Hello from Utah

RafterGirl

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Messages
1,743
Reaction score
572
Location
Utah
Hello everyone. I picked up the ukulele in April. No previous musical background, but it looked fun and now I'm hooked. I do a lot of outdoor stuff, including whitewater rafting and flat water kayak touring, and I wanted a portable instrument to take along. The ukulele is perfect. I bought a Teton Mahogany laminate concert ukulele to start with and took a beginner class through the U of U Community Ed. program. Between that and YouTube I've learned enough to strum & jam with others. I found a local ukulele group to play with monthly (Salt Lake Strummers) and I've also played with some guitar & keyboard folks at some informal get togethers. I'm eager to learn more, and I'll probably take some individual lessons over the winter.

I was thinking about adding a tenor and had started looking at Uke Republic and HMS websites. I thought maybe a solid top or maybe all solid tenor uke in the $300-$400 range. I had some ideas, but then fate stepped in. I attended the Utah Ukulele Festival this past Saturday and was lucky enough to win a tenor in their prize raffle. I won an Islander FMSARM-4T. Solid spruce top, flame maple back & sides, slot head, cutaway, with ebony arm bevel. It's a sweet looking & sounding ukulele. I couldn't find much info on it, so I contacted Islander/Kanile'a and they gave me the specs on it. The Utah Ukulele Festival was loads of fun and I was so excited to bring this ukulele home.

Now I'm ready to play my fingers off and learn as much as I can here on UU forum.
 
Wow, you lucky girl, winning a great uke as a prize. :)

Welcome aboard, lots of good info on here, & you may like to check out the Seasons threads.
 
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new ukulele!
 
Welcome to the forum - and since you're in Utah, there is a lot of good info on how to humidify ukes. You'll want to keep that in mind for your new Islander. My daughter has an Islander laminate we bought in Hawaii, and the neck profile on it has changed a little over time. Otherwise, I really like the Islander feel and sound.
 
Hello RafterGirl. Congratulations on that win and finding the fun of the uke. You need to get an Outdoor Ukulele for those rafting trips and hiking the canyons. So glad they have a group for you to join up with. Heres to many many more strumming sessions.

I am not a sales person for the Outdoor Ukulele but I love mine. Here is a review I made just after getting mine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=254wtjR1PRs

Happy strumming and welcome to the UU forums :)
 
I originally started with a Kala Waterman concert ukuklele. It was ok, but I liked the Teton mahogany laminate concert much better. I gifted the Waterman to the teenager in my "river family" and she loves it. I recently got a Bonanza HPL concert to be my rafting & kayaking uke. I went with the red retro pattern, and it's a fun uke. I got to mess around with some tenor ukes over the past month, and I thought I'd add a nice solid top or all solid tenor at some point. I had done some website surfing, and thought I'd save up some money and treat myself to a nice tenor for Christmas. Imagine my delight when Christmas came early last weekend at the Utah Ukulele Festival. Big thanks to Islander, Luna, and Kala for the nice ukes that were given away in the raffle. That was awesome.
 
Welcome to the forum - and since you're in Utah, there is a lot of good info on how to humidify ukes. You'll want to keep that in mind for your new Islander. My daughter has an Islander laminate we bought in Hawaii, and the neck profile on it has changed a little over time. Otherwise, I really like the Islander feel and sound.
As soon as I got my new uke home, I invested in a humidifier for the case.
 
I was thinking about adding a tenor and had started looking at Uke Republic and HMS websites. I thought maybe a solid top or maybe all solid tenor uke in the $300-$400 range. I had some ideas, but then fate stepped in. I attended the Utah Ukulele Festival this past Saturday and was lucky enough to win a tenor in their prize raffle. I won an Islander FMSARM-4T. Solid spruce top, flame maple back & sides, slot head, cutaway, with ebony arm bevel. It's a sweet looking & sounding ukulele..

Not sure if it was fate or the uke spirits are smiling upon your entrance into the community. Welcome :shaka:
 
Top Bottom