Liking my Outdoor Ukulele - want another

Do you people just realize how dangerous these Outdoor Ukes can be? They're made from polycarbonate, which means there is going to be some unreacted bisphenol A (BHA) floating around. And since the FDA has revoked the authorization to use polycarbonate for baby bottles, it will clearly NOT be safe to store any liquids inside these ukes.

You've been warned! ; )

You have to pry the purple one out of Tom’s hands at the next Twin Cities Ukulele Club jam session. Have someone take pictures!
 
I took the plunge and ordered a green soprano with two strap buttons and upgraded tuners. I only have two ukes, a kamaka concert and kala concert. I also have one and four year old boys. When I felt my one year old was going to swing a toy at the kamaka last night, I was ready. Plus, they both like to help Dad "strum" from time to time.
 
I took the plunge and ordered a green soprano with two strap buttons and upgraded tuners. I only have two ukes, a kamaka concert and kala concert. I also have one and four year old boys. When I felt my one year old was going to swing a toy at the kamaka last night, I was ready. Plus, they both like to help Dad "strum" from time to time.

Congrats, joshsimpson79!! You'll have to let us know how you like it, and how you fare from the concert scale to soprano scale once you've had a bit of time with it.

The green seems to be a popular choice. I kinda like the clear - reminds me of a "ghost" ukulele :)
 
I think the translucent/clearish/whitish one is the best. Because you can get one of those cheapo strings of tiny battery-powered blinking Christmas lights, shove them inside the soundhole and have the most far out and cosmic ukulele there ever was. Mine is a beer-bottle-brown one. I love it, and it is more playable than a lot of ordinary ukes, but I have my eye on the whitish one. The beer keeps dripping out of the string holes.
 
Tenor fret spacing is too big for my 7 year old's hands, so I guess it's mine now. I will be ordering him a soprano. I will do some tuner comparison pics, one of regular tuners one with upgraded tuners.
 
Tenor fret spacing is too big for my 7 year old's hands, so I guess it's mine now. I will be ordering him a soprano. I will do some tuner comparison pics, one of regular tuners one with upgraded tuners.

Looking forward to the comparison. Always room for another ukulele in the household :)
 
Tenor fret spacing is too big for my 7 year old's hands, so I guess it's mine now. I will be ordering him a soprano. I will do some tuner comparison pics, one of regular tuners one with upgraded tuners.


That was my thinking with my boys. If either of them have an interest, we'll have a soprano ready.
 
Looking forward to the comparison. Always room for another ukulele in the household :)

I ordered the soprano. Production time is listed as 10 business days. I will post comparison pics once received.
 
I’m not trying to promote, but I made a video comparing the three models of Outdoor Ukulele the other day. I don’t want to embed the video here, but here is a link if you are interested. There is an odd cut on the video. Long story made short, My microphone wasn’t mounted in a traditional way, and I hit it with the tenor Outdoor Ukulele and it brought the whole set-up down (it was on our kitchen table).

The main thing I wanted to address was the “square neck” thing that people keep bringing up, even though it has now been a few years since Outdoor Ukulele changed their design. The internet memory (mainly from YouTube) really seems to keep that criticism going strong.

https://youtu.be/4apH7CpirIY

Also: both sopranos were gifts from members of this forum, and I am incredibly grateful for those instruments. The black model works surprisingly well, and the bottle brown is now the around-the-house ukulele as I don’t need to worry about my five and nine year old boys doing what boys do to ukuleles that are left on couches, next to couches, and on tables.
 
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Very nicely done and a good comparison.
I had one of the original sopranos and now have a green tenor.
They are night & day.
The soprano was "ok" to play but the tenor is great.
Thank you for posting!
 
Great video, Choirguy! Thanks for doing this. I think I prefer the milky white Moonshine color a bit better than the newer more see through Moonshine. However, I think it best to have all colors:) I also wish black was still available.
 
Curious... Does anyone use a capo with their OU? I know the neck profile is not as squared off as it used to be, but it still has a bit of a shoulder on it. I like to use a capo from time to time on the larger scales.
 
Great video, Choirguy! Thanks for doing this. I think I prefer the milky white Moonshine color a bit better than the newer more see through Moonshine. However, I think it best to have all colors:) I also wish black was still available.

You won’t believe this...they JUST (54 minutes ago) announced a carbon fiber polycarbonate version—Black—for around $200. They say it is 50% stronger and 15% brighter (I’m not sure strong or bright have been issues).

26605E5C-59C9-4895-8CFB-067FDEF89F44.jpg
 
Curious... Does anyone use a capo with their OU? I know the neck profile is not as squared off as it used to be, but it still has a bit of a shoulder on it. I like to use a capo from time to time on the larger scales.

I have to admit that when I first read this comment, I thought, “Why wouldn’t it work?” Then I thought...well, I’ll try.

I have four capos available. Two are plastic that came with inexpensive ukuleles (Enya and Aklot) and two are metal. All are made for ukuleles, but the plastics for a soprano scale. All four capos worked on the “new” soprano, and the metal ones worked on the tenor. The small plastic capos didn’t hold down all four strings. They wouldn’t on any of my tenors.
 
You won’t believe this...they JUST (54 minutes ago) announced a carbon fiber polycarbonate version—Black—for around $200. They say it is 50% stronger and 15% brighter (I’m not sure strong or bright have been issues).

View attachment 106452

Well if I weren't impatiently waiting for a carbon fiber uke from KLOS I would probably jump right on this. Decisions, decisions.

carbon-tenor-nickel-one_1024x1024.jpg
 
Thanks for confirming this, Choirguy. It's good to know information.

Ooh, carbon fiber / poly! I wonder if it is a tad lighter as well. This could be a promising move for them.
 
You won’t believe this...they JUST (54 minutes ago) announced a carbon fiber polycarbonate version—Black—for around $200. They say it is 50% stronger and 15% brighter (I’m not sure strong or bright have been issues).

View attachment 106452

I hope they don't switch to only offering the higher priced model(s). A large part of their appeal (at least for me) is that they're inexpensive. If they were to start being in the same price category as Magic Fluke, I'd stick with the MF.
 
What's that mean, carbon fiber polycarbonate? Why is it better, and how does its use affect sound? Not because I want to buy one, just curious.
 
I saw this on their Facebook too. I liked the original new one and want to get the moonshine Tenor white, but they were always a little quiet. Tough decisions- argh
 
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