Vintage Martin questions....

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Knit-wit
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I would love to own a vintage Martin uke someday, but for now I'll have to be satisfied with watching them on eBay and reading about them here on UU. While I'm waiting, I thought I'd throw out a couple of questions I have....

-I know that Martin ukes were available in Style O, Style 1, Style 2, Style 3 and Style 5; each one fancier than the one before. Why was there (apparently) no Style 4?

-Regarding the Style O.... My mind reads this as "Style Oh", as in the letter "O". It would really make more sense if it were the "Style Zero", as in the numeral 0. This would fit right in with the numerical sequence of the rest of the series. Which is correct (I've never heard it actually spoken)?

-Is there a definitive book about the Martin ukes? I find a lot of contradictory info on the web.

Thanks for any help you can offer. While I wait for replies I'll go back to dreaming about a matched trio of Martin Style 1's; soprano, concert and tenor....
 
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I can't help with the pronunciation, but most people I have talked to seem to call it the Style "Oh". Here is a good link

http://www.frets.com/FRETSpages/History/Martin/MartinUkes/martinukes.html

http://www.fanpop.com/external/7211

Thanks for the links! I found it to be quite interesting that, in the text of your first link, they called it both the Style O and the style 0....in the same paragraph! I only found that one reference to Style O; every other mention, in both links, was the Style 0. Even the "experts" aren't sure, I guess....
 
It's "Style Zero" but it's easier to say "Oh" as in "Oh, my... That's a fine uke..." It's like when you're giving your address or phone number to someone, you're more likely to say "Oh" than "Zero" (at least I am, anyway), or your team is "Seven and oh" or in my case, "Oh and seven" as in "Oh my, we suck..."
 
I've always heard it pronounced Style Oh. But technically it should be style zero. and yes there wasn't a style 4. Style 1 was the first model. Followed by 2, 3 and 0. Then 5. It's like trying to figure out Star Wars movies.... The good news is that the cheapest model is often the best sounding one. I have a style 0 and it plays and sounds better than anything I've tried.
 
Can anyone school me on the Martin taropatch? I've heard that the taropatch was once being modified into a 4 string uke, and gave birth to the concert size. I know the tipple was a 10 string with steel strings. How many strings on a taropatch (I'm thinking 8)? What's the difference between a vintage Martin taropatch and today's 8 string ukes? How was the taropatch tuned?

Lots of questions, I know. Enquiring minds want to know!
 
The Martin taropatch did have the concert body and a long headstock, which some cut down to make a 4 string uke. This is from http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/dennis.taylor/Page_034_richard_maingot.htm

History of the Martin 'Taro Patch'
Imported from the Hawaiian Island, the taro patch was larger than the ukulele and it had eight strings in four unison pairs. Legend has it that the Taro patch preceded the Ukulele and was derived from the small guitars brought to the islands by the Portuguese sailors about 1875. The word is related to the edible taro vegetable, a staple native food. When a group of native Hawaiian musicians introduced the ukulele to audiences in California about 1910, it attracted attention as a novelty, and vaudeville entertainers began to use it.
The first Martin ukuleles were made about 1912 and were not well received because the construction was too heavy and the tone unsatisfactory. A second attempt in 1915 was more successful and regular production began in 1916. The Taro Patch (called the Taro Patch Fiddle by the Hawaiians) was added in 1917. Although the body was larger and the scale longer, the eight gut strings were tuned to ADF#B, the same as the ukulele. It was harder to tune and to play than the ukulele, so it was not as popular during the boom years of the middle 1920's. The last Martin Taro Patches were made in 1931.

Never having used gut strings, I however would imagine that the tension would be better at the ADF#B tuning. Everything would be relative though, unless one was playing with a piano or other fixed pitch instrument.
here's a youtube page with a bunch of taropatch tunes played by the wonderful Ukulelezaza. I think it might even be for sale.

http://video.google.ca/videosearch?...sult_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CA8QqwQwAA#
 
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