outdoor ukulele abuse

haolejohn

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I took my outdoor uke on a 50 mile hike this past week. I left the uke in the car for about 4 days prior to my trip. I strapped it to my pack and went. First i want to say that this uke is one tough cookie. I have factory tuners still and i have not perfected tuning this uke, but i find drubbing a lot then tightening back up. Works a little better. Anyways, i left the uke outside each night. Either hanging in a tree or next to fire pit or next to tent. No issues. The temps dropped into the 40s on two of the nights. I even banged the uke on numerous rocks our trees, while passing underneath our around. One time my nephew knocked my pack over and the outdoor uke took a nice little trip. Only about 10 feet our so. No ding at all. I wanted to go under a water fall with it, but decided not to simply b/c it was quite chilly. So in conclusion, the Outdoor Ukulele passed the first outdoor test.
 
That's a real good test your putting it through. Thanks for the details. That uke is tougher than I thought.

I gave up on the original tuners and put on a cheap set or regular friction tuners that I had sitting in parts box. Works great now.
 
That's a real good test your putting it through. Thanks for the details. That uke is tougher than I thought.

I gave up on the original tuners and put on a cheap set or regular friction tuners that I had sitting in parts box. Works great now.
I want to wait until i put it through the water test before i change tuners. Hopefully this week, I'll get to the lake.
 
Great review. I think some of the people who are disappointed in it never really intended to use it the way you are.
 
Great review. I think some of the people who are disappointed in it never really intended to use it the way you are.

I certainly agree with this. I keep hearing people talking about leaving it in the car or taking it to work or school and thinking that is the equivalent of 'outdoor'
To the original poster have you dropped your pack on it at all? I tend to be quite careful with my pack but I'm concerned one day I'll drop it on the uke.
 
I certainly agree with this. I keep hearing people talking about leaving it in the car or taking it to work or school and thinking that is the equivalent of 'outdoor'
To the original poster have you dropped your pack on it at all? I tend to be quite careful with my pack but I'm concerned one day I'll drop it on the uke.

I dropped my pack plenty of times on it. More of a controlled dropped. When i drop my pack i let the tent/sleeping bag compartment hit first. I was a little worried about three tuners, so i had them turned towards the bag. A little more buffer.
 
Ahh, the old backpacking days before kids. Thankfully they're almost old enough to start packing again. I still haven't figured out how I would secure this to my nasty old pack.
 
Ahh, the old backpacking days before kids. Thankfully they're almost old enough to start packing again. I still haven't figured out how I would secure this to my nasty old pack.

Just make a small spider with three or four small bungees joined at the middle with a zip-tie. Then hook it on the pack whereever it seems to go best. It isn't very heavy, so way out on the back of the pack should be fine.
 
Sounds like a good test, John. Where you happy when you played it? Did you wish you had a better instrument out there?
 
Just make a small spider with three or four small bungees joined at the middle with a zip-tie. Then hook it on the pack whereever it seems to go best. It isn't very heavy, so way out on the back of the pack should be fine.
I just paced the head in one if the water pockets and strapped it down. When i get my lap top i will post pics.
 
Sounds like a good test, John. Where you happy when you played it? Did you wish you had a better instrument out there?

I was and am happy with the sound. My previous beater uke was a second mainland red cedar. That uke had a voice that is hard to beat. But i think the lesser, but not bad, sound of the outdoor uke is acceptable considering how tough it is.
 
Here are some pics:
strapped to my pack. I eventually moved the head into that little pocket.
970341_10151579850860208_692437637_n.jpg

Hanging in a tree or on the ground:
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and strumming around the campfire. It was about 60 degrees here:
600644_10151579847950208_489479057_n.jpg
 
I got to play one this weekend. The square neck surprisingly didn't bother me a bit. :)
 
I dislike the squared necks on flukes/fleas but liked the feel of it on the Outdoor uke, seems to have a bit more taper or something.
 
I dislike the squared necks on flukes/fleas but liked the feel of it on the Outdoor uke, seems to have a bit more taper or something.

I didn't realize fleas and flukes had that neck too. I'm not a soprano man, but the odu's durability is why I got one. It passed my first test. Now I have two more tests I want to put it through.
 
Because of people like you I am starting the OUPA. The Outdoor Ukulele Protection Agency will insure that people who abuse their Outdoor Ukuleles will be punished TO THE FULL EXTENT! :) :) :)
 
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