The Ukulele Part 2: On the Mainland

Hello!

My last blog entry ended with the introduction of the ukulele to the United States mainland, and I thought I would pick up the story where I left off.

After the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, there was a flood of Hawaiian music with vaudeville performers. This meant that the ukulele (and the lap steel guitar) was in greater demand because things were the same then are they are today: when famous musicians are playing an instrument, the demand carries over to the public too. So, sales giants Sears and Montgomery Ward started selling ukuleles via mail order.

And people really liked that the instrument was easy to learn, and in just a few hours they could start making basic music. There was even a popular method book, the “5-Minute Ukulele Course” which sold for 5-cents.

Martin Guitars of Nazareth PA saw this demand and did not want to miss out on the trend. They came out with an inexpensive (under 10 dollars) uke which brought them a lot of business. Martin had enough new business that they had to expand their factory 3 times between 1917 and 1926 to meet demand. By 1926 they were making 17,000 ukuleles a year, which is quite remarkable considering that 10 years before they were selling just a few hundred instruments (guitars and mandolins) per year.

The craze continued on through the 1920s and 1930s, and Martin, Regal and Harmony made a lot of money selling ukuleles. Most transcriptions of popular music included ukulele tablature.

World War II did little to dampen enthusiasm for the ukulele. Maccaferri cranked out about 9 million cheap plastic ukuleles between the war and the late 1960s. Perhaps the high mark (or low mark) of the uke was the 1968 hit “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”, as performed by Tiny Tim.

After this time, demand for the ukulele crapped out, and there was about 20 years where ukulele music moved to the back burner.

The start of the re-emergence of ukulele popularity can probably be best attributed to the late Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (IZ), a Hawaiian musician that recorded touching versions of “What a Wonderful World” and “Over the Rainbow.” I have heard his renditions in quite a few movies and TV commercials over the years.

Since the late 1990s I have seen increasing numbers of ukuleles in music stores, and there are now displays in Sam Ash Music and Guitar Center locations across the country. A new generation of musicians are learning the instrument, and I think that is terrific in this age of Guitar Hero fake musicians.

Mahalo!

The Ukulele

Aloha!

I have been learning to play the ukulele, and have been curious how the instrument came about. After hearing the story from a tour guide in Hawaii last week, I decided to research it a bit more and let you know what I found out.

First off, you all know that ukuleles look like little 4-string guitars, and are associated with Hawaiian music and Tiny TIm. But we need to go to Portugal for the beginning of this story.

The cavaquinho is a small 4-string guitar that is popular in Portugal. The exact origins are not known, but it was probably introduced by the ancient Greeks, or possibly the Spaniards. Anyway, Portuguese emigrants travelled with these instruments (they are easy to pack, after all), and one of the places they stopped was Hawaii in the late 1800s.

In the summer of 1879 the British ship Ravenscrag stopped in Honolulu and the Hawaiians saw the cavaquinho for the first time. The people were tickled by the little guitar and thought the musician’s fingers were jumping around on the strings like fleas. And that is where the name came from: in Hawaiian, “uku” means flea, and “lele” means to jump. Believe it or don’t. A more highbrow explanation for the name comes from Queen Lili'uokalani who said that ukulele means “the gift that came here”, from the Hawaiian words uku (gift or reward) and lele (to come).

I am going with the flea explanation.

Three Portuguese cabinet makers from the Ravenscrag starting build the little guitars for Hawaiians, and that started the ball rolling. Hawaiian players adapted the cavaquinho and changed the tuning from fairly normal intervals to the distinctive tuning of G-C-E-A, with the G and octave higher than normal.

In the late 1800s, King David Kalakaua cemented the popularity of the instrument in Hawaiian music by promoting its use by having ukulele music performed at royal events. A true patron of the arts.

The ukulele came to the knowledge of Americans due to the 1915 San Francisco Panama Pacific International Exposition. The expo had a Hawaiian Pavilion where George Awai and his Royal Hawaiian Quartet performed songs that were very popular with the visitors. From there the instrument took off and its popularity surged and waned ever since.

I am hooked, and will be writing a bit more about the types of ukuleles, ukulele music and some instrument reviews over the next month or so. Stay tuned!

Mahalo!

Stimulus Package: Local Gig on April 29

Greetings!

I want to clue into a fun show if you are going to be around the LBC area this weekend: Stimulus Package will be playing on Friday the 29th at the Regal Inn in Lakewood.

Stimulus Package is a So Cal based 4-piece band, with Ben on lead vocals/bass, Eric on lead guitar/vocals, Maynor on lead guitar/vocals and Randy on drums. They have been “providing your Rock and Roll bailout since early 2009.”

I have known Eric for a few years, but got to know the rest of the band when they played my house party last year. Unfortunately I missed most of that show because I was cooking for my guests, but everybody said Stimulus Package kicked that mother out.

