Timbuck
Well-known member
When I was a young lad in the 1940's-50's way back when "Nylon" was the new stuff that Ladies had their new fangled stockings made from.
I first took an intrest in the Ukulele there were a few kicking about that were over-spill from before WW2 when they were all the rage..Us lads that got hold of e'm learned our basic 3 chords on them...I remember I learned how to play the Elvis song "Teddy Bear" on mine but it didn't sound quite right and i soon moved on to a cheap guitar hoping to become a 1960's teenage pop star.
But back to the ukulele..in those days in the UK we went to the local music shop to buy our uke strings..They came in a paper packet and they were made from gut (catgut) there were no gauge sizes or anything and you got 2 fat ones and 2 thin ones Usually dyed red or green, the fat ones went in the middle and the 2 thin ones at each side ..there were no tuning symbols GCEA etc: on the packet cos' in those days you used to tune the ukes all over the place to suit the songs. Sheet music from those days had the little box symbols and at the top it would say TUNE UKE TO A D F#Bb or something like that....The only way to tune up was By ear, or with a piano, pitch reed tuner, or a tuning fork, No Electronic super dooper tuners:rulez:. Nowadays i get bogged down with new players asking me what strings I prefer and what gauges do I recomend do i prefer Worth Browns to Clearwater and do i think Aqillas are more harsh sounding and why is my uke playing sharp/flat at the 12 fret...we never bothered with any things like that in the old days... we just used to just pick up the thing and play it. ld: Kid's today dont know their born. good reading here https://www.ukulelemag.com/stories/vintage-ukulele-strings
I first took an intrest in the Ukulele there were a few kicking about that were over-spill from before WW2 when they were all the rage..Us lads that got hold of e'm learned our basic 3 chords on them...I remember I learned how to play the Elvis song "Teddy Bear" on mine but it didn't sound quite right and i soon moved on to a cheap guitar hoping to become a 1960's teenage pop star.
But back to the ukulele..in those days in the UK we went to the local music shop to buy our uke strings..They came in a paper packet and they were made from gut (catgut) there were no gauge sizes or anything and you got 2 fat ones and 2 thin ones Usually dyed red or green, the fat ones went in the middle and the 2 thin ones at each side ..there were no tuning symbols GCEA etc: on the packet cos' in those days you used to tune the ukes all over the place to suit the songs. Sheet music from those days had the little box symbols and at the top it would say TUNE UKE TO A D F#Bb or something like that....The only way to tune up was By ear, or with a piano, pitch reed tuner, or a tuning fork, No Electronic super dooper tuners:rulez:. Nowadays i get bogged down with new players asking me what strings I prefer and what gauges do I recomend do i prefer Worth Browns to Clearwater and do i think Aqillas are more harsh sounding and why is my uke playing sharp/flat at the 12 fret...we never bothered with any things like that in the old days... we just used to just pick up the thing and play it. ld: Kid's today dont know their born. good reading here https://www.ukulelemag.com/stories/vintage-ukulele-strings
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