THE ALT UKE TODAY: The Long Triangle Type

It almost seems like a travesty to impose a classification system on alternative ukuleles, separating them into different general types, since the whole phenomenon of alt ukes is a manifestation of  creative freedom, a kind of rebellion against adhering to a type in the first place.

And there are some examples of alt ukes that absolutely defy type--they are individuals because they take creative freedom to the extreme, often to the point of absurdity (see my post from Feb 10, "The Alternative Ukulele--from the Ridiculous to the Sublime").  In all fields of design, I suppose, there are examples of this sort of thing--like a chair made up of a hand and a foot.

"Give me a hand with this chair"

On the other hand, there are alt ukes that are not absurd or funny or wild and crazy, but simply markedly different than the standard guitar-shaped ukulele.  The creative freedom that the ukulele offers--uniquely in the usually very conservative realm of musical instrument design--has been used in these cases for the personal expression of the designer, perhaps, or with the goal of improving the musical properties of the instrument, or maybe for attracting buyers with novelty.  In any case, it is these less wild and wacky  alt ukes that are sometimes able to gain a degree of broad appeal among players, and they are repeatable and liable to be imitated by other makers, and they fall into categories based on their basic shape.

In this post I want to consider the basic shape I call the Long Triangle.

As far as I know, the pioneer of this shape for the ukulele was the Ontario music educator (famous in the ukulele world) J. Chalmers Doane.  (If anyone knows of another person or manufacturer who did this type before Doane, please let me know in a comment.)  Doane's story is a very interesting and inspiring one.  An article in Ukulele magazine tells about the "Northern Ukulele" he originated.  And you can view an unboxing of a vintage Northern Uke here.

Doane's Northern Ukulele, c. 1977

Doane had a music education program based on the ukulele going on in Ontario schools when his supplier of cheap ukes for the students went out of business.  So Doane and his brother, an engineer, came up with this ukulele design.  The main idea behind it is to be as simple and  inexpensive as possible to build.  Hence the straight sides and bottom--also the straight, non-angled headstock.  It may be that the three sound holes, instead of one larger one, were meant to make bracing under the top unnecessary, and save time and costs that way.

A soprano Wolfelele

Another Long Triangle uke that is apparently designed that way for simplicity of construction is a build-it-yourself instrument called the Wolfelele.  I'm not sure how long this one has been around, or whether it was directly inspired by the Northern Ukulele or not.

There are lots of DIY guitar-type ukuleles available everywhere.  It's nice to know at least one alternative ukulele has made it to the mass market.

Probably the biggest player in the alt uke marketplace today overall is the Magic Fluke Company, which introduced its Fluke ukulele, a concert size uke, in 1999, followed later by the Flea, a soprano.  The smaller Flea is not a Long Triangle type (it's more like a Pineapple), but the Fluke is basically a Long Triangle, only  the sides are slightly curved instead of dead straight.  The distinctive Fluke style headstock is set up  like a violin headstock, as shown in the picture.  Another innovation of the ukulele, aside from the basic shape of the body, is the material used for the sides and back of the body, which is plastic.

I can only speculate on the motive behind the alternative shapes of the Fluke company's ukuleles.  When Fluke's founder Jim Beloff, along with his collaborators, decided  to start a ukulele manufacturing business, they could have simply started making them like small guitars, like almost everyone else does.  Perhaps the idea was to do something different as a marketing strategy, or as an experiment, or maybe it was just for the fun of it.
 Keep in mind we're talking about ukulele people here, so "just for the fun of it" is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Along with the Long Triangle type, there's another type of triangular ukulele I personally like, but more about that later, in a continuation of the series "THE ALT UKE TODAY."

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