August 2015 2nd Thursday Meeting

Once again the computer and monitors are up and running so we can sit comfortably and read the song sheets. We had a couple of new members who got away before I could get a picture. Daniel got some advice from Don on choosing and buying a left-hand ukulele and Lee, an accomplished musician, came by to check us out and see what the club is like. Harriet stopped by and is seriously considering buying a uke, she gave all hers away to children.

We went over some of the regular songs and the Hawaiian/Island set list for the upcoming Luau at Gateway Villas in Marble Falls, should be lots of fun!

Don, Lisa, Luis, Harriet, Virginia

Restoring A Baritone Ukulele

Our member Cherie has an old Tara Baritone Ukulele. The top didn't have sufficient bracing inside to support the bridge, so the tension of the strings was warping the face of the instrument.

Don removed the bridge and fabricated a tailpiece to secure the strings. The original bridge was glued and screwed so removing it damaged the first layer of plywood which he repaired with sawdust and superglue. He made a floating bridge and replaced the original tuners.

I wanted to make it look a LOT better, so I asked my friend Sheri if I could use some of her acrylic paints and borrow her shop for the day. It's been 40 years since I painted anything so it was a bit nerve-wracking at first but as soon as I started it went pretty well. 

Once the paint was dry, I applied a couple of coats of polycrylic, Don restrung it and it's an attractive, playable instrument.

Young Folks

Our friend Lisa has two very musical children (no surprise) and they have been interested in ukuleles. There's nothing like having an instrument in the house and like-minded people to hang out with so Abby and her brother Micah now have ukuleles! We're so pleased that they're members of our Club!

May 2015 Fourth Tuesday Meeting

Today at the Ukulele Club meeting, our friend Abby was very interested in borrowing my uke and showing it to her friends.  Since attendance was sparse, I let her have it for quite awhile.  She appears to be enchanted with it so perhaps she'll join the Club one of these days.  Since she's 5 years old (she said she used to be 4) I think she has plenty of time to learn.

I'm sure she's going to be a good singer.  While I was showing her how to tune, any note I plucked, she was able to sing it perfectly.  Her pitch is dead-on, it's very exciting!

March 2015 Fourth Thursday Meeting

Well, once again we had a fun and profitable (artistically speaking) meeting! We've added a couple of new songs, check them out in our Song Files!
Catch A Falling Star
Route 66
A couple (ahem) several song PDF need serious makeovers so I'll be working on them this upcoming 2 weeks. We feel so grateful to have good friends who love music to hang out with. Thanks so much for coming out!

Lisa, Luis, Amber, Don, Viriginia

Highland Lakes Weekly's Photo of the meeting, courtesy John Hallowell.

March 2015 Second Thursday Meeting

We've had such fun and met some wonderful people since starting the Highland Lakes Ukulele club.  Today we were small but mighty!  We were thrilled to welcome new member Alicia and our old friend Tom is back, albeit with a trace of the local flu still bugging him a bit.  Once again we thank Fuel Coffeehouse in Llano for hosting the Club meetings twice a month, what a great place to gather!

Lisa, Don, Tom, Luis, Alicia

February 2015 Second Thursday Meeting

We had some new members swelling our ranks into the low tens!!!  Yay for us.  A couple of novice players, Kyle and Gabe, came early to learn to tune and get started with a few chords, but it was obvious they had been tinkering with YouTube before they got here ;-)  Leo came to see if the Uke was 'his instrument', it certainly looks like it may be!

We welcomed back Amber, who had been out for awhile, we missed her.  We did some simple and a little more advanced tunes and of course enjoyed those lovely harmonies!

Don, Amber, Luis, Virginia, Leo, Lisa, Kyle, Gabe