1four5
Approved
| Joined: | Sat Oct 30th, 2004 |
| Location: | Wichita, Kansas USA |
| Posts: | 1107 |
| Instrument Interest: | Bluegrass Banjo, Guitar |
| Status: |
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Thanks Pauline! Yep, you got my attention right away! Thanks for the link to the thread and website! Your right, quite expensive, but sure nice instruments!
Bariton ukuleles in general: I can't help but comment on this again, and maybe get some feedback from the folk crowd...maybe different from the traditional uke crowd. I didn't get into ukuleles for their sound or traditions. I got into ukes because 4 strings are just plain easier to learn than 6. The guitar frustrations that made me give up 20 years ago, and were creeping back again earlier this year...simply melted away with my first few strums of a baritone ukulele. I'm not a natural, and every advancement I get I have to work hard for. My fingers are short and clumbsy. With the baritone uke, everything I knew from guitar transferred right over, so there was no starting over, new chord shapes, transposing etc. The songs I knew still sounded like the songs I knew! I could also sit right down with my guitar playing buddies, and jam what I knew...in the right key right away. I like to say that to pick up a baritone ukulele is like throwing out all the frustrating aspects of a guitar and leaving only the fun. The bariton ukulele has also provided the fun for me to keep applying myself to music...and bridged the gap between guitar hurdles. I cannot help but think what would have happened to the hundreds of thousands of people out there who have tried guitar...and gave up...if they would have started with a baritone uke instead. I think there is an untapped crowd out there waiting for something like a bari uke to become more popular...the not gifted but would love to learn an instrument crowd...the Hawiian music is nice but I want to jam with my youth group crowd...etc...etc...
I've pretty much come to the conclusion that in the uke community, the bariton uke is sort of accepted but still the outsider instrument. The makers sort of advertise them, but don't waste too much time there. They sort of tack them onto their line of instruments almost as an after thought. Then they market them to the traditional uke community, who are really not all that insterested. I think a company could really get big if they concentrated on the bari, and changed their marketing stratigy to the guitar crowd, especially beginners.
In fact I'll take it one step further...if I was a Product manager/Marketing exec for a big company like say Fender or Yamaha (or independently wealthy myself) I would mass produce a decent baritone version of something like this for under $200 and get those babys out there.
I might also add that I spent several hours at the music store a couple weeks ago, and finally had the opportunity to play the smaller sizes of ukes, as well as my first experience playing one with high G tuning. I have to say that although my interest level in ukes in general is rising, my experience was not exciting enough to get me to buy one. I can also add that had it been one of these, instead of the bari that I picked up in the store last April, I probably would have put it back on the shelf and never given a uke another thought. While I was at the store, a mother walked in with her two young daughters, and they were looking at student guitars to the tune of a couple hundred a piece...with no chance of them picking one up and doing anything other than some annoying open string raking strums. They heard me over by the ukes jamming and the mother came over and asked me "are those little kid's guitars?" (remember this is Kansas ). So I got to explain what I knew about ukes, and how they relate to guitars. To make a long story short, the girls were making chords and having fun in a short while, and both walked out with a new Hilo bari uke (less than $100 for two Hilos) and one very happy mom.
Last edited on Mon Dec 6th, 2004 05:54 pm by 1four5
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These are the good times!
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...but...why o why couldn't they have made a cutaway model...
