The first time I held a ukulele was in 2011. My classical guitar teacher suggested the ukulele was an instrument that may work better for me. I wasn’t bad at playing classical guitar. Actually, I played well enough to go to the conservatory. However, playing 5 to 6 hours a day was difficult as my hands and shoulders just couldn’t handle it. In 2012, I tried to take part in the music exams, so I would graduate at the highest amateur level in classical guitar. Unfortunately, I was physically unable to participate in this exam. I quit playing guitar in a split second. I hated my body for not being able to play and make music. In 2017, the doctor’s diagnosis of fibromyalgia was identified as the main reason for all my pain.
Luckily, I restarted playing the recorder in 2010, started in 1999, quit in middle school ’because it wasn’t cool. In 2014, I graduated at the highest amateur level in classical recorder! After saying goodbye to my guitar in 2012 (which is still hanging on my wall), I bought my very own first Aloha concert ukulele. I fell in love in a NANO second! Playing the ukulele doesn’t cause me too much muscle pain and has brought the joy of string instruments back in my life!
It took me 6½ years to buy my second uke. Late 2018 is when my UAS (Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome) really started. The second uke, also a concert but with no brand has a cats’s paw as a sound hole. I restrung it a year or two later with a low G string.After buying my second ukulele, UAS set in and many more were purchased. I have a Flight Travel Series TUS-EE Sunset Elise Ecklund Signature soprano ukulele, which is amazing to travel with.
In 2021, I came across a new ukulele with kittens all over it. As a cat behaviorist, I couldn’t resist buying it. It’s the Flight Travel Series TUC Kitty concert ukulele. Then, I really wanted a baritone as it’s a little bit closer to a guitar, but still playable for me! I fell for the Flight Natural Series NUB310 baritone. Most recently, I bought an Enya Nova U pink concert ukulele. It’s just magnificent! Never have I ever seen a ukulele like this one close up! The Enya feels different, sounds lovely and is wonderful to look at. Funny fact: my niece’s name is Enya too! Maybe I’ll buy her an Enya uke one day, if she wants one! Before the Enya Nova, I saw a Kala ukulele. All those Sparkles! I mean, how could I resist ordering one for myself?! So, I did. It’s the Kala KA-SPRK-PINK Sparkle Series Pink Champagne concert ukulele.
Another amusing fact- in the last 1 ½ years, I bought the last 4 ukuleles for myself. As my friends say, “That’s just, a little crazy”! How can I help myself when I have UAS? For now, I may stop buying more ukes. I just can’t tell you for how long though!
That’s the crazy thing about a Cats-Pink-and-Sparkles-Obsessed-Ukulele-girl!
On our way to the beach, I spotted a friend looking at my ukulele gig bag suspiciously. “What’s in there, Peewee?” she asked. “Uhmm . . . just stuff,” I shrugged in the most nonchalant manner I could manage. You see, my ukulele gig bag does not look like a conventional ukulele bag. Grandma custom-made it for me, ‘different’ from all the typical ones you get in music stores. I wanted one which would blend in easily with other travel bags and not attract too much attention. ‘Why go to such lengths?’ you might ask. Well, the answer was simple. I had never really told anyone that I had a ukulele and had spent the last year secretly learning to play it by watching tutorials on YouTube. Strumming away in the solitude of my bedroom gave me great joy. Though my skills had improved over the months, I considered myself more of a closet ukulele player and I intended to keep it that way. I would not want my uke bag to turn unnecessary heads and give away my secret. Why then had I risked being exposed? Taking my ukulele to the beach with four other friends had been a bold, reckless move, I know, but the beach seemed to beckon me. I imagined finding a lonely, secluded spot to play my uke, the sea breeze in my hair, the sand between my toes. The feeling had been so intense that I had had no qualms about picking up the uke and packing it in with my luggage.
The day at the beach passed by in a fervour of games and fun. Post-dinner, we sat talking around a campfire. My friend, Raoul got out a guitar and played a few songs. The dancing firelight… the waves breaking upon the shore… the sea spray… the music… It was blissful! My fingers itched to get hold of my ukulele, but I controlled myself. Slowly, one by one, people drifted indoors to go to bed. I went in too, but sleep eluded me. I felt restless. I finally got up, grabbed my uke which had been carefully tucked away out of sight and sneaked back outside.
