jongm
Well-known member
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...
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...
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