Saturday, 28 January 2017

CK-28 Concert Size "Vintage Manuel Nunes' Style Solid Mahogany Ukulele.

'Historic Recreation' 
'Time Traveller Special'
'The Son of'
'Homage to the great Lutheirs of the past'


Great ways to describe Ohana Ukuleles very fine, all solid mahogany wood 'Manuel Nunes' Style CK-28 Concert ukulele.

$495 RRP In Australia
Includes;
FREE Hardcase,
FREE Tuner,
FREE Set-up
FREE Postage in Australia.

As per normal I bundle all my ukes with a full set-up with your choice of; either Low or High G 
and Right or Left handed. And YES you can tell the difference between an 'Off the Shelf Factory uke' and one that has undergone a proper setup. They just play and sound nicer!

The CK-28 Limited Edition Concert Ukulele is a crackingly good instrument.  As sweet a tone and great Playability as you will ever find.  And those Ultra Hip Retro Looks are fantastic, this Ukulele is really Rocking that centre racing stripe and rope binding.  Rope binding is time consuming and difficult to make and fit, but I'm glad they did.

And it is made fully of Solid Mahogany too boot.

A STAR SELLER OF MINE.  WHY?Because the CK-28 is one Seriously Good Quality Concert Ukulele, it comes with a really good Hardcase,  plus I include a FREE Tuner and FREE Setup and well ... because it's an Ohana Ukulele and players know that Ohana is synonymous with 'Quality' 

 "I play lots of different ukuleles every week; what with Personal Shoppers getting Demos and doing Ukulele Setups everyday. 

The Ohana CK-28 is becoming a favourite of mine, they are so damn sweet sounding, and they play great."   CHEERS CC

ABOUT 
The 'Figure 8' or 'Peanut' body shape is a true classic, it is the closest relative of the Portuguese instruments brought to the Hawaiian islands.

Manuel Nunes is where ukulele making in Hawaii all started, Nunes was at "Ground Zero" the Pioneer. Manuel Nunes crafted ukuleles for more than 40 years and they are legendary instruments amongst ukulele enthusiasts.

History tells that Samuel Kamaka and Nunes own son, Leonardo, were apprentices and continued making quality ukuleles.  In 1998, the Ukulele Hall of Fame inducted Manuel Nunes  into their honorees.

SOUNDS
One of the LOUDEST little ukuleles around,
the top back and side are 'vintage style' ultra thin and made of high grade stiff mahogany, perfect for extracting every ounce of volume.

Modern ukes err on conservative and generally have thicker tops, backs and sides. All well and good for "easy manufacture", but thick wood tops kill volume and tone.

Crafting a thin wood top is harder and more time consuming, you have to get them "just right". But the returns in Volume, Tone, Weight and Sound are HUGE.

Also note that unlike modern ukuleles where the fretboard extends over the top of the ukulele (and restricts volume and tone)  the CK-28 fretboard is completely flush with the body edge,  this leaves ALL of the top to vibrate, helping to shape the tone of the instrument.  Another vintage style feature that is hard to implement in production, but well worth the time invested to get it to work.

WELL DONE CREATING THIS UKULELE
Louis Wu of Ohana Music has come up with a fantastic homage to the 'original' ukulele, made in the traditional Portuguese / Hawaiian style.

The Ohana team gathered together great examples of vintage ukuleles made by Manuel Nunes, and the team set about working out what made these old timers sound so damn sweet.

Prototypes were made and lots of players tried out the Prototypes providing feedback to the design/engineering team.  It was a long journey from concept to production ... all the time and effort involved by all those prototype Luthiers, test pilot players and Production Engineers has paid off in spades with the Nunes Series.

SUMMARY
If you are serious about your ukulele playing and uke collecting then a 'Peanut' body style Concert is a must have for you.

This Concert has such a pleasing warm tone and easy playability that you soon realise that the old master Luthiers really were onto something good!

SPECS
Premium Solid Mahogany top, back and sides
Friction tuning heads
Rosewood fingerboard and bridge
Vintage Nunes Style Rope Binding
Bone nut and saddle
14 frets Aquila Nylgut strings (or Worth)
Limited edition
Vintage re-issue
Nunes/Dias style body shape
Solid Premium Mahogany top, back & sides
Rope binding
Vintage finish
Gotoh tuners

CK-28 Concert Size "Nunes' Style
Solid Mahogany Ukulele.














