Ukuleles - The Flea

I have several ukuleles. My first one was a Mahalo (UK-201) soprano ukulele, which I think is a Chinese brand, and widely available in music stores as low-end instruments. It was fine to start on, but chords didn't always sound "right". This, as I later discovered, was because the intonation on the ukulele is poor. The strings can be exactly in tune when they are open, but if you play a note further down, it will be out of tune, and tends to be more out of tune the further down the fretboard it is.

After consulting a number of websites on constructing and repairing ukuleles, I discovered that there is a simple solution to this problem. Buy another ukulele.

For my second ukulele, I splurged ona Gold Tone Banjolele Deluxe. A banjolele is a ukulele with a banjo-like body, and was something of a trademark for comedian George Formby (although he also played regular uke). The Gold Tone Banjolele is beautiful - lovely wood, and really good intonation. I'm not much of a ukulele player, but my aimless strummings certainly sounded much better on the Gold Tone than they did on the Mahalo.

However, after a few weeks, I found that my lovely banjolele didn't really replace the cheapo Mahalo. The regular uke is just so much lighter and more convenient. I can type on the computer, and, when I want a break, grab the ukulele from the desk, beside me, or the floor, or wherever I've dumped it. But the banjolele is a much more serious instrument. I have to be careful with it, and look after it - I can't just throw it wherever I want. And it's much heavier, and louder than the ukulele.

Eventually, I decided to get another regular soprano ukulele, and, after reading many reviews, I picked the Magic Fluke Company's "Flea" ukulele. This is a modern, pineapple-shaped ukulele. The body is made of plastic (on the back) and wood (on the front). The fretboard is moulded out of a single piece of plastic. I wondered about the durability of this, compared to wood and metal, but it seems just fine (enough to withstand nylon strings, anyway), and the intonation is excellent - all the chords sound the way they are supposed to. The Flea is about the same size and weight as my old ukulele. It cost a little more, but it's still the kind of thing you can just plonk down on the desk or on the floor, and pick it up when you want to play it.

Magic Fluke also make a larger ukulele called the Fluke. This one has a triangular body, making it look a like an anorexic balalaika. I haven't tried the Fluke, but according to most reviews, both the Flea and the Fluke are excellent value for money.

The Flea is just great. It plays well, plays well, sounds good, and is fun.

Some Things I Like

Some things I like, in no particular order:

Gadgets, Daleks, ferrets, the ukulele, writing, my Toyota Prius, comedy, Brian Eno, games, Monty Python, Star Trek (original only)

Octopuses

Some interesting facts about octopuses. First, that the plural "octopuses" is more correct than "octopi". That's because "octopus" isn't a Latin word, it's derived from a Greek one. If you want a fancy plural, you could say "octopodes".

Some interesting footage of octopuses and cuttlefish at the following site:

http://www.cephbase.utmb.edu/
Various bits of footage of different cephalopods.

http://www.oceanfootage.com/stockfootage
This is a site selling stock footage of ocean creatures, but you can watch the images in a smaller size for free. Search for the "mimic octopus".