a go anywhere ukulele!

captain ukulele's backpacker uke:

concert scale. pukatea top. multi-colored rewarewa back, mangeao neck, kowhai headstock. puriri sides, fretboard and bridge. all woods indigenous to new zealand. aquila nyglut strings. with passive pickup. comes with a drum key and some beeswax. also with a simple cloth bag. NZ$200. more pics here.



say you're backpacking and you're backpacking light: in a 20-litre pack will go 2 pairs of shorts, 4 shirts, a light jacket, some toiletries, some food (maybe granola bars, nuts, dried fruits), and a 1.5-litre water bladder. all good for 2-3 days of trekking or just travelling. in my experience, a soprano will have no space in the backpack. i just came back from 3 days out (travel to the foot of a mountain i climbed, a day just relaxing in a hot-spring resort after, then back to the city) and my backpacker ukulele made space for an extra small towel and more food!

also, say you bike to go work at a university and in your messenger bag goes 2-3 books, a netbook, a notebook, an assortment of pens, papers to read and grade, lunch... again in my experience, there isn't going to be any space for a soprano. but my backpacker uke fits right in.

extreme portability is why i got my backpacker uke and it delivers.

but of course it is a good thing that it plays well. the thin neck took some time for me to get used to. suddenly have more of my left hand than usual. tone is great. intonation is consistent. resonance is improved with half a step down tuning, as found out by mmstan. it is not as loud as your regular uke. but it does have a pickup so not a thing that an amplifier can't fix. you can see and hear whetu playing his backpacker unplugged here. and amplified here (scroll to the bottom of the page). he does his uke more justice than i do mine. his uke sounds brighter, mine's more mellow.

built is great. the woods are beautiful. my uke came with a headstock, and on it is a copy of my igorot tattoo. bevan, the luthier behind captain ukulele, calls it the "igorot uke." i did a few tweaks on mine: (1) the wood texture wasn't that smooth so i applied a few coats of the beeswax and left it on overnight, then i sanded it with 1000 cw grade silicon carbide abrasive paper. now it feels great. (2) the strings dug grooves into the bottom edge on the way to the tuners. it probably was restrung before i got it because there were extra grooves. i sanded the whole bottom edge into a curve that allows the strings to lie more flat on the uke top and at the same time removed the extra grooves. (3) while re-stringing, the drum key was slipping on the first peg as i tuned. i remove about 2-3 millimeters from the tip of the drum key with a hacksaw to expose the part that grips the tuner pegs when tuning. no more slipping. still, bevan is sending replacement pegs...

so, great customer service as well. i ordered through email exchange that was more friendly than the regular business exchange. bevan was very accommodating. he sent me pictures while the uke was being built and then sent me a video while i waited impatiently for it to get to me.

i can only pay attention to one uke at a time so i gave my other uke away. the backpacker doesn't make me want for other ukes. well, at least for now.

i named my backpacker uke waya. short for wayawaya. in my first language it means freedom...

Did he charge you extra for your special headstock? Is "wayawaya" Illoco?

hello ahnko. no charge for the headstock as i was his first buyer from the philippines, he said. this was very fine by me. haha. yup, wayawaya's an ilocano word...

Congratulations, your new 'ukulele it's AWESOME. I really like that headstock design but me personally prefer tuners in the headstock and a standard bridge design to keep the bottom of body clean and flat, and also preventing contact of strings on top sound board. I think I'll write the Captain and ask if it's doable not that I can afford this right now. Plenty Ilocanos here in Hawai'i, and I have many Ilocano friends here. LOVE lechon, pinacbet, mungo beans, chicken paria, marungai (kalamungai) leaves in my soup, Filipino food in general. Maybe I should have married a pinay magandangdalaga.

konichiwa ahnko. i studied and then worked in japan for 3 years. i like lots of japanese food but especially ramen. also soba. green tea is part of my everyday. my trip to hawaii is still pending. i have lots of relatives there. maybe i should apply for a research grant that will be based in the university of hawaii...

bevan told me that he's been getting an order of backpacker daily for 2 weeks... he's also open to revisions in the design to address concerns. mmstan suggested a hardwood binding on the bottom part of the soundboard to prevent the strings digging in, for example...

