Wunderkammer owners, chime in!

Searching here and there for "Wunderkammer," I'm glad to have found this in another thread here:



So nicely done, and so inspiring. [I'm coming from long years of guitar, after a hiatus from the same, and am still exploring what type of music I want to make with the ukulele. I love what the artistry in what you've done, here.]


Thank you! Your story sounds a lot like mine, haha! And my journey with the uke still goes on, trying to find what suits it best in my hands. I still find it quite difficult to adapt songs that I used to play on guitar for years. I developed a whole new repertoire for the ukulele: Same kind of music, different songs since most of my old stuff just doesn't fit my playing style (and my limited knowledge of alternative chords :rolleyes: ).

Anyway, what really helps if you want to revisit your old guitar tunes is getting a decent Baritone ukulele! (I recently treated myself with a Martin.) Liam also makes these! :-D
 
Thank you! Your story sounds a lot like mine, haha! And my journey with the uke still goes on, trying to find what suits it best in my hands. I still find it quite difficult to adapt songs that I used to play on guitar for years. I developed a whole new repertoire for the ukulele: Same kind of music, different songs since most of my old stuff just doesn't fit my playing style (and my limited knowledge of alternative chords :rolleyes: ).

Yes, that does sound very familiar. The most important part for me right now is that I'm thoroughly enjoying myself; beyond that, I look forward to developing some 'go-to' music, instrumental and as accompaniment, because I know that will bring a new level of satisfaction.

Anyway, what really helps if you want to revisit your old guitar tunes is getting a decent Baritone ukulele! (I recently treated myself with a Martin.) Liam also makes these! :-D

There is that! ;) However, for now I am content to let my guitars be the guitars,* and explore the ukulele (at this point Concert and Soprano) on its own terms.

*Nevermind that holding a guitar now feels like grappling with a piece of furniture, and my formerly instant D chords now try to plant themselves roughly in the middle of the fretboard, where my left hand now expects to play a G....:D

Ukulele: I really enjoyed the Ukulele Magazine interview with @ukulelezaza linked earlier in this thread:

...and Why Nothing Beats a Soprano

This, especially:
Ukulelezaza’s Tips for Making Your Concert or Tenor Uke Sound Better
“Here’s a little advice for people who have multiple instruments. Like I said, to me, tenors sound like a bad soprano, but once you tune them down a little bit, they come alive. The same is true for concerts. I tune them down to Bb [F Bb D G] and suddenly they have a bigger, much fuller sound and
finally you can make use of the bigger body. If you have more than one concert, try to tune one of them down to Bb. With tenors, I like to tune down to A; you don’t have the higher string tension anymore and I’ve never been a fan of high string-tension.”​

I tuned an Ohana CK-35, already with a Low G, to Bb, and yowza-- a really great sound! Yet, I don't want to transpose all the time.
I also do prefer my Cs to be Cs as t'were, so am looking anew at @Ed1's string tension findings to see if I might achieve lower tension while retaining GCEA tuning.

But, and, a Wunderkammer Soprano remains compelling, throughout.

Great adventures. :)

~ S.
 
According to Liam

The Ike has a very slightly wider bottom bout, and the May has a tighter, slightly higher waist, with a little wider and more pronounced upper bout.
The May scale is 13", the Ike's is 13 5/8. I would say the shorter scale takes a little of the edge off the tone of the May, compared to the Ike, but they are both loud with plenty of warmth and low-end

Thanks much for this information! I found this image (Liam's) meantime, but would not have known to interpret it with the details you've provided.

Ike and May.jpg

~ S.
 
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