Friday, 27 January 2017

Ukulele Low G Tuning Explained: Re-entrant Tuning Vs Linear Tuning.

Re-Entrant Tuning Vs Linear Tuning.

TWO TYPES OF TUNING Ukuleles are for the most part played in either of two* different tuning; Re-Entrant Tuning Vs Linear Tuning. For those of you familiar with 5 String Banjo you would already be aware of  a Re-entrant tuned instrument.  For those with a Guitar background your ears will be attuned to its Linear tuning.

I'm going to generalise that if you have had previous experience playing guitar you will find the Ukulele Low G Linear tuning feels more natural.  If you come to ukulele from a Banjo background you will feel more at home with the standard Ukulele Re-entrant tuning.  

* (If you include 'Open' tuning there are 3 types of tuning, but that is a whole other kettle of fish for another day.)

Ukulele Trading Co Australia extensive range of low G ukulele Strings ukuleletradingcoaustralia.com.au
The Ukulele Trading Co Australia always has an extensive range of Low G ukulele strings in stock.  CLICK HERE to check out the range.

WHY USE DIFFERENT TUNING?
Each type of tuning adds its own sonic stamp to pieces of music.  Some songs suit that old school High G Re-entrant tuning.  For example Dixie, Ragtime, Banjo tunes, old time music from the 1920's through to 1940's.  If you play more modern JAZZ, ROCK, POP, BLUES or METAL try out Low G tuning.  Songs from these genres were in most cases written and played on guitar or piano.  As such these songs suit Linear Low G tuning. 


Ukulele Reentrant Tuning Vs linear Tuning ukuleletradingcoaustralia.com.au
Ukulele Re-entrant Tuning Vs linear Tuning
HIGH G TUNING EXPLAINED
Refer to the Diagram to the Left and imagine you are sitting at a piano keyboard, low notes to the left, and higher notes to the right.  

The C string on your ukulele is the same pitch as Middle C key on a piano.  Your High G note on the open G string is pitched above middle C, on the keyboard the High G note is to the right or the C note.

When plucking the notes of the open strings from the bottom of your ukulele to the top i.e. A E C G.  Listen as each note gets lower in pitch, the A is your starting note, the E is lower, the C lower again.  Then when you play the G string you can hear that it has a higher pitched note than your C string.  We say it RE-ENTERED the octave above the pitch of the middle C. 

The Re-entrant tuning is why the ukulele sounds so jingly jangly and happy.  When you strum down you hit a high note G and when you strum up you hit a high note A.  Your two thicker low pitched strings, the C and E, are in the middle.



LOW G TUNING EXPLAINED  
Refer to the diagram above and imagine you are sitting at a piano keyboard, with middle C key right in front of you. Remember that the middle C key is the same pitch as your ukulele C string.  A Low G string is pitched BELOW middle C, i.e. to the left of the middle C note. An open G string low G note is LOWER than your C String by 5 Semitones (frets).  That means you now have EXTRA note range on your ukulele. High G Re-entrant tuned ukuleles have a 13 note range, Vs Low G tuning with a 16 note range.  You also now have 2 Bass strings, more on that in a bit.

SUMMARY A Low G string is lower in pitch than your C string.  A High G string is higher in pitch then your C string.

CAN I FIT A LOW G STRING TO MY UKULELE MYSELF?
Yes of course you can.  DIY fitting a Low G String is is quite a straight forward and easy to do. Simply remove your High G string and replace it with a Low G String.  
When you change your High G string over to a Low G you will see that the string is thicker.  Some Low G strings are wound strings, some are non wound.  Most Ukulele nuts can accommodate either a low or high G string in the nut string slot.  

In the rare event that the Low G string will not fit the existing G string slot you can take your ukulele to a guitar shop and they will use a small thin Nut Slot File to widen the slot.  Or if you are feeling handy take a bit of wet and dry sandpaper and fold it over in half and use that as a makeshift Nut Slot file to widen the slot a smidgen.

TUNING UP
If you try to tune a Low G string up to High G the result is usually .... PING ... strings snapping.   The most common problem I see is people try and tune their new low G string up to the same pitch as their High G.  
You need to tune your Low G string 1 octave below the regular High G note. Don't worry you wont need a piano to tune it, your Chromatic ukulele Tuner will be able to do it.  

