The Outdoor Ukulele???

I did a search here as I became interested in this unique uke awhile back. Seems there was mixed reviews on it but at that time many people had ordered it but not received it. I know there was some issues with the tuners and from the current web site that seems to have been addressed.

I also see they are taking pre orders on a Tenor version at about $150.

So for those of you who now have owned one for awhile what is your current opinion of this instrument?

Also, I heard it in soprano version with low G aquila red strings and at least from the video it sounded pretty sweet. They recommend that in a D tuning. With that tuning all the chords would be the same as playing in Standard tuning correct?

I'm still thinking of buying one as I plan on a summer of camping in Oregon's High Desert but would like some opinions of those who have spent time with the instrument. Thanks.

I'm enjoying my outdoor uke for exactly the reasons I bought it. It is robost and I can tote it around town, leave it in my car, take it on my bike and play it on my canoe.

I bought it used and it came strung with Worth browns which sound good.

It doesn't play as nicely as my Koaloha but I would never take my koa or mango ukes the places that I take the OU.

would you buy it again?

I bought one and returned it. If you use the search engines and search for outdoor uke you'll find a lot of opinions. The one that I had was not better than a $25 Woodi that I got off ebay, in fact it was worse than the Woodi which isn't that good. If you want something indestructible to bash around with get a Makala Dolphin. If you want something bigger, get a Fluke or Flea.

Icelander53 said:

would you buy it again?

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Yes, I would buy it again.

There are lots of cheap wood ukes around that could be considered but in my case one of my main uses for this ukulele is to play it while out on the water. The fact that it is waterproof is a major consideration for me. The uke does get wet when we are out paddling. And we are in salt water. And it does get knocked around in the boat and on land. I don't think a wood ukulele would survive the abuse and the moisture that this one has already gone through and will go through some more.

So, for my purposes there is no better uke than the outdoor, waterproof, uke.

I bought one exclusively for travel, thought i would love it and I found it unplayable. Just couldn't get past how bad it was playing, high frets, mine went sharp all over, impossible to keep in tune. oh and the sound it made, just clangy and rough. I ended up giving it to my 3 year old to play with and buying a used fluke and really cheap Kala pineapple, the fluke i take when i am traveling and am not likely to get really bashed around / wet / etc. the Kala goes everywhere else and has been through all manner of ugly and keeps ticking. That being said, i don't paddle anymore (broken back put paid to that) and pretty much all of my travel is on land so sea water is not such a big problem for me, perhaps the OU fits specifically that situation, not sure, i think i'd still get a korala or something that sounds a lot better. Whenever you talk to anyone about the UO there is always a BUT, like "it's great for what it is" or "it sounds OK if i play it just like this". IMO there are too many other decent and rugged instruments out there to accept this one at the price point it's at.

Would i buy another, NO! Would i return this one if i could, YES! Your milage may vary, this is just my experience and opinions...

As much as I would love for the outdoor ukulele to have been a viable option for me it simply wasn't even close. The one I played at UWC last year was dismal. No matter how lightly I fingered it open position chords were terrible. Several of us were passing it around and laughing about how bad it was.

I suspect that if I had not been playing well-set up instruments almost exclusively for the past several years my opinion of it might have been higher. However, once you've developed a reasonably good ear you find that there really are things that are worse than having no instrument at all.

It's a shame because it's a wonderful idea just poorly executed. I would love to have a rugged uke that I could strap to the luggage rack on my motorcycle and head for the open road. I wouldn't even mind if the tone was poor or the volume low - but, the one thing I can't forgive is horrible first-position intonation and if I had to use one phrase to describe the OU I played, horrible first-position intonation would be it. With what appears to be a hollow nut it does not appear that the slots could be filed down to correct the situation.

In comparison, the $30 Woodi plastic ukes are a bit better out of the box (as far as first position intonation goes) than the OU and they have a "zero fret" that can be sanded down to improve them further. The Woodi is still not a great uke, but it is much cheaper and the first-position intonation can be made tolerable.

