What's Your Handy Uke?

Jerryc41

Jerryc41

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What do you keep sitting by your chair to pick up and play when the mood strikes?

I generally have three (in cases) sitting next to my chair, and I keep changing them. Right now, I have a Fluke, a Martin tenor, and a Timms.
 
Which chair?

Currently I have my Flight soprano on my desk at work, a Kala soprano mando-uke and my baritone by my bed, I don’t remember which in the dining room (rarely play there), and an Outdoor tenor in the car. The rest of the collection is either cases or hung in reach from the TV room sofa (I usually grab baritone, bass, or Klos tenor) or my home office/studio (usually grab vorson electric tenor or whatever’s handy)

All except the Outdoor tend to move around with my mood. Technically I guess the Outdoor moves the most, but it rarely leaves the car longer than playtime on a park bench.
 
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At work it is a 60's Tempo baritone by my office chair. In the car it is the brown Outdoor Ukulele tenor that I keep in the backseat accessible to the driver's seat. By the bed it is a 30's Globe sopranino camp uke.
 

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It depends on what is required by the current song-under-study. Since I am currently working on a song that plays better on low-G, I keep my Cordoba tenor low-G out of the humidifier, ready for frequent play.
But last week it was my Cordoba concert that stayed withing reach.
My older solid wood instruments stay in the display case most of the time.
 
The only one that isn't in a gig bag is my Kala KA-CEME, so that gets picked up now & then.
It used to be my KA-SLNG, but that's in it's bag right now.
But usually, I'll take out (of its gig bag) whichever I want to play at that particular time.

I have harmonicas & whistles that get more play right now. :D
 
Love the cute little banjoele.

All of my ukuleles are now within reach of my primary chair. One is away for repairs.
 
Jerryc41 said:
What do you keep sitting by your chair to pick up and play when the mood strikes?

I generally have three (in cases) sitting next to my chair, and I keep changing them. Right now, I have a Fluke, a Martin tenor, and a Timms.
Click to expand...

My ukulele IS my handy uke. I keep it by my sofa. I used to keep my sopranissimo by my bed but my daughter borrowed it. When my Custom arrives, that will go by my sofa, then my sopranissimo, when I get it back, will be my travelling uke, which is what it was purchased for. 17 inches comes in handy when you are trying to fit everything in to a "personal item" for flying cheapo airlines.
 
Jerryc41 said:
What do you keep sitting by your chair to pick up and play when the mood strikes?

I generally have three (in cases) sitting next to my chair, and I keep changing them. Right now, I have a Fluke, a Martin tenor, and a Timms.
Click to expand...

Doesn't it defeat the primary attraction of the Fluke to keep it in its case?
 
At present I have my KoAloha in the lounge, Ohana SK35 in the study, and Timms 'Island' style in the bedroom. I only play sopranos, and there are many more (far too many!) in the harem, awaiting their turn.

John Colter.
 
actadh said:
... In the car it is the brown Outdoor Ukulele tenor that I keep in the backseat accessible to the driver's seat...
Click to expand...

West Virginia must be a very safe place. Where I live (San Francisco area), it would be ripped off in a heartbeat. Or do you only keep it there while you're in the car?
 
Right now, within reach I have a Covered Bridge concert (re-entrant), KoAloha concert (low G), and a Kala baritone.
 
My old Makala, also referred to as Irma. My other ukuleles are kept out of sight in the basement most of the time when not being played. I have a little place down there for all of my music things and stuff. They have to all stay down there if they want to live with us. However, Irma has a hiding place behind "my" chair in a corner where company will not see her when they come to visit, but I can whip her out in an instant if my grand daughter shows up an needs a song. Or if I all of a sudden need a song. Or if my wife all of a sudden says something that makes me think that she needs a song.

Irma.jpg
 
My go-to uke is a Kiwaya KTS-4. Small, versatile, easy to play, precision sound.

18089A75-BD37-445F-87F2-61FC89101E71.jpg
 
Now that heating season has passed and the house is at 50% humidity, I have 5 ukes hanging on a wall in the living room... 2 sopranos, 2 concerts and a tenor. The one I’m taking down the most though is the 1940s Martin concert.
 
Rllink said:
However, Irma has a hiding place behind "my" chair in a corner where company will not see her when they come to visit, but I can whip her out in an instant if my grand daughter shows up an needs a song. Or if I all of a sudden need a song. Or if my wife all of a sudden says something that makes me think that she needs a song.

View attachment 118284
Click to expand...
This made me smile. Everyone needs a song, every once in awhile. Imagine a world where instead of doing something to ourselves or others that's hurtful, or unhealthy, we could grab a ukulele and have a strum instead.

Mine all live in my office, where all my music stuff is. They all receive an equal measure of love. Right now, my Moon Bird is sitting next to my chair. This morning, before I left for work it was my KoAloha long neck soprano.
 
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I have a Romero TT & a Pono Mango tenor in stands in my humidified office, with several cased tenors nearby.

Upstairs, I have several tenors standing guard next to the bed. But I tend to grab my Mike Pereira Mahogany/Spruce or Myrtle to play the most.

I often grab an upstairs uke to take down to my office for the day if I'm feeling it calling to me.
 
I recently bought a tenor walnut Fluke with plastic frets from the Marketplace specifically to be a knock around. It hangs on little stand next to my desk. It needed a little help when it arrived, had the wrong saddle and the tuners did not hold well, which I gratefully replaced with the soon to be released Graph Tech Ratio Tune-a-leles they sent me for evaluation (very good, solid, no play, light and low price). The back of the neck is not shaped the way I like and I'll address that eventually. My eight other mainly solid ukes are kept in a humidity controlled display case in my living room.

This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers
 
Next to my 'usual' seat,within arms reach, stands my beautiful sopranino. Just drop my arm over the side and there it is. For those times I just want to play; for the times I am allegedly watching TV, but the programme fails to grab me; and just because it's THERE!
 
Jerryc41 said:
If something falls on top of it, or if one of the dogs climbs over it, I would wish I had kept it in its case.
Click to expand...

I understand that. That's my concern too and why I keep my ukes in their cases. And how hard is it to just unzip or unclick a case? So, to answer your question, all of my ukes are go to ukes, for me, depending upon what music I want to play.
 
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