After fitting the String, start winding up the slack, turning the tuning machine and increasing string tension.  As you do occasionally pluck the open G string and your Chromatic tuner will keep showing you the notes increasing.  It will for example scroll through A A# B C C# D D# etc until you hit a G note.  Pluck this G and Compare it to your C string.    

You will be able to hear if you are getting it right.  When plucking the notes of the open strings from the bottom of your ukulele to the top i.e. A E C G.  Listen and hear that each note gets lower in pitch, the A is your starting note, the E is lower, the C lower again, and the G string even lower again.  When you play the Low G string you can hear that it has a lower pitched note than your C string.   Congratulations you have now put your ukulele in  LINEAR Tuning. 

MUSIC THEORY ASIDE WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE
With a Low G you effectively have 2 BASS Strings, the regular C string and now a Low G string.  Soprano Concert and Tenor ukuleles can be Tuned Low G with out you having to learn anything new.  All your existing skills and knowledge is transferable. 

CHORDS All the Chord shapes you know and love stay the same, there are no new fingerings to learn. But your chords will sound 
much fuller, your chords will have that BIG Bass sound.



SCALES Normally in Re-entrant tuning you only use the C E and A strings to play scales.  Now you can use your Low G string playing scales.  Your lowest note used to be the C note on the open C string.  Now the lowest note your ukulele can play is the G note of the open G string.  Those are the extra notes I mentioned earlier.  You have increased the range of your ukulele.  ALL the strings are now available to you.


AC/DC Back In Black Ukulele Riff ukuleletradingcoaustralia.com.au
AC/DC Back In Black Ukulele Riff

RIFFS  Rock Riffs now sound "Proper".  All of those kick Arse Rock Riffs now sound authentic. AC/DC, BLACK SABBATH and LED ZEPPELIN would totally approve.


CLICK HERE to Buy Low G Tuned Ukulele Strings

Thursday, 26 January 2017

TENOR LOW G RED ukulele Strings a revolutionary string compound from Aquila Corde Amonchi

AQ-88U  $14.95 Including Postage in Australia
TENOR LOW G.
Set of 4 strings GCEA

RED SERIES®

BONUS
FREE Postage in Australia
FREE Online Ukulele Lesson


Changing over from Standard Re-entrant Ukulele Tuning with its High G string to a Low G ukulele tuning is quite straight forward and easy to do.  There are no new chords to learn, your scales stay the same, and the low g Strings are no harder on your fingers.

ALL ukuleles can be tuned low G, no 'special' ukulele is needed.

What you get with Low G is more notes to play as the lowest note on your uke is now an octave below the standard high g. Imagine a piano keyboard, your high g is pitched above middle C, now with a low g you are pitched below middle C

You also be a much fuller Bass tone from your ukulele, and BEST OF ALL those wonderful Rock Single note riffs now sound authentic.

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

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.

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.

Sunday, 8 January 2017

Sore Finger tips? Try Worth Strings. Worth Tenor Brown Ukulele Strings - A great feel and tone BUT easy on your finger tips.

Who Likes Shredding their Fingertips?

NO - ONE including me! And that is why when people ask me about 'Sore Fingertips' I suggest they try out Worth Fluorocarbon strings.

Softer feeling, Lower tension and easier on your fingers. Happy Days

Worth BROWN Tenor Low G Ukulele Strings.
Fluorocarbon. 
$29.95 incl Postage in OZ + Free Ukulele Lesson.



These BT-LG Strings are 'All the tone and volume you want without the Pain.'

SPECS:
63 inch Tenor
Brown
Low G
CODE: BT-LG

Enough string length for 2 re-strings per packet.

Postage included in OZ. 

BONUS FREE Ukulele Lesson via Skype with Hawaii based teacher Jeffrey Thomas

Beautiful Tone Starts With Beautiful Strings.


Worth Premium Fluorocarbon Ukulele Strings are one of the most popular brands of strings among both professional and amateur ukulele musicians.  

Manufactured in Japan, Worth Creations make premium quality strings in Soprano/Concert, Tenor, Baritone, 6 and 8 string sets. Worth Strings is standard fitment to the prestige Hawaiian KoAloha ukuleles.


9 Benefits of Worth Premium Flurocarbon Ukulele Strings.

1. Easy On Your fingers - Softer Material and Lower Tension.
Worth is a softer, easier feeling string under your fingertips, this is due to their lower tension and being made of Flurocarbon.
Other brands/materials can 'shred' your fingertips, even after you have developed callouses on your fingertips, not Worth Strings.  

