What is your traveler?

Ukecaster

Ukecaster

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While I always thought a soprano is the best uke for travel due to its small size (dont want even smaller sized ukes YMMV), I find that my concert Flea is best for that: big sound & volume, concert scale for easier fingering, and I find it fits in most all soprano gig bags, which I can easily stash in my REI backpack when traveling, along with lots of other stuff too. I was surprised when I discovered the concert Flea would easily fit in my nice Kaces soprano gig bag. Even more so when I found it would fit in the slimmer/smaller Flight gig bag, which I almost dumped, since it seemed so flimsy. Glad I kept it, see how small it is next to the Kaces bag. Yeah, less cushioning, but Fleas dont need much protection.

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I have a Flight TUS35 that works wonderfully well for throwing in a backpack. But my newer Clara will likely become my traveller for most trips.
 
Just got a new job where I'll be traveling a lot so I ordered a Risa stick today to celebrate. It will replace my "Vox" solid body on the road. My main concern is sound levels in hotels and durability, hoping the Risa will cover these bases.
 
Generally Martin OXK. Mine has taken a beating and always seems to sound great & play easy.
 
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Blackbird Clara. Purpose built for travel and outdoors. Sounds fantastic.
 
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Ukecaster said:
While I always thought a soprano is the best uke for travel due to its small size (dont want even smaller sized ukes YMMV), I find that my concert Flea is best for that: big sound & volume, concert scale for easier fingering, and I find it fits in most all soprano gig bags, which I can easily stash in my REI backpack when traveling, along with lots of other stuff too. I was surprised when I discovered the concert Flea would easily fit in my nice Kaces soprano gig bag. Even more so when I found it would fit in the slimmer/smaller Flight gig bag, which I almost dumped, since it seemed so flimsy. Glad I kept it, see how small it is next to the Kaces bag. Yeah, less cushioning, but Fleas dont need much protection.

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That Fight bag isn't a lot different than a plastic grocery bag. But it's super cool that you can fit the concert Flea in a soprano gig bag. Best of both worlds.

I bring either my Flight or whichever concert I've been practicing on, depending on the destination. I don't travel all that much, so I don't need anything else dedicated to travel. Which isn't to say I don't want a Fluke or Blackbird.
 
I recently bought a tenor Fluke to be my beater uke, I only play tenor. Fits very well in a compact tenor gig bag.

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
 
An Ohana Sopranissimo Solid Spruce/Mahogany. It is small enough to fit in a "personal item" bag with some clothes for air travel and, despite it's size, has the volume and sustain of much larger ukes, due to its solid spruce top, Only drawback is it's harder to hold to play. Fingering for my small fingers isn't bad.
 
My used and abused gold label Kamaka. Such a sweet sound from a dinged and damaged uke! I take it traveling but I definitely try avoid any further damage (unlike prior owners).
 
If I were to take one travelling, it would be my old & trusty Kala KA-SLNG long neck soprano, or my concert RISA solid/stick, depending on whether I want volume or not. :music:
 
I agree with Bill1 about my traveling uke must be good sounding. Life is too short to play a crappy sounding uke when away from home. For the past 3 years I have taken my Koolau CS Spruce-myrtle tenor to friends cottages, car camping, on ocean and river cruises and flying to tropical destinations.

Last year I did a 7 day cycling trip and took my Fred Shields super soprano walnut pineapple, sounds like a tasty desert, :p. A bike packing trip demands something smaller then a tenor, which is my preferred size.
 
I always take my Martin S1 out if I ever need a travelling uke. In fact, it’s hardly in its gigbag. Recently the bridge popped off clean. Sent it to a guitar repair shop and they said the glue dried off and applied a fresh dose of hide glue. Now S1 is good as before and ready for next outing.
 
Yes, traveling, or even going to a jam, requires some thought. I brought my new Cocobolo soprano to a jam last night, and I found myself worrying about bumping it into the table or someone else's uke. When I'm going to a uke fest, I prefer small to large, and less expensive to more expensive. The Klos is a tenor, but nothing is going to hurt it. I don't have any ukes that I would accept being banged up, so a big event usually means a less-than-best uke. For my regular Saturday sessions, I can bring anything because it's a smaller group, and we have enough room.
 
Jerryc41 said:
Aside from sentimental value or some historical significance, why even have a uke that doesn't sound good? If a uke sounded so bad that I didn't want to play it, I'd unload it.
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You missed the point. Many people seem to buy an inexpensive beater uke for their travels. They only play that one when away from home. If you are at a busy jam or Uke Fest where it could get bashed then sure that makes sense. But when traveling on vacation, visting friends, camping, cottaging, staying at resorts etc, bring a uke you love the sound of.
 
DownUpDave said:
You missed the point. Many people seem to buy an inexpensive beater uke for their travels. They only play that one when away from home. If you are at a busy jam or Uke Fest where it could get bashed then sure that makes sense. But when traveling on vacation, visting friends, camping, cottaging, staying at resorts etc, bring a uke you love the sound of.
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That is why I bought the Blackbird Clara. I had tried several other ukes for travel & camping. Either the size, or the sound, or both didn't suit me. Some people think the Clara is way too expensive to be a travel & outdoor uke. Yes, it is expensive, but it's purpose built to be a "take anywhere" ukulele with a fantastic sound.
 
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