Seasonistas Long Neck Soprano thread

I love my sk30L, but it took a couple of months to open up. I made a new saddle and now intonation is spot on. I also installed Leader friction peg tuners. Enjoy your new Ohana.

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Cheers Finn.

Not many people change out geared tuners for frictions.

Edit: Did you change them for balance, or do you just like them?

Keith, I hope you love that Ohana. I was tempted to get the sk30L but instead got the concert pineapple. Mim of Mim's Ukes talked me into the pineapple because she thought pineapple would provide distinctively different sound and resonance compared to the soprano, and I already own a solid mahogany Ohana soprano (sk35). The pineapple is awesome. In any event, I love Ohana's mahagonies, so I hope this one suits you well!

uke1950 said:

Cheers Finn.

Not many people change out geared tuners for frictions.

Edit: Did you change them for balance, or do you just like them?

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Because I like the look it's strung with Living Water tenor strings and the friction pegs are rock solid and holds the tuning without problems (not that the geared tuners did'nt do the job). I got the tuners from the eaglemusic webshop, and think they are good for the price.

hendulele said:

The pineapple is awesome. In any event, I love Ohana's mahagonies, so I hope this one suits you well!

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Glad you're liking your pineapple, I have always liked the sound of mahogany from the online videos I watched, & cedar (which is why I got a cedar topped bari), also quite like acacia, though maybe a bit bright. If this one settles in after a month or two, I think I'll be really happy with it.

FinnP said:

Because I like the look

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Good enough reason.

I was just wondering because I had heard that some people think it's neck heavy, though I'm not feeling that.

Following are 2 sound samples, SK30L & SLNG.



Edit: No idea why this video is yellow - both shot one after the other & in the same position!

Bear in mind the SK30L is new & the SLNG is 8 months old.

N.B. Both still with Aquila strings.

Now to put Living Water low G on it. :drool:

SK30L with Living Waters Low G Concert strings.

Keith - thanks for making the videos, but the volume on them is so low, that even with my computer volume and speakers ALL THE WAY up, or even with headphones I can barely hear anything at all? I do not have this problem with anything else on my computer, nor with other videos so it must be on your end...

Is it a recording glitch, or are you just trying to play as quiet as possible?

Please advise...

They are only a quick showing really, but about my normal volume, maybe a bit less, but I thought adequete enough to convey the fact that there isn't a lot of difference between them soundwise, least not yet.

Sorry if it wasn't what you were expecting.

uke1950 said:

They are only a quick showing really, but about my normal volume, maybe a bit less, but I thought adequete enough to convey the fact that there isn't a lot of difference between them soundwise, least not yet.

Sorry if it wasn't what you were expecting.

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ok, no worries.

Ohana Sk-30L

I've had this uke for a year or two now. Love it.

Presently, I am trying to learn to play my 'harps, so I'm not on this forum as much lately, but I seem to have got a head cold, so no 'harp practicing this last couple of days.

Took out & had a play on my SK30L, SLNG, (plus my CK35L & bari) this morning, & I do believe both the Ohanas are sounding a bit better than when I first got them - looks like they are going to improve the more they get played.

Sorry to hear about being under the weather Keith - I hope you feel better soon!

Last month I picked up a KA-sSLNG, which is the sister model to the SLNG, but with a solid spruce top.





My first spruce top uke. Very different from a concert in both tone and the way that the top responds to string tension, being very sensitive to bellying and dishing in the rotation of the bridge (if string tension is too high) and the solid top is thinner than my other laminate and my other solid mahogany ukes...

Even though the body is a soprano, and as such has a smaller soundbox, it is significantly LOUDER than most of the other ukes I own, including the tenors and baris, and this uke is very efficient in PROJECTING the sound forward, almost 3 db louder peak-to-peak than other ukes in test recordings, with same mic, same position, same gain settings...

It's got Oasis bright high-G re-entrant strings on it now after testing more than a dozen sets of strings, and so far, these seem to be 'just right' and also not torque the bridge to rotate in a scary way...

