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GUITAR HEAVEN…for me, that is
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MaxHouse, Please do post more of your sweet collection when time permits. Great guitars! Roger
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Nice collection MaxHouse.
Even if I didn’t play, I’d be like you and have guitars hanging on the wall simply as pieces of art.
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Any advice when it comes to purchasing a uke? Roger
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Hi Roger, There are so many variations of Ukes that it really comes down to a personal choice. That said, there are essentially 3 types: soprano (smallest), concert (mid) and tenor (bigger). There are many more, inc banjoleles. I have a custom one that I got on craigslist for $250. It’s nice, and I like the concert size. Solid wood, rather than laminate wood is the biggest difference to me, then a Spruce top has better resonance to my ears.
Lisa’s Uke on the Daydream video is a Lanikai USB concert. I think it’s this one. Lanikai is a great brand to my understanding, meaning good product at a reasonable price. You can go to a music store with bigger inventory and play around with what they have to get a feel for them, then let some time for it to sink in and see what feels right for you.
Hoping this helps,
Tomás
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Bought a great looking uke. Tomas, I took your advice and bought a Lanikai USB concert KOA all around…I hope it sounds as great as it looks. Here is a link that displays my purchase…
https://reverb.com/item/25213472-lanikai-lk-ceu-acoustic-electric-ukulele-usb-koa
Looking forward to receiving it and cutting my chops on it! Lisa inspired!
Roger
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Great Roger… Hoping you Uke yourself groovy…. I’ve put a hold on a Yellow Uke (Mona will approve… Lol) from the Library Branch nearby my place as they and the main branch downtown have more recently partner-shipped with another community organization to offer music instrument loans for up to 3 wks of a various different instruments… You can however only be allowed one instrument loan out at a time even though you may have more instrument holds awaiting to be picked up, thus you must return loaned item before getting other that is ready for pickup. I have so far fiddled around on Bongos (video clips posted on here… Lol)… Tackled at a dejembe drum…. A Vanjo still on hold as I’m in a long line of waiting for it on holds… Though I do own a Purple basic uke, I saw yellow one at library in display case and thought of Mona and went ahead and put a hold on it.
I have no clue how to play it/tune it and couldn’t tell what key I’m in… I do enjoy the sound and playing by ear… Hoping my finger coordination issues will cooperate somewhat at the time and perhaps if remotely coherent in audible and playing capacity, I’ll post video clips of my attempts at the Mona Uke….
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Fantastic Roger! Let us know when you get it. You had me looking at ukes on reverb and ebay. Fun!
And congratulations on the new puppy!
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Tomas, Looking to its arrival this Friday. Went back and forth about a concert or baritone. Each have advantages, but decided to go with the concert which forces me to learn new chords and chording techniques which I think will challenge me. Nothing wrong with learning something new and different! I will post a few pics over the weekend. Puppy is doing well…no longer the quiet, sleepy little puppy that arrived almost a week ago! He is all puppy now! Roger
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Roger, congrats on your new Ukelele acquistion. Can’t wait to see it! Just for a little more Uke indulgence here, I couldn’t resist posting a quick access to Lisa, Ukelele Queen, doing her thing on the Uke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWMxXlfcgYw
BTW, Cooper is an adorable little guy. Wishing you much joy with him. Great name too! My sister’s giant yellow tabby is named Cooper too.
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Big News…two new members in my family…
A new Lanikai concert uke just like the one Lisa plays with the only difference being that mine is KOA all around. And…ready for this? A new puppy!
Here is tiny Cooper enjoying a puppy snooze on my tummy. Yup…he is a cutie!
Roger
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Awesome Roger on Cooper and your new uke… May you enjoy both immensely…. Lots of Love and Commitment but worth it….!!!!
