Tri-Can ukulele

[ProfChris]

I mentioned in another thread that I was making a resonator uke, using kidney bean cans for the resonator. This is how it's turned out:

Trican (finshed front).JPG (100.26 KiB) Viewed 27765 times

Trican (finished back).JPG (98.54 KiB) Viewed 27765 times

It's a fairly soft-sounding beast, but really much much better than I'd expected:

http://www.box.net/shared/vqrtlytyo1dy0pvlcjbx

Body is 1.5mm ply, neck is some oak from a dead wardrobe, and the stripe is mahogany-faced ply from the same wardrobe.

[ProfChris]

And here's the resonator.

No expense spared on raw materials:

Trican resonator raw materials.JPG (56.27 KiB) Viewed 27764 times

Cans cut down and connected with rosewood bridge with maple saddle:

Trican (revised bridge).JPG (72.2 KiB) Viewed 27764 times

And all fits into a crude sound well (seen from below, with neck and tail blocks in place):

Trican top + well 1.JPG (165.71 KiB) Viewed 27764 times

Essentially I started with the top, and then built it up from there inventing the shape and construction method as I went along.

Of course, now I'm wondering about spinning brass cones, but that will (might) be another story.

[John Steele]

Love it !!!
It sounded great to my ears.
Great tune as well.

John

[charangohabsburg]

Best sounding beans I ever heard!
That was a great idea to use three cans, and the whole uke turned out very nice. Congratulations!

I also like the colander you used . Did you get it from here?

[Lillian]

Thank you! Now I know the name of that tune. I always associate it with a uke, but never knew what it was called.

Oh, it sound great. I the looks and the sound. Well done.

[Luke]

Now, thats the sort of instrument I can relate too.
It sounded not to bad like a uke. You have inspired me to try a tri cone/can type build .

[Kim]

Innovative, creative, resourceful, inimitable, skilled and entertaining...who'd a thunk all that would fit in the shoes of an international copyright lawyer

Well done Chris, impressive stuff indeed.

Cheers

Kim

[ProfChris]

Thank you kindly, all.

The cover plate is not a cut down colander, but a piece of siding from a caravan which I salvaged years ago. Bits of aluminium sheet have proved very useful making accessories for my glider. I recalled my single year of metalwork at school and tried to recapture the hammering skills which made me an ashtray then. So I kept hitting it until it gave in, and then drilled holes in it. If I can be bothered to spend an hour or two on it with wire wool and polish I might even get most of the blemishes out!

The song is my wife's favourite - "Two Sleepy People" as performed Fats Waller. The chords I found for it online are not those Waller uses - if anyone wants this version I'll write them up and post them.

[charangohabsburg]

Caravan parts count too, of course.
Probably you could run a good business by converting caravans into colanders and sell them to ukulele luthiers who don't have a caravan to disassemble.

[Nick]

Lovin it Chris, appeals to my 'different' side

[Tonxi]

This is great. I quite fancy a resonator uke. Well done.

[Joe Sustaire]

Great sounding uke Chris! And I would love to have the chords to the song, super job!

Joe

[ProfChris]

Great sounding uke Chris! And I would love to have the chords to the song, super job!

Joe

Here you are:

Two Sleepy People (Fats Waller version)

[C]Here we [B7]are, [Dm7]out of ciga-[G9]rettes [G7]
[C]Holding [E7]hands and [A7]yawning – [F]look how late it [G7]gets.
[Em7]Two sleepy [A7]people by [F]dawn's [Dm7]early [Fm]light,
[C]Too [Am]much in [Dm]love to [Fdim]say good-[Dm7]night [G7]

[C]Here we [B7]are, [Dm7]in the cozy [G7]chair,
[C]Picking [E7]on a [A7]wishbone [F]from the Frigi-[G7]daire;
[Em7]Two sleepy [A7]people with [F]no-{Dm7]thing to [Fm]say,
And [C]too [Am]much in [Dm7]love to [G7]break a-[C]way.

Do you re-[F]member the [G7]nights we used to [C]linger [Dm7]in the [Am]hall?
Your [Am]Father [Dm]didn't [Am]like [Em7]me at [F]all [G7]
Do you re[C]member the [Fdim]reason [Dm6]why we [C]married [Dm7]in the [C]fall?
To [Dm]rent this little nest, and [D7]get a [Dm7]bit of [G9]rest [G7]

Well, [C]here we [B7]are, [Dm7]just about the [G7]same,
[C]Foggy [E7]little [A7]fella, [F]drowsy little [G7]dame;
[Em7]Two sleepy [A7]people by [F]dawn's [Dm7]early [Fm]light,
[Cdim]Much too [C]much in [Dm7]love to [G7]say [C]goodnight.

Ukulele (C tuning):
C 0003
B7 2322
Dm7 2213
G7 0212
E7 1202
A7 0100
F 2010
Em7 0202
Fm 1013
Dm 2210
Am 2000 (or 2003)
Fdim 1212
Dm6 2212

Notice how all the chords live comfortably in the first three frets. The only tricky transition is Fdim/Dm6. Have fun!

[Nick]

Geez thanks Chris for the transcription! Almost makes me want to go out & buy a uke (havent got time to build one at the moment ), I enjoyed that song.

[Kim]

Great sounding uke Chris! And I would love to have the chords to the song, super job!