I finally got out to one of their shows last month (also at the Regal Inn) and had a great time. They play covers from every kind of rock band, including Bowie, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, STP, Badfinger, Tom Petty, Black Crows, The Plimsouls, The Cars and Neil Young.

Not to mention a no-synthesizer version of Gary Numan’s “Cars.” Fascinating!

But most of all, they played the Stones, who seems to be their biggest influence. And, if you are going to take inspiration from a band, the Stones are the best place to start.

And they are all very capable musicians. Randy was steady on the drums, and Eric and Maynor swapped some great lead guitar parts around, and I have to give it to Ben: he is a great frontman. A band lives and dies by their singer, and he did a fine job of working the crowd. And you know what? They all looked like they were having a great time too.

The Regal Inn is located at: 6763 Carson Street in Lakewood. This is just west of Los Coyotes Diagonal (behind the donut shop). By the way, they have an interesting crowd of regulars, so it should be a fun evening. Stimulus Package will be playing from 9:00PM to Midnight

I hope to see you there!

Mahalo!

1981 Rickenbacker 4001 Bass

Buenos dias, amigos!

I grew up aspiring to play bass and listening to Rush and Yes, so it was inevitable that I would eventually end up with a Rickenbacker 4001.

The original series of Rickenbacker 4001 basses were introduced in 1961. They have the distinctive body shape that is shared with the other 4000 series basses, and you have seen some of rock’s greats play these, including Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, Paul McCartney and Lemmy from Motorhead.

The 4001 is a solid body neck-through bass. Well, kind of. There were a few years in the 1970s when they has set necks. There have been a few other variations through the years, such as 6-string and short scale versions (not to mention the stripped-down 4001S), but for the most part these were sold as 4-string standard scale basses.

The 4001 bass has a bound neck with the curlicue headstock tip, signature triangular inlays and Rickenbacker trussrod cover. Again, there are exceptions. The 4001s necks are not bound and get dot inlays instead. All of them got the dual trussrod system “for added strength and adjustability”. Heh. Mine had Schaller tuners, which I believe are standard for these.

The electronics are a little bit different. There are two pretty hot single coil pickups, a selector switch, two volume and two tone knobs. But, the way they are wired is where things get whacky. Rickenbacker installed a capacitor into the bridge pickup to suck out the bass tone, and I guess the idea of this was to fit in with the Rick-O-Sound feature.

Rick-O-Sound was a stereo output effect that allowed the player to divide the pickup signals and send them two different amps. Ideally this would send the bridge signal to a guitar amp and the neck signal to a bass amp. The output jack plate on these basses has a jack for a stereo guitar cord (for "Rick-O-Sound"), and a jack for normal mono output. This is all academic for me. I do not know anyone that has tried this effect.

Production of the 4001 ended in 1981 when the 4003 model was introduced. The 4003 is pretty much the same bass but with a few improvements, including:

1. An improved truss rod system. The 4003 still uses dual truss rods, but no has nuts at both ends of the neck.

2. The 4003 has no capacitor on the bridge pickup. This allows full tone from the bridge pickup which is pretty tinny on 4001 bases.

If you are dying to get a new 4001, you can still get them. In recent years, the 4001 has been re-issued as the 4001C64 and 4001C64S. A vintage re-issue, I guess you could call them.

Well, my experience with the Rickenbacker 4001 was not so super, but I should have known better.

When I used to haunt Albert Molinaro’s guitar shop back in the 1980s, I would mess around with the Rickenbackers, and he was loathe to sell me one. I had bought a few jazz basses from him over the years and he knew what I liked. Maybe I should have listened to him.

The one we are looking at is a 1981 Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar in very good original condition. There is no repair or modification history that I am aware of.

The original Fireglo finish has aged beautifully. There are dings, and finish checking as shown, but it really has the right vintage look to it. It has never been abused by any stretch of the imagination.

The electronics are in great shape and both pickups have pretty even output. The pots and jack are nice and quiet too. As I said, I never tried the Rick-O-Sound, but I am not feeling too left out.

The original hardware is still in good shape, with some light tarnishing. Amazingly nobody ever installed a Badass bridge on this bass.

My repair guy (the best in the South Bay, IMO) was able to get the neck set-up ok (with maybe a bit of bitching about the truss rods and the bridge) and it probably plays as well as it did when it was new. The frets and fingerboard are in really good shape and there are no unseemly bends or lumps to it.

This all sounds good, but when it came to playing this bass, it just did not work for me.

For starters, I hate the tone of this bass. Had I known about the capacitor, I would have bypassed it (or installed a push/pull pot), so I could coax a little more bass out of the bridge pickup.

My other problem with the 4001 is its ergonomics. I was into Fenders for far too long before I got ahold of the Rick, and I never could get comfortable with it. I am cured, and don’t feel the need to buy another.