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Thanks…Cooper is one small bundle of puppy energy! I forgot over the past ten years how demanding of one’s time a puppy can be…whew! I cannot wait for the arrival of my other “baby”. That KOA Lenikai is a really great looking instrument. I have to watch a few youtube vids on just how to approach playing one of these cool instruments. Just sitting back and chilling with some MLT vids this early evening. Right now…Africa is playing. Love Lisa’s bass playing and the Twin’s harmonies. I think that there is something going on behind the scenes with this performance. Mona almost seems to be chuckling at times. Again, thanks for the nice wishes.
Hey…The twins surprised me with a howdy and belated birthday wish in an email! Blew me away. Nice of them to do that. I joined the Club on my birthday so they did not have time to get anything out sooner. Again..classy gals.
Roger
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Here is a picture that captures my newest babies…
Easy to play and has a booming sound for such a little fella…just to be clear, I am referring to the Lanikai concert ukulele! ?
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Niiice Uke Roger, and I can see the other wonderful little fella in the background too! I say a happy household over there this weekend! “A booming sounds”? Yes I can just imagine, as I was just watching Lisa making such beautiful sounds in “She’s Leaving Home” with another Lanikai Concert Uke just like yours!
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Sweet looking uke Roger! Congrats! Cute pup too.
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Thanks Thomas and Jung…
I love the all KOA solid body…it is a beautiful little instrument. Chording is easy enough. I can see why instructors insist students use the correct finger/s when playing chords. It makes transitions much easier. Guitar is much more forgiving. I think that I am really going to enjoy this addition to my collection. I can hardly leave it alone. It is so easy go just hold and play!
Puppy is coming into his own. He is not afraid to run from me. He used to just sit and let me scoop him up. Now…it is more like the puppy is singing along with the Dave Clark Five…”catch us (me) if you can”!
I hope more of our members start posting pictures of their instruments. I just love seeing what others play and own. Heck, I would get excited if someone were to post that he or she has a new guitar coming to them…I could hardly wait to see it.
I think we should start a forum for short duration videos that show folks performing…no matter if they are just starting out, or if they are somewhat accomplished in their playing. Just thinking.
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‘Here is another of my guitars. It is a Godin Multiac Steel Duet…an instrument that plays like a very good electric guitar, but has a very definite acoustic tonal flavor. This particular model was played and promoted by Doyle Dykes…a great guitarist who has toured with roadshows for many of the biggest acoustic manufacturers. If you have not heard of him, he is worth a listen…what he can do with a guitar in his hands! Roger
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Luv your newly acquired uke and Cooper in the background…. Lol… May you create beautiful uke tunes…
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Jacki, I hope to do that. At least that is the plan right now. Thought that a concert size might be too small for this big lug, but it is actually very nice without having to sacrifice that uke sound. Roger
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Hi Roger, you said you wanted to see more people post pictures of their instruments and maybe even videos of them playing. Well for fun and to start it off, and maybe not exactly that, but for everyone’s enjoyment here are a few nice shiny guitars in action: A 1964 Rickenbacker 325, a 1963 Gretsch Tenessean, and a 1962 Hofner Violin hollow-body Bass, and last but not least a Ludwig 22-inch-bass 4-piece drum kit.
The 4 young lads look awfully popular playing them. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wmwxCiwdX4
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Here’s an iconic one. It isn’t mine – it belongs to Yoko Ono and is part of the “Play It Loud” exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC. This is John’s custom, one-off Ric 325/12. It was used during the 1964 North American Tour, and on the “Beatles for Sale”, and “A Hard Day’s Night” LPs. You can hear it on the intro to “Ticket to Ride”.
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Savings my pennies for a 325. These are expensive guitars. Love the sunburst 325 given to the Twins by one of their generous supporters. Probably going to take a couple of years. Thanks for sharing. Roger
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Mona and Lisa’s guitars (Rickenbacker 350v63 and Gretsch Duo Jet)
Jim, Mona’s Rickenbacker 350 v63 pictured here looks a lot like John Lennon’s 325 you posted. Do you know what is the difference between the two? Mona’s described her’s as a regular length Long Scale guitar “with the same toaster pickups, wood, controls etc as Lennon’s legendary 325.” Is the difference in the length?