2. Bending Notes and Vibrato Easier – Smooth lead playing.
If you like to bend notes then try Worth strings. Flurocarbon strings will not 'roll under’ your fingertips like other materials do.
You can really 'dig in' and bend a note smoothly with great control of pitch and vibrato.

3. Brown or Clear Strings – Choose your tone Jazzy or Bright.
Worth ukulele strings come in Brown and Clear versions. The Brown produces a warmer rounder jazzy sound while the Clear strings are the brighter.

4. High or Low G sets – without finger squeak. 
The Worth low G ukulele strings are not wound, so they are less likely to give finger noise and do not have that annoying “Finger Squeak' of wound low G strings. 

5. Value for money with 2 sets per pack.
Worth ukulele strings come in double-length sets. Each package contains enough string length to restring your ukulele twice.

6. Rapid ‘Settling In’ with Stable Tuning.
When new strings are fitted they will (regardless of brand) take some time to stretch and settle in.
Unlike other strings Worth Ukulele Strings will stretch out and settle in just a few days, and will remain stable, with no further stretching due to unwanted elasticity of string material.

7. Volume Balance.
Comparing Worth strings with nylon strings of the same tension, Worth strings have a more consistent and even volume and tone balance between the strings, especially the Low G sets.

8. Long Lasting.
Worth Strings are less prone to breakage than strings manufactured from less durable and stable materials.

Worth Low g strings are solid Flurocarbon and unlike wound low g strings there is NO outer wrap to separate or wear away from an inner core, its this separation leads to string failure.

9. Stable Tuning.
You will find Worth Ukulele Strings have very stable tuning regardless of Temperature and Humidity changes.

A MESSAGE FROM Worth Strings Endorser HERB OHTA JR.


REVIEW OF WORTH STRINGS by liveukulele.com
"Worth – My favourite, hands down. These fluro-carbon strings pack more punch than most. They are bright sounding and pull very tight across the fretboard. These strings are used by Herb Ohta Jr., David Kamakahi, and Brittni Paiva.

There are two main kinds of strings that Worth makes: brown and clear. The brown strings are warmer sounding and the clears are brighter sounding. The clears are what I like. I’m usually a bass/middle frequency guy, I don’t like songs with treble boosted anything. But these strings work for me because my ukulele has such a warm sound, it all balances out. Both kinds of string comes with an optional unwound low G string (yay, no squeaks!) in normal, medium, or heavy tension"  liveukulele.com

ABOUT WORTH STRINGS FROM THE OWNER 
"I’m Masaya Takahashi producer of Worth Strings.“Worth Strings” has been selling well since we started to sale, first of September 2002. 

When I started playing the ukulele, I searched for strings I liked, but couldn't find them in existing products.

At last I found Fluoro Carbon, but to get the strings, I had to purchase a large amount,that I could never use in my lifetime. 

Thankfully many players liked it. First, there were just 3 types. But little by little our customer’s desire for more variations, and now we have many different strings, as you know. “Worth Strings” is made of an special material called Fuluoro carbon.  The specific gravity is about 1.78 (nylon:about 1.14).  The features are a clear sound and a good balance, so it can be adaptive not only for solo play but also for stroke(strumming) play.  

Therefore, despite “Worth Strings” is higher price many people choose them, because the length is longer than other company’s string, and you can get two from one of our strings sets as long as normal size ukulele. Many Japanese customer are particular about sounds and intonation, and they are very satisfied with Worth Strings."

Fat Strings Equal Big Fat Tone Worth Brown Tenor Code: BF-LG

Want a big tone? Then use a Big String.

Worth BROWN Tenor FAT Low G Ukulele Strings. Fluorocarbon. $26 incl Postage in OZ + Free Ukulele Lesson



These BF-LG Strings are 'Meaty Beaty Big N Bouncy' ...  Big Tone and Big Volume

SPECS:
63 inch Tenor
Brown
Low G
FAT
CODE: BF-LG

Enough string length for 2 re-strings per packet.

Postage included in OZ. 

BONUS FREE Ukulele Lesson via Skype with Hawaii based teacher Jeffrey Thomas

Beautiful Tone Starts With Beautiful Strings.