If you are looking for an original series Rickenbacker 4001, plan on spending around $1500 to $2000 to pick one up. But try one out first before you buy, as you may not be happy with what you end up with.

Mahalo!

Martin DM Acoustic Guitar

Hiya!

Today we are looking at an entry-level Martin dreadnought: the DM acoustic guitar. And I will not keep you in suspense on this one -- it looks and sounds like an entry-level Martin.

First off, let’s look at how this thing is put together.

The back and sides are made of laminated sapele (an African wood that is similar to mahogany), and the top is a clean piece of sitka spruce. There is stout spruce A-frame X bracing, and I think this guitar is not going to fall apart any time soon.

The binding is black, so from any distance it looks unbound. This is a Spartan guitar.

The DM has a mahogany neck (or maybe sapele again?) with an East Indian rosewood fretboard. There are 20 frets, with 14 to the body. The neck is comfortable and has a flattened C shape to it.

And the whole thing is sprayed with an uber cheap-looking matte finish (my porn star name, BTW: “Hey ladies, I’m Matt Finish!”)

But don’t get me wrong. The guys at Martin did a nice job of putting this guitar together. The frets are well done, and their craftsmanship is fine. This is just a cheap-looking guitar when you get down to it.

It weighs in at around 4 pounds, 4 ounces which is pretty nice (especially since I usually play 10 pound basses).

Playing the DM, it not a chore; the neck and frets are good, and it came with a nice low action from the factory. But, I do not care for the tone I get from it. I would expect more even tone across all the strings from a Martin dreadnought, and this guitar is really lacking in the bass department. It sounds too tinny and bright.

If you want to pick one of these up new, you can find them online for $899.00, which includes a sturdy case covered in tolex and lined with luxurious green fur. The case might be the nicest thing in the deal, actually. The DM is available in lefty for no extra charge, and there is also an optional electronics package that I have not seen or heard yet.

Though $899 seems like a reasonable price for a made in the USA Martin acoustic guitar, it is too much for what you end up with in this case. The DM does not sound terribly special or have any standout aesthetic qualities, and there are a lot better guitars for less money out there. I would take a look at the offerings from Godin’s family of guitars if you are looking for a quality low-budget dreadnought. If you want to stick with a Martin, pay a grand more and step up to the D-18.

Mahalo!

April 19: One Year of Rex and the Bass

Howdy!

April 19 marks the first anniversary of this blog, and I just wanted to take a moment to thank everybody that has checked in over the past year. It has been a lot of fun for me, and here is a quick summary of what happened:

There have been 149 posts that cover musical instruments and accessories, as well as album reviews and general industry rants.

13 people have decided to follow the blog. They must be family members…

There are now more than 5,000 to 6,000 page views per month. The top subjects are the Pulp Fiction Soundtrack review, a write-up of the Philip Kubicki Factor basses and my take on the Japanese Fender Jazz Bass Special re-issue.

I have no idea when I will wrap up this blog, but plan to keep it up until it is not fun for me anymore. I will do my best to keep everyone entertained.

Mahalo!

Fender Double Gig Bag

How’s it going?

There was a time when I sneered at gig bags, and would only get hard cases for my guitars and basses. My attitude has turned around on this one, and most of my instruments are in gig bags now.

I would feel differently if I was playing out a lot and had to stick my gear in a van with the rest of the band’s crap, but that is not my situation. For around the house or loading up my car a gig bag is plenty for me. You will find that light weight and less space are big bonuses, especially if you are using public transportation.

I found the Fender Deluxe Double Electric Bass Guitar Gig Bag last year, when Musician’s Friend had them on sale, and I am tickled pink with it. Hee!

For starters, this is a double bag so it holds two basses, which makes for a tidy package when travelling. I have yet to find an electric bass that does not fit it in it, but then again I do not own a Thunderbird or an Aria ZZB, which may be exceptions.

There are six exterior pockets that are big enough to hold effect pedals, sheet music, notebooks and cords. Just for grins I stuffed my Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 and my laptop in the big pocket, and they fit fine. However, I am a little leery of putting anything heavy or pointy in the exterior pockets because they could damage the bass if it takes an impact.

The case is built well, with a 600-denier nylon with 4/5" (20mm) of internal padding. It is quite well padded compared to the Roadrunner bags they on sale at Guitar Center. I have used mine for over a year, and the stitching and fabric still look fine.

My only gripe with this bag is that the carry handle is a little too far back, so that it is unbalanced (neck-heavy) when carrying it. In mitigation, the backpack straps that come with the gig bag have multiple attachment points, so you can sling this bag across your back however you see fit.

The best part about the Fender Double Electric Bass Guitar Gig Bag is its price, as you can buy a new one for 50 bucks (MSRP $84.95). I heartily recommend this product.

Mahalo!