Disposable Uke (throw away)????

silveraven said:
So I'm right at the equator with all the horrible things tropical places are accustomed to and I find that a dehumidifier (silica gel beads) works well at keeping fungi away on wet days. The monsoon is just over so it's very hot at the moment with the occasional shower. If you keep your uke in a proper case, it should be fine. A laminate uke in a waterproof gig bag would be better if you're gonna be lugging it around.
Click to expand...

Sounds good Silv but silica gel turns from blue to clear then pink and it does not work anymore (very fast in a humid climate). unless you can see the colour of the crystals you can't tell if its still active or not. You can reverse the process in an oven but I have not tried it.
 
artwombat said:
Sounds good Silv but silica gel turns from blue to clear then pink and it does not work anymore (very fast in a humid climate). unless you can see the colour of the crystals you can't tell if its still active or not. You can reverse the process in an oven but I have not tried it.
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I carry a small pack with me in a waterproof container whenever I head out to a particularly humid place and I need my things dry and just replace the beads that are used up. And yes, I do dry them in an oven in my lab when I get back. :p There are small dehumidifiers that you can get and put into your case as well, but I've never tried them (might be an overkill?). I get what you mean by disposable now, but so far my laminate uke has been fungus-free and still uke-ing on~

Btw, I noticed that the BugsGear Plastic Ukuleles have started selling - $90 with free tuner, strap, gig bag and includes worldwide shipping.
http://www.eleuke.com/#!product/prd1/1814567545/bugsgear-plastic-ukulele-aqulele-incl-shipping
 
Most of Chinese people think plastic uke is not instrument but, toy ukulele history in OZ also not very long
and looks has similar point of view on plastic ukes.
If it's more endurable and has good sound compare to normal wood material ukulele, it will be accepted in OZ market soon.
See below review.
http://ukulelereview.com/2014/04/07/bugsgear-aqulele-plastic-ukulele-review/#more-959

artwombat said:
It is not a matter of giving it away it is a matter of it falling apart.!!!!!!

Awwww I knew no one would be satisfied with my lack of detail but here goes .............

The uke will be taken to a remote island on the equator, the humidity is soup, it is very hot and it will be moved about on the island with a lot of tropical rain and fungi growing things in places and on people that you don't want to know about. It will not be in an air conditioned room. It is not difficult to get caught in a tropical down pour and the reason for being there is employment so you can't do things when you choose to, you mostly have to do things when they need to be done or someone says they have to be done.


The actual island and the job I am not at liberty to say but I can assure you that this is a real situation.


The outdoor uke is too expensive landed in Oz and the BUGS GEAR importer in Australia has found that no one he supplies will touch their plastic model so he is not ordering any.

A Bugs Gear plastic could be OK if I can get one into Oz at a reasonable price.

I was also thinking a solid uke might be less likely to de -laminate but there might be an issue on how waterproof the pick up and amp/headphones is.
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PhilipKwak said:
Most of Chinese people think plastic uke is not instrument but, toy ukulele history in OZ also not very long
and looks has similar point of view on plastic ukes.
If it's more endurable and has good sound compare to normal wood material ukulele, it will be accepted in OZ market soon.
See below review.
http://ukulelereview.com/2014/04/07/bugsgear-aqulele-plastic-ukulele-review/#more-959
Click to expand...

I am not surprised These high tech plastics are used in motorcycle helmets so toughness is not an issue and wood and glue are vastly different acoustically and some frame work is needed structurally but not in plastic. So from a construction point of view (clean shape with no ridges) the ABS plastic should have less internal hot and cold spots.

That said tho, the Dolphin and the Flea seem to think wood makes the best front or maybe the best selling option.

Our problem tho is the Worldwide shipped price of the Aqulele is more than Double the price of the Dolphin off the shelf in Brisbane.
 
It's price is for early adaptor and including international shipping cost from China to AU furthermore it's price including
clip tuner and strap.
People seems don't understand why we try to make ukuleles in all plastic.
Anyone can make wooden ukuleles and sometimes in good sound with luck for wood material itself resonate well but,
plastic is different story.
They may lose all investment for molding if their project goes to fail and their plastic ukulele has no good sound for
their sound design was poor.
So, it's not a big surprise even their price in USA more than $100 as they must get return from huge molding investment.

artwombat said:
I am not surprised These high tech plastics are used in motorcycle helmets so toughness is not an issue and wood and glue are vastly different acoustically and some frame work is needed structurally but not in plastic. So from a construction point of view (clean shape with no ridges) the ABS plastic should have less internal hot and cold spots.

That said tho, the Dolphin and the Flea seem to think wood makes the best front or maybe the best selling option.

Our problem tho is the Worldwide shipped price of the Aqulele is more than Double the price of the Dolphin off the shelf in Brisbane.
Click to expand...
 
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Thanks Philip, the price can be justified I have no doubt.

My son will be back in a week so he will buy what he chooses.

He has asked me to dig up what I can so if he chooses plastic or part plastic, then so far the available choices are Dolphin at $40 or Aquele at $100 he already has a tuner and both come with soft case/cover.

The Dolphin is off the shelf Brisbane and the Aquele is ex China, he has only a couple of weeks and he will be headed out again so my guess is he will buy a Dolphin.
 
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Well, I love my Diamond Head sopranos which are about $40 a pop. As I understand it though, this is not a brand you want to buy through the internet. There seems to be quite a difference in quality between whats available online and what they ship to music stores. I also have a Mahalo that I picked up for $20 used that retails for about $40. It's one of those ridiculous looking rock and roll jobs with the sunburst paint job. Once I restrung it it sounded pretty decent.

Personally though, I agree that you should opt for a plastic uke under the circumstances (unless you just don't want to schlep it back in your luggage).
 
Is it possible to buy the ukulele itself at a lower price without the tuner and strap?

PhilipKwak said:
It's price is for early adaptor and including international shipping cost from China to AU furthermore it's price including
clip tuner and strap.
Click to expand...
 
A Bruce Wei uke could do well on the island - similar climate to Vietnam and a solid one for a hundy seems unbeatable value - have you considered passing it onto a local at the end of the tour?
 
I spent 6 weerks in Uganda last summer, for the trip, I took my Epiphone Les Paul ukulele because of its fairly indestructible build. Thinking back, if I could do it again, I'd take a Makala Dolphin and gift it to someone there before coming home.
 
chefy said:
A Bruce Wei uke could do well on the island - similar climate to Vietnam and a solid one for a hundy seems unbeatable value - have you considered passing it onto a local at the end of the tour?
Click to expand...

Thanks Chefy, The job is 3 weeks on and 3 weeks off and so not leave it there on the off may be an option. So there will be big mobs of travel potential damage as well as climate potential damage.

So the use could be continuous and the damage risk is high.
 
Which reminds me an artist member of Paintings I Love James Boggs also makes paper mache things. AKA Eddie has his own style so everything he does is well different and he does sell his work.

This is the playable paper mache guitar he made and it has since been sold.
paper mache guitar.jpg
 
Jealous! the only downer of being down under is most uke goodies are out of reach - most things I buy untried/untested online.

Oh well at least the sand on the beach is white!
 
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