Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Gypsy Rose, Finally

Well, it's been over two months since I last posted here. Kind of wondering if anyone is still reading this blog. I actually have a lot of ukulele stuff that I could be posting but just haven't had the time or motivation to do it.

Anyway, I just got notified that my Kepasa Gypsy Rose ukulele had shipped yesterday and is scheduled to be in my hands this Thursday. I ordered it in June of 2007, so it has taken a while to say the least. Kepasa ukes have a good reputation and is highly endorsed by the likes of Craig Robertson and Nipper. I ordered a Little Mac, which has evolved into a Gypsy Rose, with a D-soundhole, wide body, and a cutaway. I specified a redwood top, walnut back and sides, maple top and bottom bindings, and a Spanish cedar neck. The fingerboard and bridge are ebony, with diamond shaped position markers. It has a custom headstock shape with PegHeds tuners and is fitted with Mi-Si Acoustic Trio active pickup.

I had planned to to learn "Gypsy Ukulele" in anticipation of receiving this uke, but between the extended build time and being busy with a lot of other stuff this summer, I managed to forget most of what I've learned of the tune (which was about half of the tune). Hopefully once the uke is in hand I will manage some motivation to learn it.

I find myself not beside myself waiting for this ukulele, mainly because I already own what I consider the ultimate ukulele, the William King long scale tenor (hmm...I should get my butt going on a blog entry about it huh?). But also because I've waited so long for it, a few more days doesn't seem like much. To be sure, I am very much looking forward to it and I have no doubt that it will be a very nice playing and sounding uke. I would be very very happy if it is in the same category as the Koa Works tenor in terms of sound and feel. It will be interesting though, as I had asked for a more "guitarish" sound with this uke. So I'm pretty curious about how it turned out. It certainly looks cool.

Here are a few pictures Kevin sent me:

Custom headstock shape I drew and sent to Kevin. Kind of funky!


PegHeds tuners.


Redwood top. I choose a striped piece of redwood.


Mi-Si Acoustic Trio pickup.

4 comments:

Tad Suiter said...

The joy of RSS is that you don't have to check a blog daily to find out when content's still being posted. You still have at least one faithful reader...

(And one who's waiting for you to get tired of that longneck sprucetop and decide to try to sell it on UU...)

GX9901 said...

Hey, thanks for the note.

Ha, the loooong-neck Kala sprucetop is currently my "work uke". It's probably going to stay in this role indefinitely, but I'll be sure to give you first crack if for some reason I decide to sell it. :)

Seriously though, if it's ever available again somewhere for what I paid for it ($110), grab it. It's a bargin at that price.

Unknown said...

I want to know what makes the William King your favorite so far :o)

Regards,
Julie Strietelmeier

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the new Kepassa! Looks absolutely gorgeous. I look forward to reading your review and always enjoy your blog, keep the entries coming!

Which uke should I bring on my next trip to Oahu???

What's the maximum you'd spend on a ukulele case for your best uke?

If you could steal one of my ukes, which one would it be???

How curly do you like your koa? (preferably on a uke)

What's the maximum number of ukes a perfectly sane person should have???

Poll: How often do you play the ukulele???

Poll: Which guitar company's approach to ukes do you prefer???

Poll: What's your favorite type of headstock???

Poll: The new basic Collings concert uke (UC-1) sells for about $1k, your reaction is: