PHOTO: Michelle Blades

Michelle graciously contributed a photo to share with you. It is a beautiful shot...

I think that I first heard of Michelle's music via the king: Alistair Wood of Ukulele Hunt. I had a baritone ukulele that I purchased from eBay and was beginning to get curious about it's deeper sounds. Michelle is a creative spirit and had sufficient musical skill and amazing confidence in allowing the music and words to come to her through impromptu inspiration. I remember her quoting some Beat poet from the 50's about how words flow. Her knowledge of the instrument really impresses me too; it is really a direct expression of her inner music.

I wouldn't try to categorize her music, except to say it's free-flowing. My buddy Reg would surely use the term "avant-garde." I have created a post for her over on DoGBonE Baritone.

http://thebarrieddogbone.blogspot.com/2011/02/michelle-blades.html

What is DoGBonE Baritone? Well it's a blog that is the un-blog. It is somewhat like a baseball card; I use a single post to feature a single player or band and keep all of the information on a single post. (Information like songs, links, etc.) I currently have between 6-8 postings. This number will surely grow but also each post may grow as new videos are released.

PHOTO: Guido & Resonator Baritone Ukulele

Guido with "Douglas"

Received an e-mail from Guido who responded to my request to have Bari players share photos of themselves with their baritone ukuleles. He has a Montana look but actually lives in Germany. Here's a copy of his e-mail describing his instruments...

Hi Jeff,

I just stumbled into your blog and really like it. I have been playing the baritone uke for almost a year now. I started with concert and tenor ukes. I still play them sometime, but the baritone is my favorite. Currently, I have three of them and two are really unusual. My "ordinary" one is a Ortega Baritone. I like it, but don't play it too often. My "working horses" are two handmade ukes with a scale of 21" and steel strings. Maybe more a tenor guitar than a baritone uke. But the tuning is the same and due to the wider neck and the scale, I call them baritone ukes. You asked for pictures of people with their ukes, so here is one of me with "Douglas", my resonator baritone.

Here is also the link to my Youtube-Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Guchot

Regards from Cologne, Germany
Guido

Humble Uker || Strumming "Arthur Godfrey" Vega Baritone

I was at the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz yesterday for a club meeting. Bob Rainey is a person I seek out because he always has a new or used instrument to share. He had this Arthur Godfrey model Vega Baritone Ukulele that he bought on eBay really cheap!

photo credit: Ryan Guetersloh

This uke was a bit rough when he received it and Bob sanded and refinished it. Some previous owner must have cut and reset the neck which is noticeable at close inspection and creates a minor angle where the neck meets the body. Bob also strung the uke with Worth Clear Low-G UNWOUND strings. I just had to test it out using Howie's intro for Nirvana's Come As You Are.

I am not able to state whether I think these unwound strings are ideal. That slight angle in the neck would give me some G-string "slap" whenever I gave it a good pluck. Worth makes a clear set and a brown set. Ron Hale did some research and found them for sale at the Elderly Instuments site.