You already have a cheap travel uke, use it. Why invest 2-4 times the value on a Kala Flea or Fluke? Use your cheap uke, practice, get better. If it survives that is great. If it gets damaged buy a new one just like it or else buy a more expensive replacement if you come into some cash.
Although I have a Flea, love it and use it as my main instrument for singarounds at local folk clubs, I keep a cheapo Lidl uke in my car for when I go away. It's sturdily made and robust.
Get hold of a copy of Mark Wallington's "The Uke of Wallington". It's about his travels with a uke and is an enjoyable read.
Indeed, that is an interesting one. I think they should have put a soundhole at the top of the headstock too like the Blackbird to take full advantage of the hollow neck.
As for travel, I'd feel pretty comfortable with a Fluke or a Flea. Applause also makes a few sopranos that are relatively inexpensive and probably sounds better than the plastic travel uke. UAE-20, UA-10, etc. I had the UA10 before, and played a friend's UAE20 pretty extensively. They were not bad. And it would more than likely fit in that side pocket.
There is a company sells Eddy Finn Minnows in the UK. It comes with a ten year written warranty. Here in the USA, I have placed over four dozen in different schools. They are better than any other entry level ukulele for sound ,price and construction. One of them would be my choice in a backpacking outing. One goes slackwater kayaking with us.
A brief look at the guide didn’t indicate to me that it was going to be helpful.
Out of curiosity I checked out some of the later posts then looked at the Eddy Finn website. They’re out of stock of their acoustic peanut Uke (Soprano) but it looked an interesting concept if you’re tight on luggage space. http://www.eddyfinn.com/store/p66/EF-PNUT.html If you prefer a traditional shape but with a thin body (rather than less wide as per the peanut) then Bruko might have just the thing for you and at a reasonable cost too: http://www.brueko.de/screen/product/sopran-ukulele-nr-5-mahagoni-ahorn-flach . Baz Maz did a review of a very similar Bruko and seemed happy enough, but check that out for yourself please.
For travel I bought a second hand 'intermediate' soprano laminate with a cover and then sorted out the strings and action - my time in doing so is worth way more than the original cost but the learning exercise has value to me too. That Uke's light, not that fragile, compactish, plays fine and loosing it wouldn’t be a financial blow; I think that something like that is a reasonable compromise for me but YMMV.
RafterGirl made a recommendation for a beach uke that would probably fit a heavy travel uke. She recommends a Bonanza HPL concert. HPL is waterproof and from one review there is even a corian fretboard available.
It really depends on your type of travel. We go car camping and I have taken my Pono tenor in it's hard case many times for multiple day ventures with no issues. Remember there are plenty of people that travel around with all solid wood guitars. My brother inlaw hitch hiked around the US for 10 years during the 60s with a Martin D28 (spruce and rosewood). He busked street corners for survival. He still performs on stage with that same guitar.
I am on a river cruise right now with my Ko'olau Spruce Myrtle tenor. We can get way too hung up on how fragile and precious we think instruments are, they have been traveled with and played outdoors for centuries. Well before polycarbonites, laminates, fiberglass cases and Oasis humidifiers.
The most limiting dimensions on a travel uke, from my experience:
Overall length - this is the major problem with fitting a uke in a case or a box or backpack or anywhere.
How it sounds when you are tired and cranky at the end of the day. - You wont touch it if you can't stand how it sounds after day three of a longer trip, you just look for a post office to send it home. When you are tired and cranky there is no patience or space for a bad sounding uke.
Not much else matters if you really want to play a uke on your trip.
We can get way too hung up on how fragile and precious we think instruments are, they have been traveled with and played outdoors for centuries. Well before polycarbonites, laminates, fiberglass cases and Oasis humidifiers.
I’m sure that's hit the target are far as the most fundimental things to consider are, maybe I’d add how good you generally are are just looking after your stuff too. Those factors are all so individual that it’s near impossible to give a definitive answer and then we add in how good we expect it to sound too. It’s impossible, IMHO, to give a definitive answer but sharing experience of what’s worked for someone and in what circumstances is, I believe, helpful.
Enjoy the cruise, that’s travel in style and I suspect some intercontinental travel too to get to the ‘Ship’.