Joe

Here you are:

Two Sleepy People (Fats Waller version)

[C]Here we [B7]are, [Dm7]out of ciga-[G9]rettes [G7]
[C]Holding [E7]hands and [A7]yawning – [F]look how late it [G7]gets.
[Em7]Two sleepy [A7]people by [F]dawn's [Dm7]early [Fm]light,
[C]Too [Am]much in [Dm]love to [Fdim]say good-[Dm7]night [G7]

[C]Here we [B7]are, [Dm7]in the cozy [G7]chair,
[C]Picking [E7]on a [A7]wishbone [F]from the Frigi-[G7]daire;
[Em7]Two sleepy [A7]people with [F]no-{Dm7]thing to [Fm]say,
And [C]too [Am]much in [Dm7]love to [G7]break a-[C]way.

Do you re-[F]member the [G7]nights we used to [C]linger [Dm7]in the [Am]hall?
Your [Am]Father [Dm]didn't [Am]like [Em7]me at [F]all [G7]
Do you re[C]member the [Fdim]reason [Dm6]why we [C]married [Dm7]in the [C]fall?
To [Dm]rent this little nest, and [D7]get a [Dm7]bit of [G9]rest [G7]

Well, [C]here we [B7]are, [Dm7]just about the [G7]same,
[C]Foggy [E7]little [A7]fella, [F]drowsy little [G7]dame;
[Em7]Two sleepy [A7]people by [F]dawn's [Dm7]early [Fm]light,
[Cdim]Much too [C]much in [Dm7]love to [G7]say [C]goodnight.

Ukulele (C tuning):
C 0003
B7 2322
Dm7 2213
G7 0212
E7 1202
A7 0100
F 2010
Em7 0202
Fm 1013
Dm 2210
Am 2000 (or 2003)
Fdim 1212
Dm6 2212

Notice how all the chords live comfortably in the first three frets. The only tricky transition is Fdim/Dm6. Have fun!

How about we have a ANZLF uke builders challenge

Over the next year, if you build a uke, simply enter your version of this song, with vocals, and the best "Performance" in 12 months time takes out the 'Sleepy Fats' award.

I am sure we can arrange some sort of worthy prize among the PV's. Wadaya think?

Cheers

Kim

[Nick]

Over the next year, if you build a uke, simply enter your version of this song, with vocals, and the best "Performance" in 12 months time takes out the 'Sleepy Fats' award.

I am sure we can arrange some sort of worthy prize among the PV's. Wadaya think?

Cheers

Kim

With vocals? That's me out, I hold a tune about as well as the 12th man in the NZ cricket team holds a catch.

[charangohabsburg]

[...]I hold a tune about as well as the 12th man in the NZ cricket team holds a catch.

Nick, that's a better start than you might believe. If I also would participate - and I hold the tune about as well as the 12th man in the Swiss cricket team holds a catch - then you will not land on the last place because Switzerland has no cricket team at all!

[Kim]

Maybe we could do a first prize for best performance and a runner up for most humorously entertaining .... "Sleepy Fats" and the "Waller" awards.

Seriously if there is enough interest I will canvas the PV's to see what we can put up to generate a bit of fun...I recon we could do with it here at the moment.

Cheers

Kim

[ProfChris]

Don't anyone think they can't sing (unless genuinely tone deaf, which is very rare).

I was convinced all my life I couldn't sing. Then I took up the uke 3 years back, and had to sing or there was no real point! It was remarkable how fast I progressed from awful to my current high standard (viz, I don't get asked to stop until after the 2nd or 3rd song).

The secret seems to be to sing every day, then you improve without realising it. (Oh, and it's 90% a confidence trick unless you've got natural quality - sell the song and most people don't hear the bum notes. Snake oil,my dears, pure snake oil)

[Lillian]

Don't anyone think they can't sing (unless genuinely tone deaf, which is very rare).

I don't know about that Chris. At boarding school, the sister in charge of the choir told me to hum instead of singing, actually she said to hum quietly to myself, that God and the others would be appreciative.

Having a range of four notes doesn't translate well to most songs.

[charangohabsburg]

At boarding school, the sister in charge of the choir told me to hum instead of singing, actually she said to hum quietly to myself, that God and the others would be appreciative.

Not sure if she had understood her mission...

Having a range of four notes doesn't translate well to most songs.

Maybe you should have specialized in Mandarin: click

[Nick]

Don't anyone think they can't sing (unless genuinely tone deaf, which is very rare).

I don't know about that Chris. At boarding school, the sister in charge of the choir told me to hum instead of singing, actually she said to hum quietly to myself, that God and the others would be appreciative.

Having a range of four notes doesn't translate well to most songs.

Thought you were going to say she encouraged you to take up the triangle intstead Lillian

Unfortunately the first bass player in our band was tone deaf Chris (was a friend of lead guitarist who was desperate to get into the band so learnt bass especially, we didn't have the heart to refuse him after that ). During a jam session (we usually wound down after a gig with a free ranging jam made up on the spot) he could quite happily be playing along in a different key than the rest of us (and not hear it! ) until I would gently point out that we were playing in A and not E! Needless to say we would encourage him to sit down & have a beer and a chat to his wife instead.

[ProfChris]

Had that the other way round in the dim and distant days when I was young and plugged my instrument (bass as it happens) into the mains.

Our singer was a good singer, but thought that he was really a guitar player. Unfortunately he had no sense of time when playing guitar, though he was fine singing, and would randomly throw an extra beat into the bar from time to time.

I think we found a couple of songs he couldn't cock up too badly and let him play on those, but the rest of the tme we persuaded him that when he played his singing suffered and the admiring glances from the girls dropped off.

Happy days, though I don't miss lugging the speakers up four flights of stairs. A soprano uke is vastly less effort.

[Lillian]

Not sure if she had understood her mission...

Nah, she was just a sister and not a miracle worker.


Nick, this was an older order. The only instrument in the chapel was the organ and it wasn't used overly much. No place for my voice to hide there.

[charangohabsburg]

Nah, she was just a sister and not a miracle worker.

Too bad for your singing.