Just had a call from Rachel at Eagle Music Shop here in the UK that she has shipped my new Koloa KU-650 baritone uke out today. Can’t wait to get my hands on it. I’ll be stringing it up with a set of Ken Middleton’s new High D Living water strings after having seen his lovely ‘noodling’ vid on UU forum – check it out here:
I’ll be putting up a review of my new uke in a little while………
My new JJB pickup is now installed in my Hamano tenor and it sounds awesome. I can’t recommend these pickups enough and Jessie’s service is second to none. Take my advice, don’t even consider an under-saddle pickup before you try one of these babies. You can find full details on JJB Electronics’ website.
Before anyone asks, I paid for the two pickups I have purchased from JJB and my comments are based solely on my experience of the product and the service from JJB!
Installation was an absolute cinch as I asked Jessie to provide me with a pickup with a short lead, terminating in a 2.5mm jackplug. I ran this into an endpin jack that had a 2.5mm socket to take the lead from the pickup. It really was almost plug and play and no soldering was necessary. I think the whole operation took about 30 minutes.
I was going to describe the process in detail but as we all know “a picture paints a thousand words” and a vid is just plain awesome. Check this out…
I used double sided tape and the pickup is still there after 3 weeks so we will see how it goes. Incidentally don’t go and buy a special luthier’s endpin jack reamer (you know who sells them for $69.95!). Here in the UK I bought a 1/2″ step drill from fleabay for £5.00 that did the job perfectly.
I recently reviewed the JJB EXT-100 pickup that I got from JJB Electronics in the USA. I was so impressed by the pickup that I asked Jessie to custom make a permanent install pickup for my Hamano tenor. I wanted a single piezo with a shorter lead terminating in a 2.5mm jack plug as I use endpin jacks with 2.5mm sockets to enable a solderless install.
Jessie advised that this was no problem and a new pickup is on it’s way to me for the sum of $15 – that’s under £10.00 including postage!
I can’t wait to do the install and will let you all know how it goes.
I have been searching for a decent ukulele pickup for ages and have tried most of the transducers that are available but, until now, I couldn’t find one that gave a natural sound i.e. it sounded like my uke – but louder!
I came across JJB Electronics as a result of a recommendation from a guitarist friend of mine who swore that JJB transducers sounded better than any other pickup he had tried. Given that JJB charge less than £13.00 I ordered one direct from JJB and a few days later it turned up in the post all the way from the USA to me here in the UK.
I bought the EXT-100 model which allows for temporary installation on your uke and has the advantage that you can quickly swap it between instruments. Being able to move the pickup around on the top of the soundboard also facilitates experimenting with placement. It is surprising how much tonal variation there is between one spot and another on the soundboard.
I have to say right here and now that this pickup is extraordinary – a real revelation. It accurately amplifies my uke’s acoustic sound and doesn’t add anything of it’s own. I ran it straight into my Roland Micro Cube on the ‘acoustic’ setting – the lowest gain setting on the amp and this passive pickup drove the amp perfectly.
I have a uke with a sonicore system with on board pre-amp and I can honestly say the JJB sounded infinitely better. I tried the pickup on my Martin guitar that has a big brand under-saddle pickup – again the JJB simply blew it away in terms of clarity, producing a marvellously uncoloured sound.
Since buying the pickup I’ve done a bit of internet research about JJB pickups and the reviews are unfailingly complimentary as are the comments about customer service and after-sales backup. I’d like to add my own thanks to Jessie for producing such a great sounding pickup at such a reasonable price point. I honestly think this pickup is the best out there at any price point.
It’s difficult to know where to start with Zoe. I first noticed her on YouTube and was knocked out by her absolutely nerve free performances, not to mention her sublimely ‘current’ voice. A few weeks on and I have her recently released debut EP in my CD player.
