Recent content by kissing

  1. kissing

    Pickups and live sound

    I don't entirely agree, though it depends a lot on what you define as "crappy acoustic sound". If crappy includes the setup (poor action, lots of buzzing, bad saddle fit, etc) then you are probably right. However, it would be interesting to see if people can reliably tell the difference between...
  2. kissing

    Pickups and live sound

    I haven't tried it myself, but in theory violin clip on mics are no different to other kinds of mics right? If you talk or sing through it, it will amplify your voice like any other mic. Thus I can't think how it wouldn't work with an ukulele. Ukulele and guitars have clip on mics too made...
  3. kissing

    Pickups and live sound

    I'd say that once you plug in, the pickup is doing most of the work. A better quality acoustic ukulele wouldn't necessarily sound better than an 'ordinary' acoustic ukulele through the same pickup system, because solid body electrics with no acoustic tone at all beats all of them for amplified...
  4. kissing

    Electrification questions

    I am very skeptical about what makes it an "ukulele" amp. The spectrum of frequencies that ukuleles with pickups produce falls within the same range as guitars, thus guitar amps have always worked for ukulele. What about baritone ukuleles or tenors tuned DGBE? They are literally in the same...
  5. kissing

    Electrification questions

    For your purposes, you probably don't need a preamp pedal (unless you really want one), just a decent amplifier that's designed for acoustic or electric guitar (whichever kind of sound you want to emulate). Anything from brands like Roland, Vox, Ibanez, Yamaha, Fender and Behringer that is in...
  6. kissing

    Myth, magic, truth...ukulele "opening up"

    Holy crap @SeemingMusic your posts are an absolute gem to this discussion and provided the kind of physical/engineering information I craved on the subject. I am especially intrigued by the information that fatigue cracking occurs at much lower stresses over many cycles vs simply exceeding...
  7. kissing

    Electrification questions

    When playing with other musicians, being able to plug into an amp is generally considered a must. Especially if you have drums, electric guitar and bass guitar in the mix. Otherwise you can't hope to be heard. The use of a Preamp, in my view is only really necessary if you are plugging in...
  8. kissing

    Good examples of dBGE (re-entrant) baritone playing?

    Not sure if this is a great example, but I'm pretty sure this is done on a re-entrant DGBE Ukulele:
  9. kissing

    Myth, magic, truth...ukulele "opening up"

    I feel digressing too much from the original topic may be something that mods of any forum would find modworthy and will just say I agree to disagree. If you believe ukuleles open up, I respect that. I have my own theories which I have expressed already and remain open minded to any new...
  10. kissing

    Ukiyo Vita Uke owners: help needed

    I didn't realise tying a bigger knot was this complex. Don't you just do the same basic knot, but repeat/overlap it over itself as many times as you need?
  11. kissing

    Gloss vs satin

    Red ones also play faster, and sunburst sounds more mellow
  12. kissing

    Myth, magic, truth...ukulele "opening up"

    I don't deny that music is romance. Science and the art of music aren't at odds with each other. I just denounce the notion that many people seem to blindly that ukuleles and guitars "open up" over time because the soundboard becomes better at being a soundboard because you play it. This is not...
  13. kissing

    Myth, magic, truth...ukulele "opening up"

    I think the question "How does a solid lifeless piece of wood know to become "better" at..." is appropriate here because it highlights exactly why this "theory" doesn't make any sense. It is romanticization of musical instruments. How poetic it is to believe that a well crafted instrument has...
  14. kissing

    Retuning a Concert Ukulele to DGBE & some DIY setting up

    Thank you. Mistakes were made along the way - perhaps experiment on some less expensive instruments first :D I learned about doing setups and stuff online because I found that I am quite a fussy person. It's hard to convey to a luthier exactly how I want an instrument to feel; and it's not a...
  15. kissing

    Myth, magic, truth...ukulele "opening up"

    It would be difficult to put in all the controls. 1. Strings are in a constant state of change from first installation to when you swap them. 2. Temperature and humidity affect how your strings sound and behave. 3. The ukulele/guitar neck is also in a constant state of change and tension...