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| Cigar Box Baritones on Elderly.com - Baritone Uke - Ukulele - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
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oddjobzombie Approved 
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I've been considering getting a bari uke and I saw these on Elderly. http://elderly.com/new_instruments/items/CBU4.htm Does anyone have any experience with these or similar instruments? They're cheap, so the risk level is a little lower, but I wonder about their acoustic sound. I know that there are some nice cigar box ukes out there, but these are pretty cheap.
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Will Approved 
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I've heard and played several cigar box ukes, which I regard as more of a novelty than anything else. Cigar boxes are not likely to made of the kind of wood you would make instruments out of, and the flat rectangular dimensions are not designed for enhancing musical tone of the strings. For the same money, a conventional solid-top baritone would be a better choice. If you want an affordable but good sounding baritone, get an Amigo AMB-7, a solid spruce top baritone imported from Romania (I own one of these), selling for $42: http://www.harmonyonline.com/amigo-baritone-ukulele-p-8258.html 
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ |
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oddjobzombie Approved
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Last edited on Mon Apr 28th, 2008 11:11 am by oddjobzombie |
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oddjobzombie Approved
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I guess you're probably right about the cigar boxes. I gotta check out that Amigo baritone. Considering the amount of times you've recommended it to people, it's got to be good.
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amped Approved 
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I have one of these Elderly cigar boxes. Intonation was good, but the fretboard needed some work - two fret wires needed to be seated. Action is a little bit high, but I use Worth strings that seem to have a need for clearance or they would buzz. The cigar box design allows access to more frets than you will ever use. It does grab some attention, and receives an occasional compliment (but mostly based upon appearance). It is made to be amplified - very quiet when not plugged in. I often play it around the house, at all hours, unamplifed. Plugged in, it sounds OK, but not great... er, at least I haven't yet been able to set it up to make it sound great. It sounds about like how I'd expect $125 to sound. I occasionally use it to jam, but my laminated Kala with active electronics sounds better. The feel of the cigar box is more like the Kala than the smaller Amigo - similar scale length and neck width. The neck on the cigar box is a little thicker than the Kala. The Amigo isn't amplified. I have spent a little time experimenting with stick-on and glue-on transducers on various instruments and as a result, I prefer to avoid them. Microphones are a hassle. So, for me, the Kala with active electronics (and onboard volume control) is the clear choice for making amplified music. I put Grover geared machines on my Amigo. This modification is trivial for experienced wood-workers, but is not a good first-project. It was not issue-free for me, but the result is good.
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garyblanchard Approved 
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I have a cookie-tin banjo and would put this in the same category. I bought the banjo as a novelty and because I like to play some jug-band stuff now and then and the cookie-tin banjo has a jug-band look. The cigar box uke would do the same thing for me. If I had the money sitting around, I would probably buy one for that purpose, especially since it has the built-in pickup. I don't see this as a "serious" uke, but why be serious all the time? 
____________________ http://www.brookfieldsmusic.net Preserving the Old-Time/Good-Time Tradition http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/919/ Buy our CDs at: http://kunaki.com/msales.asp?PublisherId=111162 |
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| ezFolk Forums > Ukulele > Baritone Uke > Cigar Box Baritones on Elderly.com | |