I just had a thought of what I would probably attempt if I'd gotten stuck with an OU. I would probably drill a small hole in the nut and see if I could inject epoxy into it (with the uke inverted so the epoxy would fill the hollow behind the nut). Then maybe one could file the nut down enough to correct the poor first-position intonation. The frets would still be rather high, so one would still have to fret lightly, or perhaps one could sand those down once the nut was corrected.

Again, it's really sad, because if the folks who created the OU had just known enough about instruments to realize how critical it is that the nut and frets not be too high, it could have been so much better without any additional cost.


John

I found that changing the strings to Worths made a big difference. Fat diameter strings didn't work well on it.

Have one, love it, would buy it again.

I purchased an Outdoor Uke during their second run, and I love it. Yeah, it's no wood uke, but I could never abuse any uke like the abuse my Outdoor Uke has taken. You can't even tell I've abused mine as much as I did. It's lived in my car since I purchased it. The car gets hot sitting in the summer sun, and we had some -20 temps in Chicago, and the uke survived it. I purchased it to live outside for most of its life in my car, motorcycle, camping, fishing, hiking, etc. and it has survived all that. I would TOTALLY purchase another one.

For detailed pictures and my thoughts on it, here's a review I posted a couple of months ago: http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?91963-Outdoor-Uke-with-Aquila-Reds

Dan

Thanks for all the great input you guys. Based on your overall responses I'm going to forgo buying one until I can actually play it. That might be unlikely for quite a while and maybe forever. I'll continue on with my search.

The truth is I'm not that abusive out in the desert anymore. After two knee surgeries almost 25 years of backpacking out there is over and now it's car camping in campgrounds and so damage to any uke might be not that likely. I'm into taking care of my stuff to a degree. However I want the option to throw it around if the need arises.

For those interested, Outdoor Uke is taking pre-orders for their new Tenor Uke, and is offering a free matching soprano for the first two hundred orders.

I didn't see that offer on their site. Can you direct me to it?

Am I allowed to place commercial for-profit links on the UU boards? It came up through my facebook feed. I will gladly post it if that is allowed. I am not in anyway affiliated with Outdoor Ukulele.

Icelander53 said:

I didn't see that offer on their site. Can you direct me to it?

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If you have 'liked' them on FB you will see this offer.

Here is the link to the tenor pre-order site. A soprano IS being offered up with the tenor pre-order.

http://outdoorukulele.com/tenor

Thanks I just placed an order. I'm a sucker for those two for one deals.

WKerrigan said:

For those interested, Outdoor Uke is taking pre-orders for their new Tenor Uke, and is offering a free matching soprano for the first two hundred orders.

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And this has got me so tempted and yet reading this thread has made me think twice.. Are they really that bad? Some people seem to love and would buy again, some seem to hate... Need some good sound reviews.. And quick, only 50 spots left! Aha

Edit:

ARGH! I'm a sucker too Icelander Gone and ordered my first tenor, and my first outdoor uke, with my first set of Aquila Reds, so many firsts! Celebrating my first win in the seasons too! EXCITEMENT! I liked the sound on here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JMixBNkRvg and yeah, giving it a go!

That's funny, I ordered the Reds to try also. I also got a set with low G to try on the soprano in a D tuning.

That's the vid that got me interested also. Lets hope for the best.

I've just had to cop to the fact that I'm going to be collecting ukes. :drool:

I really like mine. Sure, it doesn't sound like a wood uke and the playability is a little funky to get used to, but with low G Aquila Reds on it, it sounds good and has a lot of character.

$20-$40 ukes are a dime a dozen, they all look the same, play the same and feel the same. Generally (even Dolphin lovers can attest to this) they leave a lot to be desired by discerning musicians. So does the ODU. The big difference is, you pay $60 more for something that will last forever and is essentially bombproof, being made in the USA by a small team of really cool people. If you don't have $100 to spend on a uke, then you don't need to look at the ODU. If you save a little bit you'll have an instrument that sounds pretty cool, feels pretty cool and looks fantastic.

I have had vintage ukes, really nice Koa ukes, Hawaiian-made ukes but the only one that anyone ever said "Woah, that's cool!!" to is my ODU. Maybe that's because I run around with a lot of climbers, but that's the impression it makes.