Made a smartphone mount for music on my bass uke.

This coming Wednesday a few members of the uke group to which I belong will be performing at the UCLA/Mattel Children's Wing for the kids to whom we donated ukuleles via The Ukulele Kids Club. We have to be very portable, so no music stands, bags or any other gear than our instruments.

Our leader gave us the set list of about 10 songs a few days ago to memorize, a few of which I know, the others I fumble through. Since I want to do well, I decided to figure out a way to hold the music on my bass uke. I'm going to be using my custom fretless acoustic bass uke and a small 10w battery amp with a shoulder strap slug over me (or a new Blackstar Fly 3 6w if it arrives in time).

At first I looked at a small camera suction mount system, but in testing, they wouldn't adhere long enough. So I rummaged around my stash of camera accessories and found a mount and adapters that worked, though to mount it to the uke, I had to drill 4 small holes. For me it's worth it to have the ability to see the music comfortably and securely. I already had a holder for my iPhone that I use when I record the audio of our rehearsals, so it was just a matter of connecting the other parts.

The first shot is what it looks like when I play, the others are showing the mount and adapters.

Well done sir! :worship:

That is crazy cool! You had me till you said drill. Although I may have a uke I wouldn't mind drilling. Hmm.

Ziret said:

That is crazy cool! You had me till you said drill. Although I may have a uke I wouldn't mind drilling. Hmm.

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If you don't like drill, there are shoulder mount tools for smart phones and cameras.

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Jim Hanks said:

Well done sir! :worship:

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Thanks very much Jim.

zztush said:

If you don't like drill, there are shoulder mount tools for smart phones and cameras.

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That's interesting, will have to look at that too.

Neat job.

zztush said:

... there are shoulder mount tools for smart phones and cameras.

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Never seen them before, so thanks for bringing them to my attention.

cool idea brother!

Have you seen the Castiv? see http://www.macworld.com/article/1152190/guitar_sidekick.html


and some folks have done similar, but DIY things with a binder clip and a capo (more in the sidebar on YT when you click through the video to watch on YT)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8EnyO4t1b4

Not sure if the Castiv would work with the fat strings of a uke bass and the pressure from compression might cause the strings to sausage or get flattened, and thus weaken them...caution is advised

That's cool! the shoulder mount idea is cool too...10 songs to memorize!? Ain't gonna happen for me, I don't know any song all the way through. I've never been good at memorizing songs and now that I'm 60 something, it's even worse. I hate it when somebody goes, "everybody knows this one"...

Booli said:

Have you seen the Castiv? And some folks have done similar, but DIY things with a binder clip and a capo

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Yes, that was the first one I saw. I thought the same as you warned, and I have nerve damage in my neck so I can't keep my head turned sidways very long, and it puts the screen a little too far away to read with my glasses.

UkerDanno said:

...10 songs to memorize!? Ain't gonna happen for me, I don't know any song all the way through. I've never been good at memorizing songs and now that I'm 60 something, it's even worse. I hate it when somebody goes, "everybody knows this one"...

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I'm 67 and can memorize given enough time, I actually do know 3-4 of the songs, but I want to do well at the performance so having the music will help. Our leader thought about taping the lead sheets to her back, but I put all kinds of notation on my sheets to play bass uke.