Recent content by 70sSanO

A little backstory... About 5 years or so ago, I picked up a Fred Shields solid wood 3 string soprano ukulele. Not to argue about the legitimacy of a ukulele with only 3 stings, I found it to be the ultimate instrument for those motivationally challenged moments. I play instrumentals and with...

Hard to get a photo, but this shows a bit of the radius on the top brace. John

Let me preface this by saying that over my whole life I have been a tinkerer. And even with 30 years in aerospace, I did Govt contracs not engineering, so my tinkering has been of my own accord. I'm also not stupid where I would take a dremel to a high end instrument to make a side port. A...

A long time ago I looked into getting a padded sleeve because of Summer perspiration and sharp ukulele edges. Instead. I went with an arm rest. This was a piece together. I got the bracket from Cumberland Acoustic and had the koa arm rest made and attached. There are others out there that...

I have a couple of ukuleles made in Hawaii by Keith Ogata. I believe that Keith started making ukuleles in the late 1990's/early 2000's under the brand ASD. They are both 18" scale. I bought the darker one, his model Kinohi, in 2007. It only has a side port, which was rare back then. Keith...

Keith Ogata Tenor... 6-15/16" upper bout, 9-7/16" lower bout. Fits snug, could probably "squeeze" another 3/8" more (7.3" as noted above) but it would be pretty tight. John

So... the bridge slots on my KLOS are all the same length from the end of the bridge, not from the saddle. This reduces the break angle of the 2nd and 3rd strings. I can't tell if this was by design or for aesthetic purposes, but it has bugged me. I decided to see how deep the string recesses...

One thing that bugged me was the chrome washers that sit under the hex bushings. Since the headstock is smaller than normal the washers look enormous; like 4 big buttons. I couldn't find any black metal washers that would fit, so I picked up some nylon washers at Ace Hardware. I used a dremel...

I'm looking for an electric ukulele. I played the Godin Multiuke a few years ago and it was pretty nice. But the Pono looks pretty sweet. A few questions... Does the top wood make any difference since it is solid/chambered? Sound difference between Pono passive pick-up vs. MiSi? With no EQ...

Does anyone know when Kamaka went from a 19" scale to a 20-1/8" scale? Thanks! John

Tone is such a tough word to define. Is it brightness? Or sustain? Volume... ??? I agree that technique will improve how clean the notes are played and that should improve tone, but there is just so much technique can do with some ukes and there is no guarantee that you will get more of...

I recently picked up an old Harmony that has what appears to be Aquila Nylgut stings. But when I try to find them I can't find any sets that come with a single wound D string. Also the diameters don't match anything out there. 1st - E = .58mm/.0225 2nd - B = .75mm/.0295 3rd - G = .92mm/.036...

Just wondering if anyone has done any tinkering with Glenn Frey's You Belong to the City for the ukulele. I think it would be a great instrumental for the uke and an even better duet with a u-bass. John

The one I have is lower than the others. so maybe? I thought it would be a pain to string but it wasn't that bad. John

I recently picked up a John Fitzgerald tenor... John