Aldrine Guerrero, one of the people who inspired me to play the ukulele, currently plays a custom Kanilea Tenor.  He protects it in an Ameritage case which is rather plain, with the exception of a Domo Kun sticker on the front.  Last time I saw him, he did not have much inside the case: just a dried-out stick of GHS Fast Fret, a microfiber cloth, and a Planet Waves string winder.

However, back when Aldrine still toured with his Kamaka Tenor, Mika, I was entrusted with her care for a day, and took the chance to capture what a professional ukulele player carries in his ukulele case—not just the ukulele itself, but also the goodies in the case.  And when you use the space under the headstock, you can store a LOT of goodies in your case.

 The case itself is a Kala Tenor Tweed Hardcase, a very durable and well-built case.  You should have no fear flying with it as your personal-item carry on, as Aldrine did many times.  The case can be had for about $90 (street) as of the time of writing.  He decorated it with stickers and drawings including: a Weird Hawaii sticker, Kauai with Rooster sticker, Purple skull and crossbones with glitter sticker, In and out Burger sticker, Suite 409 stickers, Storm Trooper sticker, Ukulele Underground sticker, One Love Rasta sticker, Guava Town sticker, GSUS Sindustries sticker, Arnette sticker, and some sharpie drawings.

In the inner compartment under the neck, he had: a dollar bill folded into bow-tie, silica gel to reduce humidity, a piece of paper which had a child’s drawing on it, keys for the case, another dangly thing, a decapitated Mika head, and a Sandisk 2gb thumb drive.

And in the headstock area, he had packed it with: GHS Fast Fret, D’Addario strings (sadly, I cannot find my original-resolution image, or remember what gauges they were), Savarez Strings (seemed to be a full set, but I did not open it), Car air freshener: New Car Scent, ET-3000 digital clip on tuner, Planet Waves string winder, ukulele strap, Maryknoll Schools visitor guest pass sticker, some business cards, some pieces of paper, a patch cable, and a Microfiber cloth.

See more pics by clicking the "Read More" link below.

 
I’d like to thank two people for the layout content of this website. I did not code this beautiful blogger template myself. Credit for that goes to Victor of Ascrin Design. Please visit his website, especially if you are looking for great blog templates. I find his work understated, elegant, and practical, which is why I chose his template. I have modified his template slightly, to make it wider, fix a few bugs, and to add more functionality.

The ukulele pinup girl in the top banner is art by Garry Palm of Kapolei. For those wondering, it would appear that she is playing a white label Kamaka HF-2 concert. Palm paints pinups, flowers, portraits, animals, and architecture. For those interested, he has beautiful art available for sale from his site. Hope you like the new design. I think it’s a step up from the plain default Blogger template.

In the style of George’s Ukulele Ghetto Blog, I will occasionally rank the top 10 ukuleles in my current lineup, as my preferences are subject to change.  This is a subjective ranking of all aspects of the ukuleles which provide me with utility (satisfaction), from the tangibles such as wood choice and fit and finish, to the intangibles like a fictional coolness coefficient.  (I actually do not have a shot of all my ukuleles together, but will try to get one someday.)
   
The following is the top 10, in reverse order, as of today.  One thing I noticed when putting this together is that the more expensive ukes tend to be at the top of the list.  This is due to the fact that with musical instruments, you do tend to get what you pay for, and more the higher the price, generally, the better the instrument (of course with diminishing marginal utility per dollar).

See the rankings by clicking the "Read More" link below.

At its core, the field of economics is about choices.  People have to make choices because of scarcity.  In the case of UAS, there is a scarcity of money, meaning that (most) people do not have unlimited money.  And because we have limited amounts of disposable income to spend on ukuleles, we need to make choices such as whether to purchase the Kamaka Tenor, Kanilea Tenor, or KoAloha Tenor. 

In a perfect world, with perfect information about preferences (based on perfect information about the product), we would all make the decisions which maximize our economic utility.  This blog is here to help increase your pool of information and help you maximize your own utility from each ukulele purchase.

I have my own preferences and opinions.  For example, as suggested by the picture, I am a big KoAloha and Chuck fan.  After being fortunate enough to handle and to own so many instruments, I already know what features, tone, and feel I like in a ukulele, and what I don’t like.  You may not agree with all my assessments, and I’d love to hear your feedback and opinions on the products I review.  And while I do have my favorites, I avoid being “brand myopic,” and am open and fair to ukuleles from all brands.

I will always try to be honest in my reviews.  If there is something that I do not like in a ukulele, I will be upfront and tell you.  I am not here to mislead you, or to give glowing reviews, because incorrect information can lead to reduced utility, and that is the exact opposite of my mission to help maximize your ukulele utility.

My opinions as expressed in each individual post should be taken as my opinion in that snapshot in time.  My opinions are subject to change as time passes and as I have more experience with each ukulele.

Finally, I am not the end-all expert in ukuleles.  I’m a hobbyist, and playing the uke fills some of the time between my work, and pursuit of other passions.  I am not the world’s greatest ukulele player—not even close.  I do not know much about music theory or luthiery, and have not played every ukulele in the world.    There are many people out there with more ukulele wisdom than me, and I defer to them when they have the expertise that I lack.  Hopefully, despite these shortcomings, you can still take something from my ukulele reviews.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you enjoy Ukulele Utility Blog!

 
Nutnfancy is my favorite reviewer of dangerous things for the good guys.  He publishes his independent video reviews on Youtube, and mostly reviews guns, knives, and outdoor gear.  One thing I love about Nutnfancy is that he incorporates a lot of his own philosophy into each video.  While I do not always agree completely with his assessments or ideology, he has been influential not only on the way that I look at a product, but has even had an influence on my overall worldview.

One distinction that Nutnfancy makes in his videos is the difference between the “two kinds of cool.”  According to him, the “first kind of cool” is related to the physical qualities of the product which affect performance, meaning practicality and usability.  The “second kind of cool” is related to the intangible qualities of a product which lead to your greater intrinsic enjoyment of the item, and which just make you “dig it.”  Nutnfancy’s two kinds of cool, combine to provide the consumer with their total utility for the product. 

I will be referencing Nutnfancy’s idea of the two kinds of cool in my own reviews.  Here on Ukulele Utility Blog, the first kind of cool will include aspects of the instrument including features (wood selection, finishes, body size, design, etc), sound, action, fit, and finish, and reliability.  The second kind of cool will include unique quirks of the ukulele which just makes me love it—anything from an unexplainable spiritual connection, to just the way it looks, to great customer service, to the way playing down the neck just turns me on.

Hi, my name is Jonathan, and I would like to welcome to the Ukulele Utility Blog!  This is blog about ukuleles and economics.   Here, I will discuss and review ukuleles while incorporating perspectives drawn from my economics and business background.  Once in a while, I may also throw in a review of a guitar, or some other cool gear that I think is worth talking about.  But the focus on Ukulele Utility Blog will be on ukuleles, an instrument that I have come to love over the years.

So why is this site called Ukulele Utility Blog?  “Utility” is an economist’s general measure of satisfaction from the consumption of goods or services.   Rational people do things because they capture utility from those actions.  Furthermore, rational people will attempt to maximize their own utility.  However, it is difficult to quantify utility, especially since, as the adage goes, “money cannot buy happiness.”  Since it is difficult to determine objective measures of utility, most economists just use a fictional unit for utility called the “util.” 

I have named this the Ukulele Utility Blog because, here, I analyze the utility that I have enjoyed from my ukuleles.  I will try my best to share information about ukuleles so that you may be well-informed and can maximize your own utility when purchasing ukuleles.  You may even pick up a thing or two about economics along the way.