A new way to design a custom ukulele

Hi Guys,

I would like to share (if I may) a new online business I started that allows you to add all your pictures and graphics to the top of a real good quality Ukulele. After you finish your design it is then made and sent directly to your door. The website is called www.strumface.com and I would really like to know what you guys think of the product and site.

We are currently not taking orders but please feel free to try the website and design a ukulele then leave your contact details and I will email you directly as soon as the product is ready to order. We are planning to have it available by early next month so we can start taking orders for the Christmas period.

I hope you guys enjoy it and please feel free to leave me any comments or suggestions.

Thank you

Jake

Please use the Videos and Links Forum for promoting business and personal sites.

Not that I'm interested, but the first thing to do would be to say how much it will cost...

Ukeval said:

Not that I'm interested, but the first thing to do would be to say how much it will cost...

Click to expand...

Hi Ukeval,

Yes I agree. The price per unit is $129.00 USD which also includes worldwide shipping. After you complete your design and press 'Add to Cart' the price is then displayed.

Thanks for your reply and I understand if your not interested however would really like to know, from your point of view, what would make it more interesting?

Thanks

jmuss85 said:

Hi Ukeval,

Yes I agree. The price per unit is $129.00 USD which also includes worldwide shipping. After you complete your design and press 'Add to Cart' the price is then displayed.

Thanks for your reply and I understand if your not interested however would really like to know, from your point of view, what would make it more interesting?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Laser etched would make it more interesting for me.
Also, real, upclose pictures of finished ukes would be cool

jmuss85 said:

Hi Ukeval,

from your point of view, what would make it more interesting?

Thanks

Click to expand...

In fact I came on the post because of the word "custom" for me that means high end ukes, and that is what I'm interested about, good quality instruments.
But I do understand people can be interested by nice looking ukes and choosing their own design for a cool price. Good luck for the business!

Oh, that's fun. I see a lot of potential to have fun with that.

Now all those people who made designs for the ukadelic contest can see their designs come to life

ukeeku said:

Laser etched would make it more interesting for me.
Also, real, upclose pictures of finished ukes would be cool

Click to expand...

Laser etched is definetly cool and an option that will be looked into in more detail in the future.

We have some pictures of the finished product on the home page at the bottom left corner window which you can slide across. More pictures will also be uploaded in the coming weeks.

However to give you a better idea about the product it is a 21'' soprano, mahogany laminate body with a 15 fret rosewood fingerboard and siver steel tunning pegs and keys. Its equipped with Aquila nylon strings and comes with a 10mm padded black travel bag

Freeda said:

Oh, that's fun. I see a lot of potential to have fun with that.

Click to expand...

Hey thanks Freeda,

If you havent already why don't you try designing one And if your really interested please join up to our mailing list and we will get in touch as soon as they are ready.

Ukeval said:

But I do understand people can be interested by nice looking ukes and choosing their own design for a cool price. Good luck for the business!

Click to expand...

Thank you

I'm running into some bugs with your website. First, I'm not sure what I did wrong, but when I dragged my uploaded photo to the face of the ukulele shape (I picked horizontal for a right-handed player) on the "design it" webpage, the image appeared upside down. This happened all four times I tried it. Why did I try it four times? Well, I ran into bug number 2. First, I tried uploading a photo before registering. When I tried to save it, I was told I had to log in, first, so I registered. ten I uploaded the photo again and tried to save the design again, and I was told I had to log in first, so I thought, okay, registering isn't the same thing as logging in. So I logged in and uploaded a photo again, but when I tried to save it again, I was told I had to log in. This happened twice. I guess that at the moment, the website isn't allowing people to save stuff, so I guess I can't show you my upside-down sunset photo ukulele, but the website ought to state that you can't save stuff now or, if you can, it should keep you logged in once you log in.