The campfire was still burning, although feebly. A light wind gently caressed my face… playing in my hair… It felt wonderful! I hugged my uke and began to play a little ditty I’d learned on YouTube. I played it over and over, lost in the moment, oblivious to the passage of time. It might have been a minute or it might have been ten; I stopped and sighed contentedly. Suddenly out of the blue, I heard a tiny cough and I stirred out of my reverie, scared. “That was beautiful,” said a voice and a face swam into view.
It was Raoul, the guitar guy. I blushed, at a loss for words and clumsily attempted to get up. “I didn’t know you play so well…” He smiled and sat down next to me. “Er… do I?” I asked. “Yeah, you do. Do you sing too?” “Er…” I said cautiously, “I don’t intend to..” “Why not?” “I can’t.” I said flatly. “Of course you can!” “Not in front of you.” “I’ll look away then.” “No… I can’t…” I repeated. “What are you scared of?” He asked. “I’m not!” I said defiantly. “Sing then. Show me how fearless you are. ” “But…” “Try,” he said simply and smiled. “Okay fine!” I said agitated. He had touched a nerve. I hate above all being called a coward. I took a deep breath and tried. My fingers involuntarily began playing my favourite chord melody. He began humming softly. “I love this song,” he mouthed. Within a few minutes, we were both singing our hearts out. One by one, I played all the songs I knew and he joined in with equal enthusiasm. Never before had I experienced such joy! Playing alone was great, no doubt, but it was nothing, nothing compared to this. This was magical, soul- stirring.
“Thank you,” I whispered to him, moments later, as we stopped to catch our breaths. “Anytime,” he whispered back. “This is the first time that I have played before someone,” I blurted out. “I know,” he smiled a knowing smile. “You know?” I asked. He grinned mischievously. “How?” I persisted. “Well, we’re neighbours, aren’t we?” he laughed. “I live right next door to you, Peewee!” I will never forget that night… the night that changed me… the night that I finally let go of all inhibitions… the night a closet ukulele player CAME OUT !
That’s it! I’m burning my ukulele. I’m a pyro, as in “pyrography”: the freehanded art of decorating wood with burn marks. I’ve been a pyro for two years now. It started with me posting on Facebook ‘I’m burning my son’s guitar’, which resulted in replies asking what he had done to tick me off. My son moved out and left me his electric guitar to be creative with. So I stripped it down and burnt it. It came out looking so nice that I didn’t want to send it to him. So I burnt an uku to match. Unfortunately, it’s a cheap ukulele-kit you can put together. I chose maple leaves as the design because it represents Canada, it’s on our flag and we love our maple syrup eh. It’s home.
Step one is drawing and burning the outline. As you can see, even my little work table fell victim to my pyrography. I decided to continue the design over the edge, giving it a fuller view. I did have to clean the tip of the tool to keep it clean and give an even line. I continued the design to the back. It looks fuller in my opinion. The tool I had been using was just the wand, but I was just experimenting with it at the time. I found that just using the one tip felt easier to me. To shade and get the darker effects I moved my tool slower not stopping. For a better burn I have to continue cleaning the tip. I also discovered that if my burn was too dark I could use an emery board to sand it lighter. When I got to the open area, I just made smaller movements back and forth to create the wavy effects. I added a couple leaves to the head. I ordered a wooden fretboard since the kit had a plastic one. When it came in I decided to burn it too. I just couldn’t help it.
Once my ukulele was finally finished I added a leather cord to it as a strap, added small feathers to the tuners and named it Autumn. I didn’t use the strings from the kit but got better quality ones and used a lowG. My hubby made the stand for Autumn and it sits on a shelf in my living room beside my other soprano ukulele.
I got my inspiration from people like Dino Muradian, James Roberson and other artists that I found on Pinterest. Dino Muradian lives in Hawaii and actually is living his dream burning ukuleles for a ukulele company. Now that would be awesome to do. So if there’s any ukulele companies that would like me to burn for them I would be thrilled.
This is a more advanced topic, so make sure to read the instructions before going to work on the Ukulele. I found it hard to play some barre chords on my baritone, so I checked the action (aka the height of the strings) above the 12th fret.
