Have you ever seen this Plastic Ukulele before?

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I picked this up for $15. It's from the 1950's and called a "Happy Tune" ukulele. It's all plastic with friction tuning pegs (no screws ito tighten pegs - it must have rubber washers to keep the pegs from moving). I've seen a booklet with the Happy Tune name on it. But I've never seen any other uke than this one.

Do you know anybody who has one? Have you ever seen another Happy Tune uke? THX!

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Be very careful... I understand that PUAS is an extremely contagious form of regular UAS

I am kinda' worried about it because I have a plastic Aloha uke on its way to me right now.
 
$15.00 bucks...holy smokes...You scored..wow wee....okay I'll bite, how does it sound....yup you're teasing us again..ha ha
 
Looks like the plastic ukulele version of Excalibur.
 
Cool! Some songs to play on that one:

Happy Trails, Happy Together, Happy Days, Happy Birthday, Happy Talk, Happy Nation, Happiness is Warm Gun, Don't Worry Be Happy
 
Made by Lapin Products in the 19950s. More here:
http://www.chordmaster.org/plasticukuleles.html

Thanks! I should have checked Antoine's site first. Still, though, he hasn't seen another one but mine. I provided the photos of the Happy Tune for his site.

So does it sound happy when you play a tune on it?

Yes, a happy tune :) See:



Maybe, you should ask Antoine at chordmaster.org
He's nice, and love's plastic ukulele, he also has great knowledge about them…

He's great. But I haven't seen him do anything on Youtube for a while.
 
Really? You got the uke in that video for $15. I'm mad jelly bro. That's a really good deal. :D
 
What a stylin' little uke!

alanr, I have an Aloha, they are nice players. :)
 
I just bought a Happy Tune today! I was scouting around a used music shop here in Seattle and stumbled across one, for much more than ukisociety paid! And it's in worse condition! But I still feel like I got a great deal - sounds bright and cheerful, plays really smoothly, just a goofy blast from the past. Apparently they sold for $4.99 back in the 50s, which would be $44.69 today. The only recent all plastic ukes I've heard of are from Kiwaya, you can see them here

http://www.kiwayaukuleles.com/noveltyukuleles.html

With a $150 msrp. Don't know if any of you have tried them.

Mine came with el cheapo plastic strings and sounds just fine. Has anybody tried running some good strings on a plastic uke? Worth, Aquila, etc?
 
$15.00 bucks...holy smokes...You scored..wow wee....okay I'll bite, how does it sound....yup you're teasing us again..ha ha

Hey Stan, hate to bump in on this thread, but so glad to see you back!

And wow, that's a cool looking plastic uke!!
 
I just bought a Happy Tune today! I was scouting around a used music shop here in Seattle and stumbled across one, for much more than ukisociety paid! And it's in worse condition! But I still feel like I got a great deal - sounds bright and cheerful, plays really smoothly, just a goofy blast from the past. Apparently they sold for $4.99 back in the 50s, which would be $44.69 today. The only recent all plastic ukes I've heard of are from Kiwaya, you can see them here

http://www.kiwayaukuleles.com/noveltyukuleles.html

With a $150 msrp. Don't know if any of you have tried them.

Mine came with el cheapo plastic strings and sounds just fine. Has anybody tried running some good strings on a plastic uke? Worth, Aquila, etc?

I just found an Islander a few weeks ago, and immediately put some Martin strings on it. You can check out how those sound in these two vids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax2_hE3NmPs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp1jF2l8wZY&feature=related

Good luck with it!
 
I think there are probably three main reasons to be interested in plastic Ukes. One, as a collectors' oddity, great memorabilia potential there. Two, as Uke lore history, where the different plastic Ukes reflect changing attitudes toward the instrument, Polynesian exotic, cowboy, crooner, flapper, etc. And three (where my interests fall), to play in the bathtub. :music:

Tip: Coat those tuning gears with heavy grease to prevent rust!
 
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