Ukulele Review » Info

Oscar Schmidt Visit

Julie — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:23:04 +0000

I just finished reading Tim Szerlong’s article about his trip to the U.S. Music Corp factory in Illinois. This factory is a parent company to Washburn and Oscar Schmidt among others. Go check out the article and Tim’s new site at visit site to read more]

Southern Indiana Ukulele Luau 2009 Report

Kevin Wolfe — Mon, 11 May 2009 01:04:32 +0000

The second Bushman Ukulele Luau turned out to be an intimate crowd again with a few more attendees than last year. Those who did come were treated to some great informal and impromptu performances Saturday by Zoe who flew in from Toronto, Jodi Mathews, Wade Johnston (who Julia Nunes has dubbed “The Boy Me”), and DaveDaveDave who flew in from Ft. Myers. This moved from the stage at the Bushman Brewhouse to what turned into Zoe’s communal cabin to continued well into the night. … [visit site to read more]

Help Wanted – Ukulele Bloggers Apply Here!

Julie — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:54:56 +0000

My day job and my other site (The Gadgeteer) have caused me to severely neglect this site for awhile now. I want to turn that around ASAP and am hoping that some happy volunteers to help me do it. I’m looking for a … [visit site to read more]

A visit to the LoPrinzi studio

Julie — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:49:52 +0000

My vacation this year was to Treasure Island, Florida. This is a barrier island on the gulf side of Florida, near St. Petersburg and Clearwater. I’d visited there several years ago and really enjoyed its relaxing atmosphere and sugary white sandy beaches. As fate would have it, I learned that the LoPrinzi studio was located less than 45 minutes away from where I was staying. I gave them a call and asked if I might be able to come by for a visit. The friendly female voice on the other end of the phone said sure, come on over and I did.

… [visit site to read more]

Another custom ukulele coming my way

Julie — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:39:07 +0000

The Boat Paddle ukulele wasn’t the only custom instrument that I’ve had on order. I just learned a few minutes ago that my Mike DaSilva custom concert has shipped and should arrive Friday I’ve been waiting awhile for this one, and can’t wait to test it out. Here’s a sneak peak…

… [visit site to read more]

Olympics = Ukulele Fun!

Julie — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:15:45 +0000

I just received this email from Al Woodshed of http://HowToPlayUkulele.com:

Hi Ukulele Hunters,

I’ve been getting well and truly into the Olympic spirit recently. This has inspired me to arrange a bunch of national anthems for the ukulele so I can play along with the medal ceremonies (which should give me plenty of practice on the US and Australian anthems and about three shots at the UK national anthem). I’ve tabbed all these out and … [visit site to read more]

My Custom Boat Paddle Ukulele Part 7

Julie — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:58:43 +0000

Jerry Hoffmann sent me an email this morning to let me know that he has finished my custom Boat Paddle ukulele. He sent me the final bill, I paid it and am now waiting for my new gorgeous instrument to be delivered by UPS. Until it arrives, he sent me some pictures to tide me over…

… [visit site to read more]

Ukulele Graffiti

Julie — Sat, 24 May 2008 15:16:31 +0000

I was cleaning out a desk drawer this morning and came across some cool stickers that I’d forgotten about. One thing led to another and now…

… [visit site to read more]

My Custom Boat Paddle Ukulele Part 6

Julie — Sat, 17 May 2008 02:06:32 +0000

We’re in the home stretch now. Here’s another update from Jerry Hoffmann as he continues work on my custom Boat Paddle ukulele …

… [visit site to read more]

My Custom Boat Paddle Ukulele Part 5

Julie — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:23:39 +0000

Another update from Jerry Hoffmann as he continues work on my custom Boat Paddle ukulele …

… [visit site to read more]

Meet The Play It Forward Video Contest Winners

Julie — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:36:18 +0000

Earlier this month, I had the tough choice of picking 4 winners for my Play It Forward Video contest. Now that they’ve all received their prizes, I asked them to send me a picture and some info about themselves. I thought it would be fun to share with everyone else, so here goes…

… [visit site to read more]

My Custom Boat Paddle Ukulele Part 4

Julie — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:53:19 +0000

Here’s the latest news about my custom Boat Paddle ukulele being built by Jerry Hoffmann…

… [visit site to read more]

My Custom Boat Paddle Ukulele Part 3

Julie — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:05:29 +0000

I received an email from Jerry yesterday with the following update and question…

… [visit site to read more]

My Custom Boat Paddle Ukulele Part 2

Julie — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:36:51 +0000

This continues my custom ukulele adventure that started in Part 1.

