Ukulele Tonya

I realized at our last meeting of Ukuleles of Paradise that a lot of folks have only a minimal knowledge of Hawaiian music. It’s just not something they’re familiar with or have heard much (if at all!). To help remedy that, I’ve written a very brief primer on the topic, “Learning About Hawaiian Music” and I have posted it in the Files section of this site. The article includes a (brief) summary of what you might hear in Hawaiian music as well as an abundance of links for online Hawaiian radio, vintage recordings, places to listen to/purchase Hawaiian music and even an online site where you listen to traditional songs and speak Hawaiian while you play along on your ukulele!

While you’re in that section of the site, you may want browse around and see what other files you might be interested in. I created most of these for members of the local ukulele group to help answer questions or as topics for a future meeting.

I like carrying my Gator ukulele case for my LoPrinzi soprano when traveling because the case is sturdy and it’s not at risk of being crushed when stored in the carry-on overhead bins on planes. The downside of the Gator, though, is that it’s made as a “handle-only” case, with just a single place to hold it (and the case is slippery to hold against your chest with two arms). Hence, I grow tired of carrying it in the airport or at festivals when I’d like to keep both hands free.

My husband, Mark, saw my difficulties and solved it tidily and cheaply by installing two “hook holders” on each end of the case. Now I can use a standard luggage strap hooked in to the holders and I have hands-free carrying of my Gator case.

A few notes about doing this: Mark purchased two zinc-plated steel hooks with a flat base at the hardware store for $2.50/pair (see picture). They’re actually meant to hold picture frames on the wall. He used two stainless steel Phillips head screws for each of the attaching areas. He positioned one holder at each end on the “bottom” (deeper) part of the case.

He was careful to position them at the curving section toward the handle in the middle rather than way out on the ends of the case so it wouldn’t protrude on the outer edges and catch on things when wedged into the overhead bin. He also used a vise to curve each of the flat bases to match the curve in the Gator case.

The end result? A sturdy and easy-to-carry case. When I don’t need the shoulder carry option, I just remove the strap and roll it up. If I want a really comfortable strap, I use one of my suede-padded luggage straps (it came off my gym bag–and who needs exercise anyway??)–but for most times, the simple web strap works great.