Guitar Player found a Ukulele

Well the Soprano version (Kala KA-S) turned up today nicely set up and well finished in matt this time. It was on a god deal discounted down to £52 online, so I took a chance re setup. I am use to adjusting and capable of guitar setup changes.

I was surprised how loud it was, I assume it also has Aquila nylon/gut strings ? (just found the Aquila label)

I did find finger picking quite hard with the tiny fret spacing.

One song I have been playing on the Tenor is 'Here Comes The Sun" that translates very nicely from Guitar to Uke with the little licks sounding great. Will see if I can upload a sample. I tend to strum over the sound hole and pick back nearer the bridge, I guess guitar habits dies hard. From what I have read everything on the Uke should take place further up nearer the neck/body join ?

Here is a pic of them both side by side. Two and counting. Ok I admit it I have also ordered a third the solid spruce top VTAB one pictured above. I can't believe I have been missing out on all the Ukulele fun and a bonus being a guitar player is some of the big hurdles of learning, have already been overcome many years ago.

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I love the story of your musical journey, Jerry! Congratulations on your new ukulele collection. You and your grandson have many hours of joy ahead.

Also love your Taylor 512. It looks like a very special instrument. I once bought a used GC8 while taking beginning guitar lessons. I was doing okay while picking out melodies, but when attempting chords, I couldn't get my fingers stretched, was too impatient, and sold the beautiful GC8 (gorgeous rosewood and spruce, wahhhhhh, I miss it!) Found the ukulele and my prayers were answered. Now that my tendons and muscles are more accustomed to forming chords, I've picked up one of my 3 remaining guitars thinking it might be time to try again. It's like trying to hold a boat! Feels HUGE! And the guitars are all small. I know kids play them. I know women with small hands play them. I could play them if I practiced. But that would take away from uke-time!

Anyone wanna buy some guitars??? ha ha ha! I still miss the sound of that GC8....

Enjoy your lovely instruments!
 
Wow that's some list of Ukes you have there!

When I first purchased my guitars in 1978 I thought I needed huge dreadnoughts/jumbos and it was a few years till I realised that my style of light strumming and picking made it very hard with those guitars. I was well into 20 years of playing before I realised that a smaller, better made more expensive guitar would suit me better. I started with larger Taylors x14 size but then found the smaller x12 size eventually purchasing them second hand off ebay from people who had purchased them new for a couple of thousand pounds, hardly played them and I was able to pick them up at less than half price. Great thing about Taylors is they are fairly consistant which means that even purchased on line you are fairly safe apart from perhaps a little setting up when you get them.

I have realised that some of the songs I play and sing, better suit the Ukulele and thus I will be able to move from guitar to uke dependiong on which instrument better suits the song and my voice lol.
 
Well the VTAB TS-T15 turned up inspired by the excellent review Barry (Baz) did. This has a solid spruce top and you can tell when you play and compare it to the all laminate Kala. It came direct from China and represents excellent value for money being cheaper than the Kala. Overall refinements and finish are excellent, except for a slightly high action (easily corrected by taking a little of the "bone" saddle) and one of the side markers which sits a little proud, though again easily smoothed off and touched up with a little varnish. Here are a couple of pics.

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Next to the Taylor again. Those bridges look very simlar!

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Slightly raised side marker.

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I will probably string one with the low G option to see what I think.
 
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Also I decided to go the full hog and ordered one of these which just arrived :music:

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I know you can buy them in a twin spot version, but they cost almost as much as these ukuleles. I have a K&K mini in my Taylor which sounds so natural. I prefer passive pickups for simplicity of not having loads of wires and batteries in the body. I then use the K&K Pure Preamp to get the right input settings for my amp. Now just to decide which one to put it in. Probably the VTAB :rolleyes:
 
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