In an earlier post I gave my own current solution and ended my text with reference to each person’s individuality : “For travel I bought ............ I think that something like that is a reasonable compromise for me but YMMV.”
I’m sure that's hit the target are far as the most fundimental things to consider are, maybe I’d add how good you generally are are just looking after your stuff too. Those factors are all so individual that it’s near impossible to give a definitive answer and then we add in how good we expect it to sound too. It’s impossible, IMHO, to give a definitive answer but sharing experience of what’s worked for someone and in what circumstances is, I believe, helpful.
Just like everything else on this site we all share opinions and experiences. As you say what works for one person might not work for another. Personally I don't care how i destructable a ukulele is if it sounds like crap I won't play it. I have an inexpensive Islander all laminate long neck soprano that I think sounds good and have used that for my car uke.
It really depends on your type of travel. We go car camping and I have taken my Pono tenor in it's hard case many times for multiple day ventures with no issues. Remember there are plenty of people that travel around with all solid wood guitars. My brother inlaw hitch hiked around the US for 10 years during the 60s with a Martin D28 (spruce and rosewood). He busked street corners for survival. He still performs on stage with that same guitar.
I am on a river cruise right now with my Ko'olau Spruce Myrtle tenor. We can get way too hung up on how fragile and precious we think instruments are, they have been traveled with and played outdoors for centuries. Well before polycarbonites, laminates, fiberglass cases and Oasis humidifiers.
I agree with Dave. I'm a pretty active fellow and take my ukulele with me. The same ukulele that I practice on all week goes to the farmer's market to busk on Saturday morning, goes camping with me later Saturday afternoon and then goes out for a ride on the bicycle trail on Sunday. I don't have a different ukulele for every imaginable circumstance, so one of my two ukuleles has to fill the gap. And considering that most of the time the two are living thousands of miles apart, the one that is on hand is the one that I'm playing. I am always surprised how rugged a plain old wood ukulele is. But for me, I am not so attached to either of my ukes that I'm not willing to take a bit of a risk with them. I guess that I just think that there are lots of ukuleles out there for sale, and if something were to happen to one of mine I would get a new one after the fact, and not buy numerous ukuleles in anticipation of some calamity. But at the moment I am not anticipating that something is going to happen. I take reasonably good care of them. I never leave them laying on the floor or sitting on a chair. If it starts raining I put them under something before they get too wet. I never play them in the surf, I never paddle my canoe with one of them, and I never pound tent stakes into the ground with them. I just play them.
I can hardly remember a trip in the last 10 years where I didn't take one of my ukuleles. And they are all solid wood. That said, I haven't been in such extreme temperature changes that would cause an issue. It is really about temperature and humidity.
Pretty funny to compare posts that talk about not worrying about traveling and then posts that talk about a NUD where people sit and look at an unopened case for a few hours until it has acclimated to room temperature.
...Pretty funny to compare posts that talk about not worrying about traveling and then posts that talk about a NUD where people sit and look at an unopened case for a few hours until it has acclimated to room temperature.
It really depends on your type of travel. We go car camping and I have taken my Pono tenor in it's hard case many times for multiple day ventures with no issues. Remember there are plenty of people that travel around with all solid wood guitars. My brother inlaw hitch hiked around the US for 10 years during the 60s with a Martin D28 (spruce and rosewood). He busked street corners for survival. He still performs on stage with that same guitar.
I am on a river cruise right now with my Ko'olau Spruce Myrtle tenor. We can get way too hung up on how fragile and precious we think instruments are, they have been traveled with and played outdoors for centuries. Well before polycarbonites, laminates, fiberglass cases and Oasis humidifiers.
Agreed! I am currently traveling through Vietnam (5 weeks) with my beat up '50 Martin just fine.
The locals love it very much and are generally surprised expecting a violin in the case.
AND remember that it depends on why you are taking the uke in the first place. If it's to entertain a group or for accompaniment you need good projection and volume. If it's just so you can practice, not so much. So while I think a Risa Stick uke would be ideal for lots of travel, it wouldn't help that much if what you wanted to do was lead a campfire singalong.
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