SK-30L Ohana Longneck Soprano $225 including Tuner, Setup and Shipping

Long-Neck Sopranos have been restricted to the "Pricey End of Town", but Ohana make this great idea available to the masses at a very affordable price.  

A 17 Fret Tenor Longneck and Solid Mahogany crafted soprano body at a price us mortals can afford ... Happy Days!

SK-30L Ohana Longneck Soprano $225.

A Tenor Neck on a Soprano body and Vintage style friction tuners (that work)

As usual we bundle our Ukes with;
- Clipon Headstock Tuner,
- Set Up (includes Fret Levelling with Fret Recrown and Polish to perfection) and YES you really can feel and hear the difference in a properly setup Ukulele.
- FREE Shipping in Australia.

The Longnecks are here, The Longnecks are here. And they are another great addition to the Aussie Ohana range.

SOLID MAHOGANY SOPRANO BODY = CLASSIC TONE
The Soprano Body gives you that traditional Solid Mahogany Midrangy Honk that is typical of the Classic Mahogany Soprano sound that we all love.

17 FRET TENOR NECK = MAXIMUM PLAYING COMFORT AND ROOM TO MOVE
An extended, longer neck gives you more room for your fretwork, yet retains an authentic soprano sound.  You have real room to move with the increased finger space in that is available on a 17 frets to the body Tenor Neck.

CHUNKY NECK = COMFORT AND SUPERIOR TONE
I really dig the chunky neck too, I'm of the old school of thought that the fatter the neck the more comfortable your Left hand/arm feels (especially with long gigs)

And a Fatter Neck has more wood mass, is stiffer and stronger and that means every ounce of energy and tone can be wrung out of the Strings.  Strings are the quality Italian made Aquila Nylgut

The intonation is fantastic too, I find that you usually get superior intonation on a Tenor neck vis a vis a Soprano Neck.

Solid mahogany top and body, and as usual that indefinable Quality Ohana Craftsmanship feel.

SPECS
Tenor-scale neck
Solid mahogany top, back & sides
Rosewood fingerboard & bridge
Vintage headstock shape
Gotoh geared tuners
Aquila strings
Bone nut & saddle

Savoir Plunk Ukulele Band

Ukulele band of 2 girls, 3 guys, 5 different ukes, 5 voices + standup drummer.

Leading a journey of musical genres, laced with sweet harmonies & percussion surprise.

http://www.savoirplunk.com/

Why wont my headstock tuner Tune my Ukulele? OR Headstock Tuners 440 Hz and Calibration Explained

Headstock tuners are really popular thesedays, but some have a Calibration mode and people accidentally alter the calibration away from 440Hz and end up with ukes out of Tune.

So todays post is all about International Standards, Hertz (Hz), Tuners and Calibration, Lets dive in.

HISTORY TIME

Our Modern Tuners are often fitted with a Calibration Mode (at least the better quality tuners are anyways).

Since WW2 the worldwide standard for an A note is 440Hz, or Concert Pitch.  

Before WW2 different countries had different standards for Concert Pitch, some countries were 338 Hz some were 442 Hz etc etc.  

The Germans took over Europe and said this will not do, So all the European orchestras adopted the German standard of A = 440Hz.

Post WW2 it stayed that way, the International Standards Organisation was based in Germany post WW2.

WHY THE ABILITY TO CALIBRATE OUR TUNER REMAINS

Standard Modern concert pitch is an A note vibrates at 440 Hz.  

We have Ukuleles, Guitars, Bass Piano etc, these stringed instruments are instruments that can be tuned.

But when we play with Brass players they cant tune like we can, 

Brass have a fixed Pitch instruments, sometimes they can move their mouth pieces in and out a little to get it a little sharper of flatter, but not by much.

So if you play with a Brass player who has an instrument where the A note is Sharp or Flat of the standard A 440 Hz we can alter our tuners calibration to match the pitch of the Brass players A note.  

We then tune our instrument to match their A and all our strings are then either a little flat (or Sharp) but at least we match the Brass player.

OK that is why we have the ability to calibrate our tuners.

HOW TO GET IT BACK TO 440Hz.

The On / Off button is on the rear, 

A long press turns it on and a long press turns it off.

But quick presses alters the calibration of the Tuner in 1Hz increments.

