Are we about to see a rash of outdoor ukes on the marketplace?

Ive noticed a couple outdoor ukes show up for sale already. Whats the overall opinion on these? Folks have only had them in their hands a couple weeks right? After all the crazy buildup leading to their delivery I was a little surprised to see even two of them pop up for sale already. Are we due to see a rush of these hit the marketplace?

I figure that since it is so new on the market, and there were no previous opinions on it previous to the purchase, folks just took a leap of faith since it wasn't too much to try it out. I purchased two that should be at the house today (one for my mom) and since I already like my Flamingo, and like the idea of keeping it in the car, coupled with the videos and reviews of it that are out now, I was more educated in my purchase since I am in on their second run.

Anyhow, just my personal insight on this.

Dan

Yup, Dan is exactly right. A bunch of people took a chance on something brand new, and like any product, some liked it and some didn't. Since nobody could go to a store or a friend's house and try one out, it was a complete leap of faith. The marketplace is frequently full of Kamakas and Koalohas as well, so I don't think it implicitly speaks to product quality or customer satisfaction.

I thought about selling mine just so i could get a new one shipped to my Alaska home with upgraded tuners.

Didnt mean to imply they were junky or anything I was just curious since even skimming through the "I have one in my hands" I only saw a handful good or bad that really said how they liked it. I agree with you guys. New product no idea what to expect. A couple are bound to pop up but given the sheer number of folks that bought one or more in some cases I was just curious what the overall climate was on them and if an avalanche of them would show up for sale. From a basic numbers standpoint it has to be one of the most widely owned ukes on the site already

I bought one of the first ones and I like it when it is in tune. Unfortunately it has the original tuners and that makes tuning it a major pain. I have the Grover 2b tuners on the way from Outdoor Ukulele and I'm sure that once they are installed I will like it even more than I do now. It doesn't measure up to the sound quality of my KoAloha but it still sounds pretty good and due to it's construction it is a much more lay around the house kind of instrument.

I am not of a mind to sell mine. I don't have (and never have had) any instrument as durable as the ODU. As for the sound, I did not expect premium sound from a $100 plasticky stringed instrument, but I think the overall sound quality could be significantly improved if the neck could be made to contribute less to the overall tone. Despite my post of the subject resulting in a resounding yawn, I continue to believe that whatever added volume is afforded by the increased soundbox size is offset by the neck adding its own rinky tone to what is created by the body. All one has to do is play while holding the neck close to your ear and then over the sound hole to hear the change in tone between the locations.

As a common sense comparison, conventional necks are virtually silent while the ODU neck is quite loud. At some point, I will try an experiment to fill the neck with some acoustically inert stuff and see if there is an improvement in overall tone. I would be willing to bet at least a dollar fifty that there will be improvement.

bborzell said:

As a common sense comparison, conventional necks are virtually silent while the ODU neck is quite loud. At some point, I will try an experiment to fill the neck with some acoustically inert stuff and see if there is an improvement in overall tone. I would be willing to bet at least a dollar fifty that there will be improvement.

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The problem is the effort involved in filling the neck and unfilling it later. I'm still waiting for advice on the best strings to use. Of course I have a set of worth hard clears still sitting at home which I really need to put on this thing. Cutting strings in thirds is harder than halves too. And there's other stuff like yard work, kid chasing, remodelling, etc.

In a quiet room my ODU does not sound the best, but remember it is not an expensive instrument.
At the beach where the wind is blowing and the waves are crashing, it sounds great.
When I am sailing there is a lot of noise and the ODU plays well.
Last camping trip it was great around the campfire and outdoors, but when it came time for me to perform I used my all koa tenor.
It is called and Outdoor Ukulele for a reason, I am keeping mine.

bnolsen said:

The problem is the effort involved in filling the neck and unfilling it later. I'm still waiting for advice on the best strings to use. Of course I have a set of worth hard clears still sitting at home which I really need to put on this thing. Cutting strings in thirds is harder than halves too. And there's other stuff like yard work, kid chasing, remodelling, etc.

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I am quite happy with Martin strings. If I ever get around to filling the neck, my guess is that the Martins will still be keepers.

bborzell said:

I am quite happy with Martin strings. If I ever get around to filling the neck, my guess is that the Martins will still be keepers.

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I think any decent fluorocarbons will be an upgrade- I put Fremonts on mine (the only set I had laying around) and the sound definitely improved. Good enough as my emergency leave-it-in-car / camping uke.