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Hi Jung,
The 325 is a 3/4 size guitar while the 350 is “full size” short scale. The 325 scale length is only 52.7 cm, the 350 is 62.9 cm. The body dimensions are roughly the same, although the 325 is about 12 mm thicker. The 325 is ash (or alder), the 350 is mahogany. (I looked these up on the RIC website). In practice that means that the 325 will have less string tension so slightly less volume and articulation. This can be compensated for by heavier strings, at the expense of some ability to “bend” the strings (not critical since John used his 325 for mostly rhythm parts). Ash tends to be a little bit brighter in tone than mahogany, but that would be compensated by the shorter scale. BTW, the picture I posted is John’s 12 string, that matched his 6 string 1964 325 (played in Miami and on the second Ed Sullivan), not his original 1958 325 (played on the first Ed Sullivan). The 325/12 is on loan to the Metropolitan Museum in New York right now and is owned by Yoko Ono, the original 325 is owned by Sean Lennon, and the 2nd 325 is reported to be at the Lennon Museum in Japan in unplayable condition (John dropped it in late 1964 and cracked the headstock, although he kept it around as a backup).
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Thanks much Jim for that really detailed in-depth explanation of the differences between the two. Mona’s 350 sounds like quite a nice instrument too with it’s great volume and articulation plus the lineage to John Lennon’s legendary 325. I can imagine the original John Lennon Ricky 325s owned by Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon would be valued astronomically high.In the Shea Stadium Beatles concert loved seeing John, George and Paul jamming with their respective guitars to “Dizzy Miss Lizzy”, just like Mona and Lisa did with their Ricky and Gretsch to that song at the Cavern Club.
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Very, very interesting pieces of info. I love the guitar Mona plays…both Ric’s. I am partial to that red sunburst…the one gifted to them. Retailers are asking around three grand for that model and that is a bit rich for my blood right now. One day…maybe. Roger
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Lisa’s guitar inspired my recent purchase of the Jim Gallup. Pretty much a copy of the DSV that Lisa plays, with a Bigsby on it. Love it! I also love Mona’s Ric…very cool. That will be my next major purchase – probably within two years. Nice picture of two beautiful guitars. The ladies sure can make them sing! Roger
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Well… I picked up my uke I had on hold from library… Actually this is uke #2… The other had a sting break on me… I guess I tightened just a tad too much… I returned it to library and they had put a hold on another to which I got next day or two later…
Now… What I’m starting to realize/wonder are these 2 things :
#1~. I’m wondering if I’m genetically malfunctioned at the capacity to strum and play the chords like you are supposed to do on guitar /ukes… And I’m not quite understanding the uke chords chart…. Though I understand what I see/watch (I’m a visual learner best) in regards to playing the uke basics… For whatever reasons… My brain and fingers can’t seem to co-ordinate together as should to make the sound and playing the chords doable…
#2–I had better luck at playing the Bongos, tambourine, harmonica, etc… These instruments require more to do a single focus upon them… Hit the drums, play with hand, etc. Not having to try doing 2 different things at same time… Lol…
Though, without using chords on uke frets, I was able to finger pluck on uke Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star as sang out just those 4 words sort of….
#3~ Though I’ve no clue what key or note is what, I seem to grasp better playing by ear/seeing how to play… Lol
That sums up my uke journey thus far… I’ll continue to putter at it the way I am doing… Lol… Maybe not correctly but for me, it works…I have the library uke for 3wks loan…
Perhaps I’ m better to stick to air uke-air guitar/drumming and just continue with singing somewhat half decent, fiddle around on my tambourine and my other wood type exotic percussion instruments and maybe one day pull out my Purple uke and give it a go…. Rather use library uke to practice on…. Lol
Call me weird and unconventional in my methods but for me, it works best!!
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Jacki, I haven’t been to the library in quite some time, but it’s so awesome you can borrow musical instruments now. Borrowing a Uke or guitar (if they have them) sounds appealing just for the fun of playing around with one. Regarding your Uke playing, I think with practice you will only get better, so keep at it I say.
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