What Uke to Bring - How to Decide

Jerryc41

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When I bring a uke out of the house to play somewhere, I have to decide how much risk there will be to the instrument. If I am going to a ukulele club session, I can bring anything. It's when I'm going to some kind of public venue that I think about my more expendable (less costly) ukuleles.

Our group will be playing for a weekend arts festival in Woodstock this weekend, with a 10% chance of rain. My red Waterman will be perfect if it rains, but I have to decide what else to bring in case there's no rain. Right now, it's a toss-up between a $36 Ammoon soprano and one of my cigar box ukes.

Last month, I brought my Waterman to an outdoor guitar/ukulele event with about a hundred players. The quality of the sound was irrelevant, so the Waterman was perfect.

How do you decide what to bring with you to an event?
 
Whether I am inside, in air conditioning, or outside where my hands might get sweaty makes a difference to me. My KoAloha concert is a semi-gloss finish and feels “sticky” if I get hot. My Islander laminate soprano is my camping uke. My ukulele group has a two day workshop with Kimo Hussey tomorrow & Saturday. Some of the classes are inside & some are on an outside patio area. Our temps are currently blazing in Salt Lake City......upper 90s. I’m thinking of taking my KoAloha concert & my Islander soprano. Maybe I’ll take The KoAloha one day & my Gary Gill short neck tenor the other, and the Islander both days. I have one of those uke holders that clamps onto my music stand so I can “park” the uke I’m not playing.
 
I know some folks will bring up price, but I enjoy playing a good uke. How I sound is important to me.
There is some ego and image here too. I bought a Blackbird for my take anywhere uke. It goes camping and many times to festivals. They are not cheap, but if you are spoiled like me to good instruments, then a Blackbird is the way to go. I have a Clara e-koa and my partner plays a carbon fiber Tenor, and she loves it. The BTU’s are no longer in production.
 
If I'm going somewhere that I will want to plug in I take my Mainland Mahogany concert with the MiSi. If I'm not going to plug in I take my Ohana Spruce top soprano, because it has some carrying power when it comes to sound. I don't ever take a waterman. I don't have a waterman anymore anyway, I gave them away to people who I wanted to discourage from playing the ukulele. But that's all I have, so it isn't a hard decision.
 
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I'm not a collector. All my ukes are for playing. My most-expensive uke is also the one least likely to sustain damage from weather or rough handling. Thank you, Blackbird, for solving that dilemma. Now I am free to consider other factors like:

Weight -- if I have to carry this dang uke around all day, it won't be the metal-bodied resonator.

Music -- Hawaiian night gets a traditional sound. Tin Pan Alley loves a banjo uke. Tonight it's Cowboy Songs at uke club and I'm bringing Clara because she's got a low-G for Travis picking.

Getting the Job Done -- If I'm leading a group, I need a loud uke with a sharp attack so people can hear me when I have to round 'em up and rope 'em back into the rhythm corral. (Did I mention it's Cowboy night?)

Historical Plausibility-- Not a common problem, but sometimes I get pulled into living history events or something with a historical theme. Can't play my Fluke if it's supposed to be 1925. Better to play my Firefly when it's 1860. When it's 1575 I'm probably playing dulcimer which is out of period, too, but hardly anybody knows that so I can get away with it. That metal resonator I don't want to carry -- it sure does steampunk.

And sometimes it comes down to mood. Isn't it fun to have this problem?
 
if i'm going camping, then a cheap laminate will suffice, if I am playing a gig inside or outside, I take my Kala Jazz top, if I am travelling to hotter climes, I take an electro acoustic laminate, my more expensive ukes are solely for my pleasure at home
 
My ukes range from a $150 Chinese import to custom made $780, but I bring any of them to any event. If the weather is inclement, I just find cover until it's over. I've played in rather humid conditions which makes moving on the neck difficult, but still got through it.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. http://www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: https://www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/videos
 
How do you decide what to bring with you to an event?

Everyone is different and the type of events that we go to will vary too, so yours is a question that will attract a wide spectrum of answers.

I’m lucky in that within reason I could buy any Uke that took my fancy and if I took a fancy Uke somewhere were is was trashed or stolen it wouldn’t be the end of the world (we’ll not financially). However I don’t do expensive Ukes ‘cause they would be wasted on me and I really try to look after everything that I own.

