So THIS happened….!
A new uke from my awesome hubby, who surprised me with this tenor Ukulele for Christmas! Yes: your Ukulele dreams can come true at Christmas-time!
This is a really beautiful ukey, by the name of “Aklot” – have no idea where it comes from – but it plays like a dream! It has this nice mellow resonance to it with no harsh “bark”, it’s easy to tune, it came with brand new strings on it so it sounds awesome and is easy to play.
That being said, I’ve played the odd tenor ukey for a few seconds here and there. But I’ve never played an entire song on a tenor uke and I’ve never played one for over an hour!
I keep this guy right beside my desk in my home office, and we play songs together on a daily basis. After 4 weeks I picked up my pineapple and…..oh boy. My fingers are awkward! Already! I have assimilated to the larger fretboard!! NOOOoooo!!!! LOL
Do not despair: I have begun to rotate my instruments and my fingers have already gone back to their “first position”, LOL.
I really like the deeper tone of this new Ukulele. The body seems on the deep side and rings a bit longer, which I also enjoy hearing. My awesome hubby says it is also louder (than my soprano) and he enjoys the sound of it as well.
He had responded to an online posting from a lady on Metcalfe street, who said she bought this tenor Ukulele kit off Amazon and changed her mind after a month. She was willing to “let it go”, as a package, for $200. She posted great pictures. He thought, “that’s a nice looking uke!” So he drives over to her house at 10 o’clock at night, and bargains with her on her front stoop like it’s a John Deer lawn mower with attachments, dings and scratches. But he came back with his trophy and put it all right in my arms (for much, much less than 200 bucks!!), and it literally looked like new – as if she opened the box, took one look and said “awe hell no” and packed it back up.
A little Woody….
This cute lil guy was also purchased for me by the awesome hubby, again from an online marketplace ad with pictures, and ironically, the seller also lived on Metcalfe street!
The seller liked to deal in antiques, sports cards and coins, so he attended many collectibles venues. During the pandemic restrictions in 2020, while no events were being held, he went through some items he had accumulated, restored or cleaned them, and started selling them.
This particular Ukulele is a plastic Disney keepsake, adorned with a gold start decal on the head stock. You can’t tell from the picture, but it is incredibly scratched up all across the Toy Story decal and the entire body and neck. It came to me with absolutely NO strings on it, no bag or box or packaging of any kind. I think we paid $10.
I like to play You’ve Got a Friend in Me on this one.
The only D-tuned Uke…..
We drove all the way to Brantford for this soprano at the end of last summer (2020).
A lady found these items whilst cleaning out her parents house for sale. They were up in a closet, no box or anything. The book and packet of strings were in a clear plastic bag.
This ukulele has a Harmony decal on the head stock. I could na see anything inside the body. There were old, red strings on it! I promptly re-strung it!
The book, Ukulele Hits, was of real use to me as it had 16 songs I have never heard of in my life beginning with I’ll be Seeing You and ending with Miss You.
The body and neck of the uke are wooden, but there is a plastic fret board on it, and the tuners are behind the head stock. There is hardly any wear on it except for two or three small areas in the red decal around the outer edge of the face.
Package deal….
This is possibly my hubby’s all-time best deal.
One of the seniors he supports told him she “didn’t love” her ukulele and the “equipment” she had. She told my husband “someone who loves to play ukulele should take it all off my hands”. So, he made her an offer, she accepted and he loaded it all up in his van and brought it home:
Ohana soprano Ukulele; tuner and Aquila strings packet; gold tweed hard case; solid black steel music stand; Hercules folding music stand with vinyl carry case; an adjustable folding uke stand; 2 slightly used Daily Ukulele songbooks by Jim Beloff.
So we’ve been keeping busy during the pandemic work-at-home restrictions, and I have more Ukuleles now than I ever planned on owning, even though 2 of them are stricktly for display (Woody and the Harmony).
Begs the question: what’s hanging on your walls?
Cat's Ukulele Songs 