So lets re-calibrate

STEPS TO RECALIBRATE YOUR TUNER

Turn the tuner On

Look at the Front face, 

Watch the number on the front, 

Start quickly pressing the button repeatedly and the numbers will change,

Keep pressing till it cycles back to the number 440.  

And bobs yer uncle you are back at standard Concert Pitch of 440 Hz

Come And Try Ukulele Sat 15th October 2pm – 3:30pm

Come And Try Ukulele
Sat 15th October
2pm – 3:30pm

Ukuleles Supplied
Ink Pot Arts Arts Hub
Upstairs Mount Barker Town Hall
38 Gawler Street

Booking: P: 0429 673 327 
quill@inkpot.com.au
http://www.inkpot.com.au 
facebook inkpotarts 

Ohana VK-70 Ukulele. Ohana have been playing in their Time Machine again

Ohana VK-70 Concert/Soprano Ukulele.
Solid Spruce Top and mahogany Back and Sides.

$250 
Including Postage In Australia.
FREE Headstock Tuner
FREE Lesson via Skype with Jeffrey Thomas.

With the Ohana VK-70 you get a modern well built Ukulele with modern ease of playability AND the Cool 1920's Art Deco looks.  An original Roy Smeck Vita Uke from the 1920s will set you back a heap of coin, and finding one in good playing condition is hard.

Luckily for us the good people at Ohana have been playing with their Time Machine again.  

This time they have transported us back to 1927 and The Wizard Of the Strings Roy Smecks ukulele of choice, the Vita Style Uke.  Complete with its 1920's Deco body and "Seal' Soundholes.

The VK-70 RRP in the USA is $299 USD (Before Shipping) in Australia this ukulele is VERY KEENLY priced at $250 Aussie Dollars Including Shipping.

Just like Fiat, Mini and VW have recreated modern versions of their classic cars, Ohana has, in the vita VK-70 ukulele, crafted a modern version of a 1920's Art Deco ragtime ukulele Classic. 

 A Classic Pear-shaped "Vita" style body with solid spruce top is ordained with the equally classic the "Seal Shaped" soundholes.

I always thought the Roy Smeck Vita ukes had such an interesting design, and the 'Seal' shaped soundholes were "Radical and Futuristic' for the 1920's.

WOULD YOU LIKE BITE WITH THAT LOUD TONE
The Ohana VK-70 has a wide broad top and no waist, this makes a much bigger sound than a traditional figure 8 ukulele. Like the Originals the Size of the VK-70 is somewhere between a Soprano and a Concert.

The Spruce top adds a loud bit of Bite to the Ukulele, its NOT in any way a harsh tone, just voiced perfectly to "Cut Through' a mix.

With the Ohana VK-70 you get a modern well built Ukulele with modern ease of playability AND the Cool 1920's Art Deco looks.

AN ART DECO UKULELE?
Art Deco took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925.  The
between the wars period was all about the new and futuristic and Art Deco design cues touched seemingly everything, even ukuleles

SPECIFCATIONS OHANA VK-70
Vintage re-issue
Vintage "Vita-Uke" Pear Shape
Solid Spruce Top
Mahogany Back & Sides
Rosewood Fingerboard and Bridge
Aquila Strings, Geared Tuners
Top and Back Binding
Bone Saddle and Nut



HISTORY
Roy Smeck, born Leroy Smeck, 6 February 1900 was an American musician. His skill on the banjo, guitar, steel guitar, and especially the ukulele earned him the Nickname "Wizard of the Strings.

The Vita ukuleles were first made by Harmony in 1927 and Roy Smeck, Mr uke wizard himself endorsed them and hence the vita name, you see the "Vita" part came from the Vitaphone Movie recordings that often featured Roy.  The original style Roy Smeck Vita from the Harmony Company was from the fancier end of their Ukulele range. IMHO were the equal of any Martin or Lyon & Healy product from the era.

The Vita had a futuristic body shape that is approximately concert uke wide and with a 14" scale so the Vita is somewhere between a concert uke and a soprano uke.

ABOUT OHANA UKULELES
"Welcome to Ohana, where you will find the many hand-crafted ukulele models we offer. Our selection ranges from: soprano to baritone, mahogany to selected
koa from the islands of Hawaii, conventional to vintage models, and also unique models for those who are looking for something different.