Why the 12th fret ?
It is the half of the distance between nut and saddle (aka the scale) of the Ukulele. It was about 2.7 millimeters, which I felt was too high for me. So I decided to lower the action and this requires some calculation:
The height of the saddle determines the height of the action. To lower the action to a certain height, you have to lower the bridge twice that value. For instance: to lower the action 2 millimeters you have to lower the bridge 4 millimeters.
Step 1 – Measuring
I measured the height of the strings at the 12th fret with a string action ruler.
I dediced to lower the strings to 2.5 millimeters, what led to lower the bridge a half millimeter
You can get the bridge out of the saddle by loosen your strings, or maybe it is about to change the strings, then it might be easier to get it out.
Step 2 – Marking the bridge
I aligned my brigde under the ruler and marked the parts,of the bridge that must be sanded down, to lower it.
Step 3 – Sanding
I put a sheet of sandpaper with a 120 grit on the desk, put my bridge on it an with light preasure and circular movments I sanded the bridge down to the marked line. Make sure you hold the brigde thight and even on the sandpaper. Don’t use too much speed to sand it down, just a steady movement with decent pressure.
This may take some time, dependig on how much you need to sand down….
Step 4 – Reinstall bridge, check action
I reinstalled my bridge, thighten my strings and checked the action again, to see, if I had worked properly
Tip
Since I had loosen my strings, they needed to stretch again like new installed strings, because of the lowered action.
Now, there are some decisions to make: Where will I install the buttons ?
This position is mandatory. Most Ukulele’s come already with a strap button installed in this position.
If your Ukulele hasn’t already one installed, you could do it by following the instructions below.
At the neck we got 2 options: 1st At the joint of the body and the neck 2nd At the Headstock
If you like to have the button installed at the headstock, you should check, that the wood ist thick enough to accomodate the srew, that came with the strap button. You might have to get a shorter one, if it is too long
Step 1 – Masking I decdided to put the strap button next to the body, so I applied some masking tape on that area to be sure not to scratch my instrument with the tools and to have the option to make markings on it.
Step 2 – Measure & drill You have to to measure the area, to find the middle to install the button centered on the instrument and the drill a small hole into the neckjoint. Not to deep (approx. 2/3 of the srews lenghts), so that the srcew could thighten on the joint.
Step 3 – Screw Now screw the button thight into that hole and you’re done.
Have yourself a cup of coffee (or tea, or whatever you like) and enjoy your self installed strap button.
While on my ukulele journey, I happened across a beautiful concert bamboo ukulele, to which I excitedly purchased. When I received it in the mail, I played this lovely ivory beauty and then carefully looked over the instrument. To my horror I thought I found a crack ! Sure enough it was a crack in the wood!
Oh no… how do I fix this problem?… what caused this crack? … how do I ensure this never happens again? Fortunately the Company was quick to send me a new ukulele. Fixed! The Company explained that sometimes temperature and humidity differences in transit might cause this to happen. The cause! The only thing left is to make sure this never happens again. It was actually a good thing that this happened because I was totally unaware that low humidity can do damage to our ukuleles.
Relative humidity (RH) is simply the amount of moisture in the air (not your “sweaty uncle” according to hubby, Tom!) When room temperatures lower, the moisture levels go down and can cause problems for our wood floors, furniture and instruments. Wooden instruments, especially our ukuleles need a RH count of 49%. I was able to check our RH counts with a dial on my Galileo thermometer weather station. (I never knew what the middle dial was for.) I purchased several digital humidity gauges from Amazon to help me keep an eye on things. The first reading that I saw was about 15%. I needed to raise the humidity in my room quickly. I strategically placed water bowls in several places throughout the room. I was able to get the room humidity up to 39% rather quickly but knew I couldn’t leave my “babies” out in the cold. Every ukulele went back into its case. The bamboo ukulele mentioned above, came with an accessory that I had never seen before- a small black plastic humidifier (that should have been a clue!)
What humidifier should I get for my ukulele?
There are several types of humidifiers you can purchase for inside your case (or in my UAS world- cases). Inside these plastic humidifiers are sponges. Just pour water in through the top, make sure no excess water is dripping out and place it in the gig bag. If it’s the type with an oval lid on top, it goes right into your sound hole between the C and E strings.
