No one was more surprised than me by getting into ukulele. My grandmother got this one I believe in the early 1920's- a banjo ukulele made by a guy who sold them at a roadside stand in San Jose,CA. Unfortunately,this one was made before they standardized the measurements & so forth and it doesn't sound good from the 7th fret on. But it's what I started noodling with & playing Christmas carols a little over a month ago. My mom had the banjo skin replaced nearly 30 years ago & I have no idea why-she never played it.
I finally broke down & got a good inexpensive model made of nato (eastern mahogany) wood as it gives a good tone. Not the fanciest uke in the world,but it's a perfect instrument to take to my part time job,plays excellent & sounds wonderful. I'm not a Hawaii/Island type person,and found that you can play blues on it (I have the book!) and was even more surprised to find there is a cowboy tradition (that started back in the 1920's?) of making music on the thing. It made perfect sense-it's small,inexpensive,easy to learn,perfect for one who's life is on the go and living in the great outdoors. I can't believe the positive reaction I've had at the part time job I have at the college when I'm playing. Mind you so far I can pluck "Good King Wenseslas" and do some melodic scale stuff plus a few chords. I'm far from what I'd considered to be "good" yet my boss has asked me to quit playing outdoors on break & play in the break room as she likes what I'm doing. I've started making gig bags for these out of colorful & fun fabrics as the one that came with my uke can only be described as "cheesy"! I'm hoping this will become an instrument of the farm girl-perfect for having along when you take a break from yard work,waiting for the baking to get done in the oven,or just need a musical time out. So I'm off to learn more tunes!
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