Since RH here inside is now 37%, I put it into it's case (hardwood covered with tolex Musician's Gear case from Musicians's Friend which was on sale for $29 a few weeks ago), with one of my home-made humidifiers, which is a cut piece of sponge, soaked in water and then stuffed into a prescription pill bottle with 12 holes drilled in the sides...

Last winter, these proved to sustain ~50% RH inside the case for about 2 weeks before needing to re-wet the sponge....

Despite a room humidifier, in winter, I cannot get the ambient indoor RH higher than about 22% with it running 24/7, so to be safe the solid wood ukes each get one of these home-made jobbies.

Sure, I can 'buy' a humidifier, but I like to recycle, and have lots of empty pill bottles now, and making one of these takes only about 5 mins with the use of a dremel to drill the holes, and scissors to cut the sponge to size...easy peasy...

Cheers Booli, it's just that time of year I guess.

I've had the SSLNG & the KSLNG in mind ever since getting the SLNG - but thought I'd go with the tenor scale Ohana solid mahoganies as they aren't too expensive.

First winter coming up for my solids & solid top, so hoping they come through OK, as most people in my part of the world don't seem to need humidifiers.

(I'm still in two minds about my solid spruce concert sound wise.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your new SSLNG.

uke1950 said:

Cheers Booli, it's just that time of year I guess.

I've had the SSLNG & the KSLNG in mind ever since getting the SLNG - but thought I'd go with the tenor scale Ohana solid mahoganies as they aren't too expensive.

First winter coming up for my solids & solid top, so hoping they come through OK, as most people in my part of the world don't seem to need humidifiers.

(I'm still in two minds about my solid spruce concert sound wise.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your new SSLNG.

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Thanks Keith!

The sSLNG is really so completely different than all my other ukes.

Good/different in that the sound of a solid spruce top is an eyeopener for me, and that the spruce actually has a different SOUND than mahogany or koa like my other ukes...

Bad/different in that this is a change for me, and maybe I've 'gotten used to' the behavior of mahogany so much that the spruce seems jarring at times (but it has grown on me, and the note clarity with the Oasis strings, and the sparkle and jangle in the tone are unmatched)...

Methinks that this will be the uke that I take to uke jams instead of my concert Flea. With the concert Flea I have to play harder to hear myself in a room of 10 other ukes, and with the sSLNG, I suspect that the projection of the spruce will cut through enough with a lighter touch on the strings....but I have not tested this theory yet.

Booli said:

Sorry to hear about being under the weather Keith - I hope you feel better soon!

Last month I picked up a KA-sSLNG, which is the sister model to the SLNG, but with a solid spruce top.

My first spruce top uke. Very different from a concert in both tone and the way that the top responds to string tension, being very sensitive to bellying and dishing in the rotation of the bridge (if string tension is too high) and the solid top is thinner than my other laminate and my other solid mahogany ukes...

Even though the body is a soprano, and as such has a smaller soundbox, it is significantly LOUDER than most of the other ukes I own, including the tenors and baris, and this uke is very efficient in PROJECTING the sound forward, almost 3 db louder peak-to-peak than other ukes in test recordings, with same mic, same position, same gain settings...

It's got Oasis bright high-G re-entrant strings on it now after testing more than a dozen sets of strings, and so far, these seem to be 'just right' and also not torque the bridge to rotate in a scary way...

Since RH here inside is now 37%, I put it into it's case (hardwood covered with tolex Musician's Gear case from Musicians's Friend which was on sale for $29 a few weeks ago), with one of my home-made humidifiers, which is a cut piece of sponge, soaked in water and then stuffed into a prescription pill bottle with 12 holes drilled in the sides...

Last winter, these proved to sustain ~50% RH inside the case for about 2 weeks before needing to re-wet the sponge....

Despite a room humidifier, in winter, I cannot get the ambient indoor RH higher than about 22% with it running 24/7, so to be safe the solid wood ukes each get one of these home-made jobbies.

