Outdoor Ukulele Question

TobyDog

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
322
Reaction score
7
Location
Massachusetts
I went to their website after seeing how folks here liked them, and I've tentatively got one on my list now.

I'll go for adding a strap button but I'm unsure about the 'Precision Tuning Machine Upgrade'. Anyone here know exactly what that entails?

Thanks!
 
No, I have seen that offered too. It's a recent addition on their website. I have no idea how much more 'precise' it could be. I've had a couple of their ukes and had no problems with the standard geared tuners. I will probably end up with another one again. This time I'll get two strap buttons though.
 
That must be something new they are offering- I can tell you the standard tuners on my tenor work fine.
 
Are they an upgraded Grover? Have you e-mailed the company? Usually Jennifer or Grace would respond to me (I think that Grace is doing her own business now that she is married). As much as the ukuleles appear to be a factory mass produced product, it is a family operated small business that assembles and ships the things right in their shop.

I think they are working on a parlor guitar. I keep hoping for a concert. I would replace all of our school’s ukuleles with Outdoors if I could get concerts.
 
Thread Bump. Anyone have both the new and old tuners? They look very similar in design, with the upgraded having a slimmer base plate. I got the upgraded tuners with a recent purchase. The upgraded ones do not say "GROVER" like the original tuners appear to on their website.
 
I think they are working on a parlor guitar. I keep hoping for a concert. I would replace all of our school’s ukuleles with Outdoors if I could get concerts.

A parlor guitar would be great! I hope they follow through with this one.

Agreed, a concert would be nice as well.
 
The standard tuners have a 14:1 ratio. I'm very familiar with those, as I've used them on multiple instruments. They are good.
I enlarged the pic and see the precision ones have a 16:1 gear ratio.

For someone not familiar with what gear ratios are and can do, who may be reading this, what does that mean?
All other things being equal....Simply put, the higher the gear ratio of the tuner the more you will have to turn the knob to make a complete revolution. So the higher the ratio, the more easily it is to fine tune things.

If anyone wants to know how to figure out the gear ratio on a tuner just by looking: Just look at the gear on the back of the tuner (if it is exposed, this can't work on covered tuners obviously) and count the teeth/cogs on the gear.
 
Last edited:
I'm going to sort of hijack this momentarily, but another Outdoor question I have is, what shape is the neck? Is it like a Fluke or Flea, or is it more rounded? Is it fat or thin? They don't show any profiles on their site.
 
My Outdoor Ukulele tenor is from the very first production run. The tuners have withstood various toddlers wrenching on them, and work fine to this day.

The neck is a tapered square shape. I find it quite comfortable to play.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20150904_100654775_HDR.jpg
    IMG_20150904_100654775_HDR.jpg
    96.3 KB · Views: 22
I'm going to sort of hijack this momentarily, but another Outdoor question I have is, what shape is the neck? Is it like a Fluke or Flea, or is it more rounded? Is it fat or thin? They don't show any profiles on their site.

My soprano just showed up today. I compared its neck to my concert Flea and it's a really similar shape, though just a tad less thick than the Flea.

At the first fret the OU measures 5/8" thick, the Flea measures 6/8" at the first fret.

From what I can tell from actadh/Laura's photo, my OU neck is more rounded than hers. It feels very comfortable to me, I'm used to playing my Flea every day.
 
Last edited:
My soprano just showed up today. I compared its neck to my concert Flea and it's a really similar shape, though just a tad less thick than the Flea.

At the first fret the OU measures 5/8" thick, the Flea measures 6/8" at the first fret.

From what I can tell from actadh/Laura's photo, my OU neck is more rounded than hers. It feels very comfortable to me, I'm used to playing my Flea every day.

TobyDog - I would be very curious to know your thoughts comparison on the OU compared to the Flea...
 
I understand the second iteration changed the neck shape for better. I hope it's more round.

My soprano just showed up today. I compared its neck to my concert Flea and it's a really similar shape, though just a tad less thick than the Flea.

At the first fret the OU measures 5/8" thick, the Flea measures 6/8" at the first fret.

From what I can tell from actadh/Laura's photo, my OU neck is more rounded than hers. It feels very comfortable to me, I'm used to playing my Flea every day.
 
Your tenor is the first production run of tenors...but the tenors were not the original instruments. The black soprano model was the first...and there was a production run of those...but they had truly square necks, high frets, and more. The company completely redesigned the line with the new tenor and soprano models...and they are nothing like the earlier models. The company is using a new injection company these days, but the templates remain the same for the 2nd generation soprano and the tenor.
 
Your tenor is the first production run of tenors...but the tenors were not the original instruments. The black soprano model was the first...and there was a production run of those...but they had truly square necks, high frets, and more. The company completely redesigned the line with the new tenor and soprano models...and they are nothing like the earlier models. The company is using a new injection company these days, but the templates remain the same for the 2nd generation soprano and the tenor.

That is correct. I was referring to the tenor ukulele. The logo is now different, and different options are now available such as the tuners, but the tenor body mold is the same.

Here is the current tenor headstock logo
https://www.outdoorukulele.com/collections/ukuleles/products/outdoor-ukulele-tenor

Here is the logo on mine.
out boating.jpg
 
Let's see...comparing the OU to the Flea, well one is a soprano and the other is a concert. So size difference must be taken into account. And I'm completely new to the soprano, so it feels both easier and cramped at the same time :) if that makes sense.

My Flea is definitely louder, and feels more substantial but it cost about 4 times as much as the OU (designer model with upgraded fretboard and tuners). The basic Flea would be more comparable (~2 times the cost of the OU), but it's not totally plastic so it's not really comparing apples to apples either.

The fretboard on both is very comfortable, nicely rounded to about the same degree.
 
Top Bottom