Well... more than two months later... it is mine.
I hadn't gone in the shop to buy it - on the contrary, I went in to buy the little Ashton union flag soprano uke as a gift for a friend. But the action at the nut of the little union jack uke was a bit high, and Mike the guitar techy who served me obligingly offered to file the slots down a bit.
That's when it got me. The Tanglewood. I wasn't even playing it.... after all, I'd decided to save for a nice solid wood tenor, most likely an Ashbury solid rose cherry... anyway, I was playing around while I waited on a very pretty solid koa Luna tenor with a pickup - £350 - more than I would, spend anyway... when I heard a lovely sound that jerked my head right up - and it was the Tanglewood Cove Creek I'd been so impressed with before. Bright but liquid, bell-like... and it has the long neck, 14 frets up to the body.
Then came the coup-de-grace - the offer of the sort of deal that's hard to refuse.... but I didn't give in without a fight. "Will you throw a gig-bag in with that?" Done.
So that's how I came to return home with my lovely Tanglewood Cove Creek "exotic" wood long neck concert uke. For a laminate ukulele, it really is lovely.
As for LSH...well, he really doesn't understand. Non-players don't; simple as that. But I'm happy with my little collection of ukuleles; I've put a low G on my original Greg Bennett so I can experiment with jazzy chords, as recommended by Glen Rose, as well as start trying to tackle John Moen's tab of the Bach Prelude for Cello piece - one bar at a time. My little blue Mahalo soprano is handy to leave lying around just anywhere, and hand over to interested friends... and as for my lovely 1920's Slingerland Maybelle banjo-uke - well.... she's going with me to Blackpool this weekend... to play with the George Formby fans at the meeting of the GFS!If someone had told me six months ago that I'd be doing that, I'd have said they were mad...for my generation, for whom the Beatles and the Stones were nothing short of gods, George Formby was the antithesis of Cool... but watch this space, I'm going for it!
I think you had to get this uke. It's a beauty and if it sounds good, it is good, to quote Louis Armstrong. I always feel that the cost, the manufacturer, the model number - none of it is terribly important. It's only the sound that matters. Then - if you can afford it and you've got room for it - get it. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's how I bought my Ohana CKP-70 about 2 years ago. I tried it out, and it just rang. Very lightly built, resonates well and has fantastic intonation. The fact that it was only $150 USD sealed the deal and I had a second ukulele. It's the one I take everywhere, and generally tend to leave the Martins at home.
I hope you enjoy it! Blackpool sounds like it was a fantastic time!! :)
Thanks for that, John! Blackpool was indeed fantastic! Will be reporting on the June meeting of the GFS VERY soon....:D
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