The idea of putting photos on the face of an ukulele seems like a cool idea, especially for gifts, but if this upside down thing is going to happen with uploaded photos, the web page should provide an option for repositioning the photo by flipping it horizontally or vertically. Otherwise, I have to upload the photo again upside down and hope the dragging process flips it again. Anyway, anything that increases the user's frustration level is going to decrease the number of people who get all the way to purchase.

mds725 said:

I'm not sure what I did wrong, but when I dragged my uploaded photo to the face of the ukulele shape (I picked horizontal for a right-handed player) on the "design it" webpage, the image appeared upside down. The idea of putting photos on the face of an ukulele seems like a cool idea, especially for gifts, but if this upside down thing is going to happen from time to time, the web page should provide an option for repositioning the photo by flipping it horizontally or vertically. Otherwise, I have to upload the photo again upside down and hope the dragging process flips it again.

Click to expand...

Hi there,

Yes the images right now only upload to a left sided angle, the main reason for this is it allows larger pictures to be seen in thier entirety. If the image is large and uploded in a center angle then it would flood the ukulele top and just look messy. However we are writting more code to make this expericne a little easier, pls bear with us... Hope there are no other major problems, if so please let me know

mds725 said:

I'm running into some bugs with your website. First, I'm not sure what I did wrong, but when I dragged my uploaded photo to the face of the ukulele shape (I picked horizontal for a right-handed player) on the "design it" webpage, the image appeared upside down. This happened all four times I tried it. Why did I try it four times? Well, I ran into bug number 2. First, I tried uploading a photo before registering. When I tried to save it, I was told I had to log in, first, so I registered. ten I uploaded the photo again and tried to save the design again, and I was told I had to log in first, so I thought, okay, registering isn't the same thing as logging in. So I logged in and uploaded a photo again, but when I tried to save it again, I was told I had to log in. This happened twice. I guess that at the moment, the website isn't allowing people to save stuff, so I guess I can't show you my upside-down sunset photo ukulele, but the website ought to state that you can't save stuff now or, if you can, it should keep you logged in once you log in.

Click to expand...

Ok I see whats happening. It appears that after you register it does not keep you logged in, I will look into that. For now though if you would like to save your designs please log in at the top left. After you can see your username you can then proceed to save your designs. Thanks again for the feedback.

jmuss85 said:

Hi there,

Yes the images right now only upload to a left sided angle, the main reason for this is it allows larger pictures to be seen in thier entirety. If the image is large and uploded in a center angle then it would flood the ukulele top and just look messy. However we are writting more code to make this expericne a little easier, pls bear with us... Hope there are no other major problems, if so please let me know

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure I understand this, though. One should really be able to drag the photo on to the surface of the uke in the way the photo looks when uploaded. My problem seems to have nothing to do with seeing the photo in its entirety. I was able to zoom in or zoom out do frame the photo using the uke body shape, but the photo was upside down.

mds725 said:

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure I understand this, though. One should really be able to drag the photo on to the surface of the uke in the way the photo looks when uploaded. My problem seems to have nothing to do with seeing the photo in its entirety. I was able to zoom in or zoom out do frame the photo using the uke body shape, but the photo was upside down.

Click to expand...

Yes completely understand and will look into this problem, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Just accessing your site froze my very full copy of Google Chrome (had about ten other tabs open) - Had to close and open again to solve the problem.

Do I understand that this is not a way of customising existing Ukes anyone might have in their collection, but rather customising a Uke that you have in stock? Your success or failure with the Uke playing population will surely then rest on the quality of that Uke. So, make sure it's a good one - Dolphin Quality, at least, and make sure it's been set up properly.

Of course, at the "novelty" end of the market, the quality of the instrument won't be so crucial - but if you are looking for the "commemorative" end of the market ("Our Basketball Team went to Hawaii and look at this neat souvenir of our trip we got" ) - then your price might be a bit expensive, if the whole team are to get one.

That said, I applaud anyone who takes a risk to start their own business and I wish you all the best with it.

Won't the decal deaden the sound of the uke? I put on a small mylar pickguard and took it off right away because of the muted sound with it on.

I had the same issue with not being able to orient the pic the way I wanted.

I think the price point is a bit high for what I would consider a novelty uke rather than a playable instrument.

wow! that looks so cool!!!!