I compared her to a young Adele in my initial post but upon reflection I withdraw that comment. The ‘heart on the sleeves’ lyrics and super confident live performances may have much in common with Adele’s early gigs, but Adele was 18 when I first saw her perform. Four years extra maturity is a big advantage in that it brings a lot more life experience to your song writing, (not to mention the training and grooming at the Brit School). Adele had to compete with and compare herself to the cream of wannabees in her peer group (including Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis, the Kooks etc. etc.). It would be nice to think that Wigtown provides similar challenges for Zoe, but I think that somewhat unlikely and that local ‘folk’ performers and YouTube have been a more likely source of reference.
So, what do we get from 14 year old Zoe on her first professional recording? In my view, a refreshingly uncomplicated, sometimes wry, sometimes witty bunch of songs beautifully performed and presented. Hats off to Zoe for valuing her perfect pitch and youthful tone over the seemingly endless runs and inability to sing a straight note of many of her contemporaries. Zoe has a beautifully direct voice and if comparisons are in order she would be better compared with the likes of an Unthank or Rusby than most of the current crop of pop princesses.
Zoe is a lucky girl to have found a producer/engineer with the skills and sensitivity of Huey Dowling. He has done a wonderful job of keeping things simple and his respect for Zoe’s talent is evident in his light handed approach.
Zoe is clearly one to watch and I look forward to hearing much more from her in the future.
I bought a 2nd user Hamano 100T, tenor uke, for £165 (including nice tweed hard case) today. The few that are left still retail for around £350 in the UK, so, although it was a lot of money, I still feel that I got a bargain.
I don’t know how the guy parted with it – it is simply superb.
I already have a Mainland Mahogany Concert which I cannot fault – apart from the fact that she’s probably just a little too pretty to take out to sessions. The Hamano is like the plain girl with glasses – you don’t worry about someone trying to ‘pick her up’, but when the glasses come off, i.e. when you play her, you find out just how sweet she really is….
This really is a terrific ‘player’s’ ukulele. It’s a real plain Jane, apparently a close copy of a 20s Martin, but all I can say is that I’ve had a few high end Martin guitars over the years, but the only Martin I’ve never parted with is the old slot head, 12 fret ‘hog’ 000-15s that still hangs next to my chair. I’ve got a feeling that my relationship with the Hamano is going to be the same.
P.S. The Islander MT-4, just a couple of weeks old, will have to go, as my other half has a strict ‘one in- one out’ policy. In my opinion it’s about as good as you can get for under £100 – any offers?
I’m reading this book at the moment and I have to say that it’s a little too close to home – but a really great read. If you liked ‘ Around Ireland with a fridge’ , live in the UK and play uke you’ll love this.
I have a 16 year old stepson who is in a band and guess who deals with the PA? An open mic tour using my freedom pass sometime soon?
“When the only gig Mark Wallington’s R&B band can get is in a nursing home they decide it’s time to call it a day. But then Mark discovers an instrument he might just have enough talent for – the ukulele. Realising his dream of a nationwide tour, the Uke of Wallington sets off on a 42 night road trip, playing open mic sessions from Brighton to Cape Wrath. Probably the first rock and roll tour ever undertaken on public transport. Working his way through the British summer, he takes his music to the Great British people, testing to the limit the theory that you can’t hear a ukulele without smiling.”
Enjoy!
Over the past 3 months I’ve joined a Uke club http://www.marlowuke.co.uk/ , bought my first uke , sold it to buy a better one and have now concluded that size does matter – I need a Tenor uke.
Note the use of the word need as oppose to want……
In common with a lot of obsessives of my gender/age (I’ll let you guess… ) I tend to do a lot of research when I get interested in stuff and during my regular trawls for uke related stuff I’ve discovered a veritable cornucopia of reviews, club sites, song books, blogs and things that just make me smile.
It’s my intention to share some of the stuff that I have most enjoyed and in doing so hopefully I’ll provide yet another resource for other ukeaholics.
I promise that I’ll avoid the use of Hawaiian words/phrases wherever humanly possible.
The Uke Shed 