Bevan just emailed me back and said he could do all that I requested (soprano with headstock and friction tuners, string attachment on bridge, no pickup) no problem at a very fair price. Now all I need to do is sell some more of my other 'ukuleles, or maybe a couple swords, fishing nets, outboard motor, better look around for expendable items. You gotta try Hawaiian food, you'd love it!

congratulations on your soon to be uke! i was going to advice you to ask bevan to make space for a possible future pickup because the bottom side can get crowded but then i remembered you want yours with friction tuners on the headstock... he is easy to talk to and his prices are reasonable. but he is considering increasing the price as a way to manage the number of orders he is getting. either that or the wait is going to be longer...

the idea of hawaiian food here is anything with pineapple. so hawaiian pizza is ham and sausage pizza with pineapple bits. caldereta can be hawaiian, i guess. hahaha. if i am going to go on a hunt for hawaiian food, what should i look for?

video! well not really... just an mp3 with some pictures. if it doesn't sound good to you then it is my fault not the uke's:



edit: recorded with a netbook's built-in microphone - not the best hardware. kind of noisy too...

Aloha Ahnko Honu,
Congrats on locking in on your new purchase, now you've joined our backpacker club eh...COOL!!!
Jus why did you go for a soprano, they're so small already...when I received mine, I initally thought it was a soprano.
What is the time frame for yours now, since he has alot more orders now....Betcha jus can't wait..I wuz like dat!!
What I didn't think of when I ordered mine was to get it a couple more frets..hence a longer neck..A super...
Malama Pono and A Hui Ho!!! MM Stan...

Aloha JongM,
That was pretty cool, liked your fingerpicking very much...enjoyed it!! too bad the video didn't work out....
As for Hawaiian food, do they have any Authentic traditional hawaiian food there?? Like lau- lau, poi, haupia....kalua pork...squid luau..aku poki....
Those are my fav's...and the now accepted as traditional...Lomi Salmon and chicken long rice....
Take Care, MM Stan...

haha, i am a poseur mmstan. that's all of my fingerpicking. thanks for the nice words though. and thanks for the list of hawaiian food. haven't found a place that makes and serves them but i am on the hunt....

edited the original post to link the woods to some information in wikipedia.

mm stan said:

Aloha Ahnko Honu,
Congrats on locking in on your new purchase, now you've joined our backpacker club eh...COOL!!!
Jus why did you go for a soprano, they're so small already...when I received mine, I initally thought it was a soprano.
What is the time frame for yours now, since he has alot more orders now....Betcha jus can't wait..I wuz like dat!!
What I didn't think of when I ordered mine was to get it a couple more frets..hence a longer neck..A super...
Malama Pono and A Hui Ho!!! MM Stan...

Click to expand...

I didn't order mine yet, don't have the finances ready, have to sell stuff first because my fixed income does not allow for extravagances. I don't expect him to honor his initial quote if gaining these finances takes too long. I have a preferance for the soprano sound but also the extra portability appeals to me. This would be my solitude 'ukulele to make up into the mountains alone and be one with nature, no need amp since I'm the only one listening, well only human anyways.

hello ahnko. took mine on a 1090 meter mountain (mt. makiling) solo climb. played it during my rest stops and at the peak. made the climb a lot easier and fun. there is also a kind of solemness to playing it in the forest even when i strummed it loud. i can attest to the backpacker's portability. and durability. i just shoved it in the outside mesh pocket of my pack. during the final kilometer ascent, the trail narrowed to almost nothing and my bag kept getting caught in vines and branches. also getting bumped into fallen trees as i wiggle my way in the obstacle course of a path. so did my uke as it was outside of the bag. after all these abuse, all it had to show was a dirty gig bag (actually it was just a sock for the uke made of cloth and no padding). really great to bring along... anywhere!

Hey, seems like uke'n do everything with it!

hmm, i'm not really sure if uke'n do everything with it. haven't tried yet. everything's so many things and i don't know where to start. but it has been suggested that i can do laundry with it in the old traditional filipino way of hammering away the dirt and stain with a palu-palo
that, it is insisted, is what my uke really deep inside. it has also been suggested that i can start a fraternity and haze new members with my uke as paddle...

so far, "everything" has been all about hitting. i don't know why. my uke is all about peace, really.

more photos of backpackers owned by uu members. different woods. tops especially. all in the same thread but on different pages. just scroll down if you don't see the photos immediately:

whetu's
mmstan's
cocohonk's
finchiekins the owl's

i am curious about the sounds from the different tops...

new backpacker owner: suzukhammer

great uke! maganda!

salamat rasputinsghost...

some updates:

1. my uke's saddle slides down. the saddle sits on the pickup's piezo and it moves two or three millimeters down (to the side that is downwards) when playing. it makes a lot of difference to playability as the 1st string gets too close to the fretboard's edge and slips with the fingers when playing fast or hard. i can and do move it up again but then it goes down again... posted the problem on uke tech support. you can read the suggested solutions and my stop-gap measure here.