If your humidifier has a removable top you can take the sponge out and soak it thoroughly. In that case squeeze out the excess water before placing it in your ukulele. This would have to be done every couple of days or so to keep the humidity up inside the closed case.
This was a UAS nightmare for me, as there’d be little time to play and my precious time would be spent humidifying my ukuleles! My GUB (Global Ukulele Bubble) members, Karen Seidel, and Ali Crush both told me about “Boveda 2” humidity control packets. I bought the size 70 with 49% RH and placed one in each case. If there is too much humidity or too little, these will rectify the humidity issues for several months. They need to be replaced when the packets become hard. They are a bit more expensive than the small plastic varieties but a whole lot more convenient.
Helpful Tips
Place house plants on water catch trays in several areas in the room
Add pebbles or small rocks in the trays to help the humidity and this also helps plants not to sit in standing water and root rot
Use ceramic water holders around the room
An electric room humidifier could be used
How do you know there is a lack of moisture in the room?
You can use a humidity gauge. Also, as you tune your ukulele check it. If a ukulele fret begins to feel sharp, this is a sign the wood is contracting due to lack of moisture. If there are cracks in the wood of your instrument…well that’s obvious!
So, my ukulele journey continues with more life lessons than I could ever have imagined.
On our 34th anniversary last December I was gifted an ukulele which didn’t have a strap. Someone shared a link to Etsy for hand made ukulele straps. I went to take a look and found a wonderful place for eye candy. I wanted at least twelve of them. Unfortunately I can’t get twelve. From all the beautiful possibilities, I chose the one with butterflies.
Once it came in, I immediately installed it on my uke. I absolutely loved it! As being an artist I just can’t seem to leave things alone. I tend to put my personal touch on things. I felt the butterflies needed to continue their journey on my ukulele, so I needed to create more beautiful creatures. Well, I couldn’t really wrap my ukulele in more straps, so I had to create these butterflies myself. Step one. Draw them on.
In pencil I drew the same size butterflies and labeled them in the same pattern on the strap. To immortalize the drawings I needed to paint them on. I chose acrylic paints to use. It dries fast and water solubility makes it easier to thin and layer when need it. To draw them on you really need the right tools, because there is a plethora of brushes. Painting precise lines requires a smaller paint brush with a pointy tip for details. My paints were old and dry. I wouldn’t recommend it for painting on your precious ukulele, but I made it work. Starting with yellow as the lightest colour I mapped out and repeated the pattern seen on the strap.
Some butterflies are easier to paint than others, so I left the difficult ones for later. Once I finished the yellow I added tan and brown. You have to be careful, not to touch wet paint, because the colours easily get mixed. I did at one point but didn’t fret, thin acrylic paint is easy to scrap off. As I put on my thin layers I was able to blend the colours when needed.
While adding blue, green and detailed things, the butterflies really started to come together. I didn’t rush, I took my time. Soon the most difficult butterfly was getting worked on. I think having so much detail in that one butterfly intimidated me. Not every butterfly is the same and some were really detailed to paint.
think it turned out well. Each is a bit different but close enough for me to the strap. My next step is either paint clear nail polish over each butterfly or buy a can of spray varnish and give it a light coat for protection. I haven’t decided yet what I should do. For now I’m really happy with the result and really wanted to share it with all of you.
Once it was done, it was time for some new strings and finally time to play. Since I got this ukulele I did receive another ukulele… of to Etsy for a look for a new project!
The number five. Trad Irish music. Twenty Twenty Vision. What do these all have in common, you may ask? How could such seemingly random things have any connection? If you look around hard enough, you’ll see the hidden connections, but you don’t have to look very hard to find this connection. It’s none other than the very talented and lovely Dave Thorpe. A man of many talents, one of which is bringing a smile to your face with his disarming charm and laid-back manner.
Born in 1960, he grew up listening to his father’s records, ranging from The Beatles, Slade, Simon & Garfunkel, to big bands like Glenn Miller. You can see his varied musical taste started early. As a child, he took classical piano and trumpet lessons, but found that they didn’t agree with him. He discovered his love of stringed instruments on the age of fifteen when he borrowed his sister’s guitar and taught himself how to play. Back in those days, there was no internet or YouTube, so he had to learn by looking at chord sheets and listening.