When I go out to play then I take the cheapest Uke that will do the job and also the smallest Uke that will do the job. I don’t want the potential hassle of bulky stuff and I don’t want the upset of loosing anything of much value. Whatever I take must not be fragile too and, so long as it sounds OK, I don’t worry about it not being the best instrument in the room. I’m not much for showing fancy Ukes off and so don’t mind playing anything that’s functional, just so long as it fits my hand and plays better than I can then anything’s OK.

Edit. There is also a cirtain value in the management of the expectations that you feel on you. Take a plain Uke and no one expects you to play like a pro, play well on your plain Uke and folk generally think well of you. YMMV.

Edit. Whilst I dislike the concept or fact, even, you do need to be aware of the social expectations of the other people in the group that you are with. But very of example you might be the best player there but taking a Dolphin to a Classical Music finger picking group could be a wrong move. YMMV.
 
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I am planning a 7 week road trip at present. I decided to try a few ukes out by taking them to the weekly uke group. I learned that you need to think of other people when ever you take a uke out to play away from the house. If you take a uke that does not have a good sound, it can spoil the fun for other people in the group or audience who have to listen to it. When you are out and about camping or entertaining or jamming, there are always other people around, they often do a lot of work and pay good money to get somewhere for a nice day out or a camping holiday or a seaside holiday, it is not fair to spoil it for them. Ukulele noise does not travel well no matter how well you play, if it goes 20m or through some walls it loses energy in some frequencies and does not sound like a ukulele any more.
So now I think about the people I am playing with and/or the other campers when I choose which uke to take. I always look for the best sound. We are in winter in Perth, it is raining every day, so I put my uke in a case in a waterproof bag to take it out. We play on an open verandah thing, but we stop and go to shelter if the rain starts coming in horizontal. So I can take my most expensive ukes out with me in winter (like my Howlett soprano or Wise soprano), for 200km on my motor bike or on the train for an hour, and they are fine, and the others are not forced to listen to a cheap East Asian tone while I fumble away at the chords.
Rain is easy to deal with, a sheet of silicone nylon is a great waterproof cover, and if rains while you are playing, you just stop and cover the uke with the sheet until you get to shelter or the rain stops. Also when it rains, humidity is no issue and it is usually not too hot.
So I think you should take the uke which sounds the best, that is going to be the one which creates more enjoyment for your friends standing next to you and the audience. It is also the instrument which is going to give you the best credibility with other performers at the festival.
I agree with you Bill, it seems backwards to me to relegate the best sounding ukes to the basement where no one can hear them and take your worst ones out where someone might actually hear them.
 
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I "only" have two ukes - a solid Mahogany Chinese made Gretsch tenor strung low G, and a vintage Koaloha concert. If I know ahead of time what songs will be played I will take the one that is more appropriate, if it's a more random event possibly outdoors with a crowd I will take the Gretsch. After reading the comments above I think that I may need more ukes to be prepared for more situations in life ...
 
I remember either seeing or reading an interview with Kalei Gamiao where he said his "beach uke" was a Kamaka HF-3. That really opened my eyes as that's a uke on a lot of peoples dream list and I thought yeah - play a good uke when you're out and about man. Play the damn things into sawdust if you have to, if you've got something nice then share your enjoyment of it!
 
My POV is that I bought fine instruments to play them. I bring them everywhere, whether it’s to my weekend farmers market gig, across the continent or overseas. All are in very good cases(Ameritage, GWW, Kamoa Fibreglass) each having a hydrometer and humidity control. I want to play the best every time I play. That’s why I purchased the instruments you see in my signature block. They give me joy every time I play them. I would never settle for less.
 
What I bring depends on what songs I intend to play (high G for strummy songs, low g for picky songs – although usually I'm doing both) and whether I'll be plugging in or not. I also don't believe in leaving the nicest ones at home, unless I'll be going through an extremely low-humidity neighborhood with a lot of ukulele thieves.
 
I just take my mahalo tenor :D I mean I love it, but it IS a mahalo so I wouldn't be too heartbroken if something befell it
 
I learned that you need to think of other people when ever you take a uke out to play away from the house.

One solution for me is to bring a quieter uke. I can pound away as hard as I like, but I'm not going to overpower the other players. I have to be very careful when I bring a banjo ukulele or a resonator. Still, it is possible to play them quietly.
 
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