"Fat Gauge is my personal favourite Worth String set, and I use both the high g set and a set of low g sets on my two stage ukes.

Fat sets feel great under your fingers, big n meaty but still soft to touch and "they don't shred my finger tips like other brands have."  Cheers CC


Worth Premium Fluorocarbon Ukulele Strings are one of the most popular brands of strings among both professional and amateur ukulele musicians.  

Manufactured in Japan, Worth Creations make premium quality strings in Soprano/Concert, Tenor, Baritone, 6 and 8 string sets. Worth Strings is standard fitment to the prestige Hawaiian KoAloha ukuleles.


9 Benefits of Worth Premium Flurocarbon Ukulele Strings.

1. Easy On Your fingers - Softer Material and Lower Tension.
Worth is a softer, easier feeling string under your fingertips, this is due to their lower tension and being made of Flurocarbon.
Other brands/materials can 'shred' your fingertips, even after you have developed callouses on your fingertips, not Worth Strings.  

2. Bending Notes and Vibrato Easier – Smooth lead playing.
If you like to bend notes then try Worth strings. Flurocarbon strings will not 'roll under’ your fingertips like other materials do.
You can really 'dig in' and bend a note smoothly with great control of pitch and vibrato.

3. Brown or Clear Strings – Choose your tone Jazzy or Bright.
Worth ukulele strings come in Brown and Clear versions. The Brown produces a warmer rounder jazzy sound while the Clear strings are the brighter.

4. High or Low G sets – without finger squeak. 
The Worth low G ukulele strings are not wound, so they are less likely to give finger noise and do not have that annoying “Finger Squeak' of wound low G strings. 

5. Value for money with 2 sets per pack.
Worth ukulele strings come in double-length sets. Each package contains enough string length to restring your ukulele twice.

6. Rapid ‘Settling In’ with Stable Tuning.
When new strings are fitted they will (regardless of brand) take some time to stretch and settle in.
Unlike other strings Worth Ukulele Strings will stretch out and settle in just a few days, and will remain stable, with no further stretching due to unwanted elasticity of string material.

7. Volume Balance.
Comparing Worth strings with nylon strings of the same tension, Worth strings have a more consistent and even volume and tone balance between the strings, especially the Low G sets.

8. Long Lasting.
Worth Strings are less prone to breakage than strings manufactured from less durable and stable materials.

Worth Low g strings are solid Flurocarbon and unlike wound low g strings there is NO outer wrap to separate or wear away from an inner core, its this separation leads to string failure.

9. Stable Tuning.
You will find Worth Ukulele Strings have very stable tuning regardless of Temperature and Humidity changes.

A MESSAGE FROM Worth Strings Endorser HERB OHTA JR.


REVIEW OF WORTH STRINGS by liveukulele.com
"Worth – My favourite, hands down. These fluro-carbon strings pack more punch than most. They are bright sounding and pull very tight across the fretboard. These strings are used by Herb Ohta Jr., David Kamakahi, and Brittni Paiva.

There are two main kinds of strings that Worth makes: brown and clear. The brown strings are warmer sounding and the clears are brighter sounding. The clears are what I like. I’m usually a bass/middle frequency guy, I don’t like songs with treble boosted anything. But these strings work for me because my ukulele has such a warm sound, it all balances out. Both kinds of string comes with an optional unwound low G string (yay, no squeaks!) in normal, medium, or heavy tension"  liveukulele.com

ABOUT WORTH STRINGS FROM THE OWNER 
"I’m Masaya Takahashi producer of Worth Strings.“Worth Strings” has been selling well since we started to sale, first of September 2002. 

When I started playing the ukulele, I searched for strings I liked, but couldn't find them in existing products.

At last I found Fluoro Carbon, but to get the strings, I had to purchase a large amount,that I could never use in my lifetime. 

Thankfully many players liked it. First, there were just 3 types. But little by little our customer’s desire for more variations, and now we have many different strings, as you know. “Worth Strings” is made of an special material called Fuluoro carbon.  The specific gravity is about 1.78 (nylon:about 1.14).  The features are a clear sound and a good balance, so it can be adaptive not only for solo play but also for stroke(strumming) play.  

Therefore, despite “Worth Strings” is higher price many people choose them, because the length is longer than other company’s string, and you can get two from one of our strings sets as long as normal size ukulele. Many Japanese customer are particular about sounds and intonation, and they are very satisfied with Worth Strings."