For most of the last 20 years, he mainly played guitar for Trad Irish sessions and gigs with some of the best Irish musicians such as Elmer McGowan (flute), Colette O’Leary (accordion), and Brendan Power (harmonica). He also recorded several albums (all available on Apple Music/Amazon/etc), the most recent being his first ukulele-based titled “Twenty Twenty Vision” back in June of 2021.
Since music was a passionate hobby, I asked him about his professions. To no one’s surprise, music played a big a part of that too! He’s been a classroom teacher for decades, working with children who had special social, emotional or behavioral needs. Many times he’d bring his guitar in and play music for the children, but it wasn’t music therapy per se, as he was really just a teacher who happened to be a musician. He didn’t say it in this way, but I think he was inspired by witnessing how music helped the children to earn a master’s degree in music therapy. He became a full-fledged Music Therapist in 2013, and helped countless people for nearly 10 years. He worked with cancer patients, people with autism, adults with dementia, and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.
One of his greatest projects as a music therapist was setting up the first dedicated music therapy service in a renal dialysis ward. This was an important project to him because he was a patient at the same dialysis ward back in 2004, before getting a kidney transplant in 2006. Knowing how difficult dialysis is, he wanted to go back into that setting and use his newfound skills to help. It was a very successful program, but unfortunately lost funding after three years. Since then, he became a dialysis patient once again, as his kidney transplant is now failing. He now finds himself in the same dialysis ward three times a week, six hours each time, sitting next to some of the same patients he played music for, waiting for news of another transplant.
In his words, finding Ukelandia “was brilliant!” Before COVID hit, his life consisted of a lot of going out and performing at venues all around London. Playing Trad Irish music meant musicians sat around tables playing all sorts of instruments right next to each other, which was obviously out of the question with the advent of COVID. He hasn’t played with another musician live since February 2019 and misses it. Mostly, life is going to dialysis, maybe an outing or two and being at home playing ukulele.
We talked a bit about his some of his outings, and a recent favorite was being able to visit the Southern Ukulele Store and meeting Alex. If you don’t know, SUS is a wonderful uke store in England and Alex uploads many videos to YouTube. On the platform he is showing off the many incredible ukes they have, along with tutorials about strings, woods and many other topics related to our favorite instrument. Dave was given the VIP treatment, with no other customers in the store, and hundreds of ukes to play with! In the words of Dave himself, “it’s a two and a half hour drive, but it’s worth it!” As a result of his visit, he ended up two more ukes.
I paused slightly and smiled, because I realized that Dave was in that very familiar spot in his house we see in all of his videos… on his couch, with a painting on the wall behind him and a uke always within arm’s reach. It’s amazing that he only really picked up the ukulele a few years ago and now it’s his go-to instrument. Dave is on a wonderful musical journey which he shares with all of us with his video’s and articles in this magazine. I was honored to listen and share his story with us all.
Oh, and the number five? Dave lives just a few blocks from the old Wembley Stadium, so he’d get to hear concerts for free. Once, he got to hear the Bon Jovi concert for what seemed like five times.
Before we stopped, I told him that I like to end my interviews in the same way James Lipton of ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio’ ended his, with a questionnaire based upon one used by Bernard Pivot on his talk show. So without further ado, here are Dave Thorpe’s answers…
What is your favorite word? Syzygy. A word that describes the seeming chaos and order of the universe.
What is your least favorite word? Like. When used as a filler word or a pause. Or emojis!
What turns you on? Music. Song lyrics.
What turns you off? Our current Prime Minister
What sound or noise do you love? The C5 chord. It’s neither major nor minor because there’s no third.
What sound or noise do you hate? Foxes at night. Though he points out, as a music therapist, that any sound can be used in a positive way. Except those damn foxes.
What is your favorite curse word? Bollocks. It’s a very flexible word.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? “I would’ve loved to do music at a high level.” Meaning, he would’ve loved to been a full-time musician.
What profession would you not like to do? Anything that’s a 9-5 desk job.
If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? “John Prine’s over there, and he’d like to talk to you about all of those covers you’ve done over the years.”