2. the multi-colored rewarewa back develop minute/hairline cracks at the side close to the base. bevan said he used the same back on two other ukes (both sopranos, so no danger to current backpacker owners) and one also had cracks. no effects on sound. it still worried me though. consulted bevan and mmstan and both suggested stabilizing the cracks with glue (superglue or wood glue with sawdust). postponed the repair as the cracks disappeared after i applied vitamin e rich rice bran oil (actually natural massage oil, i thought if it is good for the skin then it is good for my uke). they reappear, i later realized, when left for a long time (whole day) in air conditioned room that is set too cold. and disappear after some time in normal humid manila air. and with a touch of rice bran oil. but then i finally decided to superglue the small cracks. i directly exposed the uke's back to air conditioned air until the crack reappeared. applied superglue using the tip a pin. waited for the glue to seep in and dry. sanded off the excess glue until back is leveled. applied rice bran oil and then beeswax. waited an hour and sanded again. verified if all these worked by exposing the uke's back to the cold again the next day. no more cracks!

3. a more happy update: been playing the uke a lot since it is my only ukulele. the sound is getting better and better. i think. i was able to borrow a cheap amplifier and the uke sounds cool with it. been practicing and will post an amplified sound sample soon...

I'm glad you got the cracks fixed! Hope you get the saddle thing sorted out too, though I'm not sure I understand what exactly happened with the saddle. Would have a picture of the saddle sliding down?

(my) updates:
1. I've enjoyed playing with this uke. It's really very adorable and very charming. Maybe it's the size as well, but it pretty much compels one to pick it up and play it.

2. I picked thin martin fluorocarbon strings instead of aquilas (which I like, but not a huge fan of) or worths (which I would have picked, but wanted to try something I haven't before) on the uke. And so far, I'm really liking these Martins on this uke (and I'd probably try on other ukes too when it's time to change strings). It's always nice to find new strings you like.

3. Unfortunately, I finally tried amping the uke, but alas, the pickup on my backpacker wasn't working properly. At first I thought it was because I didn't have a preamp, but after consulting with Bevan, it turns out there might be a real issue with the pickup. Fortunately, all I have to do is mail it back to him (it does help that I am a bit closer to NZ than if I was in the US) and he'd fix it for me. Of course, it is definitely inconvenient (and if you have this backpacker, you'd understand - you don't want to part with it once you have it!), but I have only good things to say about the customer service at Captain Ukuleles so far - basically, once I discovered the wonky pickup, I just wrote to him what happened, he diagnosed the problem, apologized for it and quickly offered to fix it (and he'd even throw in something extra for the inconvenience. Actually, at first, he offered to make another uke, but other than the pickup, there's nothing wrong with this uke, so that seemed a tad dramatic as a solution, so I asked him to try fixing it first. Plus, I really like the spalted tawa). So, even though it is a bummer of a situation, so far, I'm very impressed with how everything was dealt with.

3. I'll update on the progress (I just mailed it back yesterday, so it will be a while.) Once I get the uke back, I'd get in some sound samples so you can compare how different woods/strings would sound on them.

must be hard to part with your backpacker. bevan offered to replace mine as well if the cracks get bigger but i like the many colors of my uke's rewarewa back. sending it back is also out of the question as i can't part with it. so i told him i'll repair the uke myself... almost a week now, twice left in a cold room. the cracks seem to have stabilized. and i can't see them anymore... hope all goes well with your backpacker.

i find that i can't explain the sliding saddle well (the effect is the A string gets too close to the fretboard's edge and it sometimes slips over the edge when fretting it). but the small amount of superglue stopped the saddle sliding. and i am currently looking for TUSQ to replace the old one. or maybe i'll just shim the saddle's sides...