June 2010 – Ukulele Guy

Roland Micro Cube Ween Insanity

So, I'm actually cruising down the road at 70mph right now (thank god my wife is doing the driving) but I really wanted to do a post because it's been for-freaking-ever. Somehow, real life (especially work) got insanely busy. So, here I am in the car and I don't quite have enough room to actually play the ukulele and record myself so I need to use something I've already recorded. After a quick search I came across this crazy-ass video footage of a bachelor party I was at last week.

I'll set the stage for you here. Imagine, if you will, roughly a dozen dudes decked out in their finest Bavarian attire (think Oktoberfest). The groom-to-be has already been tied up in the middle of the farmer's market and pelted by water balloons (that were sold to passersby). Then there were at least three stop-offs at various breweries for refueling. By the time we got to our campsite there was just enough time to shoot about 3 bags of potatoes, through one of the 4 potato canons onsite, and then enjoy the campfire.

I had my Lanikai CK-TEQ Ukulele, Doug played guitar, Bryan (my brother) had his acoustic bass, I think there were some makeshift drums and Greg had a squeeze box. So, we were pretty set for merriment. Well, at least, we thought we were.

Then Greg whipped out his Roland Micro Cube amp and we realized what was missing. Loudness and total effects insanity, that's what. Ahhh yeah! There's just something a little surreal (and totally fucking awesome) about playing through a loud amp with tons of sick effects in the middle of the forest. It was like if there were such a thing as bad hobbits. You know, using their magic and whatnot to make bourbon from corn and make their music creepy and slightly evil.

After dicking around with the various effects, we launched into an impromptu version of Captain Fantasy by Ween. Here's the video:

I didn't know anything about these Micro Cube amp before, but I'm totally getting one. They're like $129 and you can power them with freaking batteries! The night in question is a little bit foggy (*cough* Bourbon *cough*) but I remember there were quite a few built-in effects. Delay, Chorus, Tremalo, Phaser and more, I believe.

Looks like they actually come in Red and White as well, if you'd prefer that over the normal black. Here's a picture:

More Talk about Ukulele Strings

So, after my last post about my new Aquila Ukulele Strings, I got a fair amount of feedback from my Twitter buddies. @ApollosTowel (from Finland, no less) had the following to say (I'm paraphrasing):

The rule I use is Koa Ukuleles sound best with Aquila or D'addario Strings. Mahogany Ukes sound better with Worth. The exception to this is Koaloha. Spruce goes either way.
Laminates generally like Aquila Strings (except for Kiwaya) as well. I think Worths are so much better than Aquilas on Flukes and Fleas.
Kiwaya laminates tend to like the fluorocarbon types, including Worth. The same rule applies for their solid ukes. 🙂

@hermanvdc had this to say on the subject of Ukulele Strings:

Indeed, Aquila helps give more brilliance to cheap ukuleles but on good the better ones Worth and especially Orcas sounds better!

So, I figured that I should post this so that everyone can make up their own mind and then give you some links to buy Orcas and Worth Ukulele Strings.

New Aquila Strings (before and after)

Two weeks ago I was running pretty much ragged with work and family visiting, etc. I pretty much didn't know which direction I was headed. But, sometime during the two weeks window of insanity, I had the clarity of mind to order some new Aquila Ukulele Strings and then pack them into my ukulele case (for my Lanikai CK-TEQ). Then I surprised myself even further by remembering to pack my Ukulele and my flipVideo when I had to leave town for a week-long job. Long story short? I had new strings and the means to make a before and after video in my lonely hotel room. Boo-yah!

Hopefully you can tell a difference from that video, but I think it's definitely more clear during the single note stuff. On the Aquila Strings it's just so much more percussive and it really rings out. I'm totally loving these strings!

I mention Musicguymic in this video. He's a big eBay seller and I would consider him a great resource for any ukulele-related purchase. Hell, he's got almost 600 ukulele-related items up for auction right now. I'll include a few sample items at the bottom of this post, or you can check out Musicguymic's eBay Store.

I was going to make a video showing everyone how to string their Ukulele, but I'm not a big fan of re-inventing the wheel and Aldrine from UkuleleUnderground.com already made this great video:

So, if you need to re-string your uke (and if it's been so long since you've done it that you can't remember, then it's time), I would highly recommend Aquila strings!