My custom Boat Paddle concert sized ukulele was ordered on December 19th, 2007 and I received the following info from Jerry this week that work is underway…

… [visit site to read more]

My Custom Boat Paddle Ukulele Part 1

Julie — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:08:28 +0000

I remember late last year when I began my ukulele adventure, I read about this weird condition called UAS (Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome). I thought it was crazy; who needs more than one ukulele? Certainly not I… Um… Yeah… It’s only been five months and I already have five ukes with two customs in the works. I was really excited to find out that one of these customs just got underway today. Since this is my first experience with having a custom instrument built, I thought it might be interesting to document the process of ordering and working with a luthier. This will be an on-going series of articles about my custom Boat Paddle ukulele.

… [visit site to read more]

Blue Stone Folk School Ukulele Intensive at Weed Patch Music Company

Julie — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:27:37 +0000

I had some fun this past Saturday. I attended my first ukulele class, which was led by Geoff Davis of the Blue Stone Folk School of Noblesville, Indiana. Including myself, there were 8 students in attendance. I had an exhausting 7 minute drive to the studio where the class was held, but one person drove all the way from Ohio to attend.

Geoff taught us a couple strums, but the main meat of the 6 hr session was basic music … [visit site to read more]

Tune your ukulele with your Palm PDA or Smartphone

Julie — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 03:47:20 +0000

There are many ways that a person can tune a ukulele. It can be tuned by ear, tuned to itself using harmonics, tuned using a pitch pipe, tuned using a digital tuner like the Intelli IMT-500 or eNote and even tuned with the help of a PDA or smartphone. That’s right, you can use the same gadget that you carry in your pocket to remind you of your next dentist appointment, for tuning your favorite 4 stringed instrument. Today I want to tell you about three Palm OS applications, but in the coming weeks, we’ll explore Windows Mobile, OS X, Windows and even Web based apps that can also help make your ukulele playing easier and more fun.

… [visit site to read more]

Play it forward video contest entries

Julie — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:07:35 +0000

Here are the entries for the Play it forward video contest to win one of three FLEA ukulele packages.

More info about the contest is located here.

1. Chris Kaiser – Ukulele Chord Progression instruction

2. Arvin Reyes (NukeDOC) – visit site to read more]

Which style ukulele tuners do you prefer?

Julie — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:44:56 +0000

No, I’m not asking about your favorite chromatic tuner that helps you get your ukulele to sing a perfect my dog has fleas. I’m asking about the actual tuning machines inserted into the headstock of your instrument. Maybe you prefer open or enclosed ‘ear’ style geared tuners. Or perhaps you are a traditionalist and don’t feel authentic unless your uke has friction style pegs. Then there are Peghed tuners that look like friction tuners but have gears hidden inside them.
… [visit site to read more]

10 Reasons why the ukulele is the perfect instrument

Julie — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 02:58:24 +0000

Why do I love the ukulele? Let me count the ways…

1. Ukuleles take up less space than a standard sized guitar. Below you see the case for my Collings OOO2H in the background and my Pono concert sized ukulele in the foreground. The Collings is a small body guitar, so as you can see, you could store 2 or 3 ukes in the same space that a guitar requires

… [visit site to read more]

Meet my new KoAloha Concert Ukulele

Julie — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 04:02:17 +0000

My buddy Mr. UPS man dropped a box on my porch this afternoon. The ‘fragile’ stickers all over it told me it was my new uke! I didn’t waste anytime opening the box. By the way, who else hates styrofoam peanuts as much as I do? After digging around in the packing material, I pulled out a Black canvas case. Darn, I was hoping for a hard shell case. I’m not a fan of these zippered cloth cases… mostly because I have a cat and it seems that these cases are like a magnet for dust and cat fluff. … [visit site to read more]

YouTube Favorites

Julie — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:09:46 +0000

Do you need some inspiration to practice your ukulele? If so, spend a few minutes watching some YouTube videos of some great artists. If these people don’t get you to open that case or gigbag, then you’re doomed…

… [visit site to read more]

Ukulele Christmas videos on YouTube

Julie — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:54:42 +0000

Ever since I became interested in the ukulele, I’ve become more than a little obsessed with YouTube. I have created a bookmark that … [visit site to read more]

How the heck do you pronounce ukulele?

Julie — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:24:59 +0000

Before I became interested in the uke, I didn’t even question the way that I was pronouncing the word. Living in Southern Indiana (Columbus), I’d always heard it pronounced as: yoo-ka-lay-lee. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I have been saying it wrong all these years The correct Hawaiian pronunciation is actually: oo-koo-lay-lay. Who knew right? I do have to admit that it’s been really hard for me to retrain how I say it. Saying it the correct … [visit site to read more]