At Ohana, our goal is to provide the highest quality product at a reasonable price.

Every ukulele that leaves our warehouse is carefully inspected and set up for maximum playability. Yes that's right — EVERY UKULELE, regardless of model
and price. Should musicians compromise on quality just because they need an entry-level ukulele? We don't think they should.

At Ohana, we believe in the basic concepts of QUALITY, PLAYABILITY, and VALUE. As a player you deserve each of these when you purchase a musical instrument.

Ohana Music markets its products primarily through a network of excellent dealers around the world. However, we are here to answer any questions you may have. So go ahead, send Ohana an email or call; we will be happy to inform you about the products Ohana offers.

Meanwhile, have fun, share the Aloha spirit with your loved ones, and Happy Strumming!"


Ohana VK-70 Concert/Soprano Ukulele.
Solid Spruce Top and mahogany Back and Sides.

$250 
Including Postage In Australia.
FREE Headstock Tuner
FREE Lesson with Jeffrey Thomas.

Aquila Red Ukulele Strings AQ-86U Concert Low wound g string

AQ-86U $14.95
CONCERT LOW G SET
RED SERIES®

A unique feeling and a strong, consistent sound. Until now, it was necessary to increase the gauge of a string for it to produce a lower-pitched note. But increasing the string’s diameter also increases internal dampening. That makes the string less bright, less responsive and more muffled; the thicker the string, the duller the sound.

Aquila's revolutionary new approach — unique to Aquila — changes the specific weight of the material, increasing it progressively to leave the gauge almost unchanged.

The result is amazing: instruments sound brighter, more powerful and more responsive through the entire range of the fret board. The strings also maintain their intonation better, because thicker strings need to be fretted harder, pulling them further out of tune.

RED SERIES® sets provide superior performance over traditional strings for musicians who love bright sounds and powerful voicing across the full scale of the instrument.

You never heard a sound like this before, simply because before it did not exist.

WHY ARE THERE DIFFERENT SHADES OF RED? 
In the manufacturing process of our Red Series strings we use different percentages of metal powder to optimise each string’s performance within the set. Because of this, the colour varies slightly with each string in a set of Reds.

LOW G TUNING
Density is in fact the secret of quality sound in a low string and Aquila are happy to announce that they managed to overcome this difficult technological challenge (tried by many others but without success).

Now, with Aquilas RED SERIES® strings you can finally tune your ukulele to Low G with the certainty of powerful sound quality and a superior intonation across the frets that is fully integrated with that of the upper treble strings.

MAIN FEATURES
The technical solution adopted was firstly to make the Nylgut elastic and then add  red copper powder in order to increase the density to about twice that of standard white Nylgut.

• Color: red-brown
• Surface: slightly rough; this texture has eliminated the squeak that sometime occurs with the Nylgut strings.
• Elasticity/Elongation: consistent with white Nylgut!
• Performances: better than the first elastic version! They do not break under tension providing rapid, stable tuning!
• Intonation: accurate past the 12th fret
• Pressing the string firmly down on the frets does not cause the note to sharpen.
• It is  not necessary to file the nut slot wider to accommodate our RED SERIES® string.
• Density: about twice than standard white Nylgut.

Katie Kitchen Sponsored Artist Uses Kala Traveller Series and Padauk Series ukulele

Welcome aboard to Sponsored Artist Katie Kitchen.  Direct from NYC USA to Australia (via Plympton)

Katie Kitchen is a Singer, Songwriter, Artist, Radio Personality, Writer, Publisher and Ukulele Player, a real Renaissance woman.  

And Now Ukulele Trading Co Australia's First Sponsored Artist. Katie K currently uses a Kala Traveller Series and a Kala Padauk Series ukulele.

Unlike Phil Spector we would never shout at Katie Kitchen on the phone.

"regardless of what I have done in my life, 

from living in other countries to drawing a lot to having kids to working various interesting jobs – 

when I meet new people (which happens often because of the lots of different things I like to do), my introduction almost inevitably includes the phrase “She plays the ukulele”. 

Except for one friend, who always introduces me with the phrase ... 

“She got shouted at on the phone by Phil Spector!” 

Which is true, but another post."

Katie Kitchen

Katie Kitchen's Official Blog sheplaysukulele.wordpress.com