Sure, I can 'buy' a humidifier, but I like to recycle, and have lots of empty pill bottles now, and making one of these takes only about 5 mins with the use of a dremel to drill the holes, and scissors to cut the sponge to size...easy peasy...

Click to expand...

Hi Booli,

Great idea for a homemade humidifier. I've been using a sponge in a ziploc snack bag with a few slits cut in the bag. The rX bottle sounds like a much more durable idea.

I've not had a problem with solid-topped ukes, but my all-solids have to stay in their cases when the heat comes on.

Today or tomorrow, I hope to join the longneck club, as an all-solid cherry longneck soprano from Bonanza is on the way! I'm excited to see how it plays. BTW, Shelley and Pete are still liquidating some inventory, so you should check out their FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/BonanzaPete/

hendulele said:

Hi Booli,

Great idea for a homemade humidifier. I've been using a sponge in a ziploc snack bag with a few slits cut in the bag. The rX bottle sounds like a much more durable idea.

I've not had a problem with solid-topped ukes, but my all-solids have to stay in their cases when the heat comes on.

Today or tomorrow, I hope to join the longneck club, as an all-solid cherry longneck soprano from Bonanza is on the way! I'm excited to see how it plays. BTW, Shelley and Pete are still liquidating some inventory, so you should check out their FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/BonanzaPete/

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Thanks for the reply.

Apologies to the OP Keith and others for this tangent on humidification...

Ukester Brown showed a video on that one for the ziploc bags, as well as for the rX bottles. I would use the ziploc bag and that is definitely a very simple way to go (but I too thought it was a bit too flimsy for me), but I'm glad that it's been working for you too.

One benefit of the ziploc bag is that you could use a full-size sponge without cutting it, and thus it would hold more water volume than the other methods, which would be better for longer term humidification without refills, like if you were going on vacation...

The sponges I use are 'natural' foam sponges that look kinda like it has the small holes from an alpine-lace swiss cheese. Mainly because I had an giant old sponge like this meant for washing the car, new in the bag and unused, and I figured why not use it for this. Other folks have had good luck with those O-cello sponges, but I have not tried them yet.

I've also been toying with using an empty tic-tac mints box, with a few holes drilled and a piece of sponge inside, as this fits nicely between the C and E strings, and has about the same internal volume as the rX bottle, and cutting a square/rectangular sponge piece is much easier than trying to cut a cylinder piece.

Also, you can SQUEEZE the tic-tac box, so if you have a bowl of water (bowl of water is helpful if refilling a few humidifiers at one time), and dunk/submerge the tic-tac box inside and then squeeze it while submerged, it will soak up water, nearly to it's maximum absorption, and then you take it out and pour off and/or gently shake off any extra before wiping it down from the remaining droplets, and then put it bag into your uke or case.

The tic-tac box also has a little ridge on the top edge, so with a deeper uke like a tenor or baritone, or even a guitar, it can be suspended from the strings...

Problem is that tic-tacs are not part of my regular eating habits, so I'd need to go out and buy at least a 6-pack at the grocery store, which then defeats recycling the rX bottles, but then I am recycling tic-tac boxes, even if they were originally bought for this purpose...

I currently have a tic-tac box with a wet sponge inside as a 'tester' sitting on my desk, in order to see how long before it is dry in the open air now at 37% RH to gauge how long it stays wet compared to the ones that are in the cases with sSLNG uke as of yesterday. I need to setup a handful more ukes over the weekend with humidification, so this is why the topic has come up for me now.

D'Addario and Music Nomad both sell a tic-tac sized humidifier, with sponge inside that are each nearly this size, but they are at least $10 each and with more than a dozen ukes to humidify, it gets pricey, so this is one big reason why the recycling is helpful (cost nothing but a little time), otherwise the rX bottles are just going into a landfill in Staten Island somewhere...

Also, thanks for the info about Bonanza Ukes on FB. I dont use FB, but I will pass that info on to others.

Bonanza Ukes are on my UAS wish-list, maybe a Flatlander or Pear-shaped tenor?

My UAS is going to be dormant for a while since I just got the sSLNG and need to build up funds.