Archive for the 'Articles' Category

Prevent Swine Flu with a ukulele and a Rabbi

Are you terrified after listening to all of the doom and gloom news reports about the Swine Flu (H1N1) pandemic? Never fear, Amelia Robinson has the perfect solution to this global problem. Check out her YouTube video for a fun Sunday morning pick me up

Handmade leather uke straps

Check out the gorgeous hand braided leather straps at The Bailey Strap Shop. The site shows mandolin straps, but Bill has branched out into making ukulele straps too. Definitely worth checking out.

Love the Ukulele? Answer a few questions?

Judy Robinson sent this in: I am hoping that if you love the ukulele you are willing to share your thoughts on the following survey. It would take about 7 minutes if you want to go quickly through it. It could take longer if you have more you want to share. At the end, if [...]

Tune your ukulele with vibrations – Planet Waves Headstock Tuner

I’m a fan of guitar (and ukulele) tuners that use vibration help you to zero in on the right note for each string. Here’s a new one from Planet Waves that looks like it might be pretty nice. It has a narrow LCD display that shows the currently tuned note for the string that you’re [...]

Hand shaped custom instrument hangers – Grip Studios

Check out these made to order resin and steel reinforced wall mounted guitar hangers from Grip Studios. They are available in different colors and shapes, including human hands, skeleton hands and monster hands. They are priced from $39.99 up to $119.99. Although they are made for guitars, I’m sure they will work fine for ukuleles [...]

Jake Shimabukro to release a 2 song mini-EP

Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro new mini-EP “Annon” will be released on September 1st as Part of the Shin Buddhism Founders 750th memorial. The Shin Buddhist path was founded by Shinran Shonin (1173-1263) during the Kamakura period, and in several centuries grew into one of the largest and most influential schools of Buddhism in Japan, a [...]

A guitar pick with training wheels? – ZeroGravity Orbit Guitar Pick

During my normal Saturday morning routine of hot tea, steel-cut oats and magazine browsing, I happened upon the ZeroGravity Orbit Guitar Pick in the latest copy of a Musician’s Friend catalog. Guitar Picks really haven’t changed much over the years, so this one easily caught my eye. Attached to the actual pick is a soft [...]

Oscar Schmidt Visit

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 Ukeeku.

The economy might suck, but ukulele sales don’t

Leo Biovin sent me the link to this nice article on NPR (National Public Radio) yesterday. According to the article (which also has an audio version if you prefer to listen instead of read), overall instrument sales are down around 20%, but not for the uke. Apparently, ukulele sales at Elderly Instruments are up 10-15% [...]

Ukulele World Congress Rules

It was an event entirely guided by one mans karma. Mike, alias hoosierhiver on Ukulele Underground, didn’t organize this event. He just cleared the way to let the cosmos manifest it into existence. Back in January Mike, owner of the recently-opened Mainland Ukes in Nashville,  posted on UU that he had a great site for [...]