two sets) at www.oasisstrings.com

Lanikai CO-UT clip on tuner review

One of the extra goodies that Lanikai sent me in a care package was this clip on tuner.  Officially, it's known as the Lanikai CO-UT clip on tuner.  It's a pretty nifty little tuner with various settings for different stringed instruments including settings for ukulele, guitar, violin, bass, and chromatic.  Going rate seems to be somewhere between $20-$25.

My experience with clip on tuners is limited.  The tuners that I currently own are of the plug in or sound sensitive variety.  I've always been a bit skeptical of clip ons and their ability to accurately sense vibration.

Here's the report card....

Lanikai TunaUke Winner!!!

And the winner is......