-Why? These two instruments are made from the same Styrene plastic. The soundboard of the Flamingo is plain, unribbed, smooth underneath. The dsigner of the Islander, by contrast, took into account the nature of the plastic, and molded into the bottom nine shallow, straight ribs. The ribs radiate from near the soundhole to near the base of the uke. In my unqualified opinion these ribs do two good things: they reinforce the board against sinking, rotative pressure applied by the bridge due to the string tension. These ribs imo aid also by transmitting vibration promptly to distant parts of the soundboard, giving a higher utilization of the board surface area. Piano soundboards are ribbed for these reasons, especially for the transmission of energy to distant parts of the board. The position of the Islander ribs can be felt by fingertip, and also show faintly through the top of the soundboard. Can you see these marks in your own Islander?

Yes indeed, it is all so interesting because the Islander tone proves very much better than I'd expected after handling only the Flamingo.

-Playing action: Islander is perfect. Better than the Flamingo. No neck warpage, not yet. However, I've just tuned up the original "Nylotone" strings from nearly slack to key of C tuning. Done the same with the Flamingo. Flamingo neck bowed proportionally to string tension prior to the repair described here a couple of weeks ago. So far the Islander neck has not bowed at all. In a few days when the elastic strings of both these ukes have stabilized. I shall check the neck again for bowing, and then make stroboscopic measurement of the fret position accuracy- -Fit and finish: The Flamingo has better finish than this sample of the Islander. The Islander a bit roughly assembled inasmuch as the fingerboard to neck joint and the perimeter of body were -ground- to a flush fit. Means nothing but a lack of smooth polish at these points. There's a few glue runs and glue fingerprints on the Islander. No problem for me, not at the original selling price.

-Tuners: Both Flamingo and Islander offer serviceable friction tuners. The Islander's tuners are better, require little screw pressure to make them hold. I did not need to adjust any of the Islander tunders, but did take one apart to see the construction. Intelligent, inexpensive design. Styrene button with cone shaped bottom registers in zinc plated surface mount cup washer (a standard FH screw washer) and obtains centering, wedging and high natural coefficient of friction. Hence, a small amount of screw pressure suffices. The hang tag on this uke extolls the peg's features, and does not exagerate. IMO no owner of an Islander should wish for planetary banjo tuners. I think gearing is a good thing in general, but good friction tuners are really efficient enough for my taste. Proof here that good tuners can be made from parts costing less than the cheapest of today's engineering-deficient ping or 2b tuners. -Strings. Both Flamingo and Islander appear to retain their original strings. The Flamingo strings are clear nylon, four sizes in order of string #1 to #4, .019", .024", .030", 026". Rather light stringing. And yet the Flamingo neck bowed to the tension from the first day, spoiling the ease of playing. The Islander strings were color tinted. The color today evidently faded out owing to exposure to room lighting. Yet the knoted ends shielded under the bridge grooves are still vividly tinted: red for #1, .023". blue for 2, .029". orange or yellow for #3, .034". Green for #4, .026".

A reminder: I've learned from prior experience that nylon absorbs Rit or Tintex fabric dyes very nicely. Any clear nylon string can be custom dyed to any hue or intensity by a prolonged cold soak in dye of a concentration best determined by simple trial.

Results of heavier stringing: a differnt tone for sure. But with this too, the increase in tension that comes with greater string mass exerts a heavier load on the instrument. Yet the Islander was/is evidently up to the task, even for key of D tuning. I would not, however leave any dis-used uke plastic or wood at full tension indefinitely because tension in time is highly liable to make plastic, even maple wood give way, warp.

Tone again: The Islander has heavier strings. Would a simple string swap from Islander to Flamingo swap the good Islanser tone to the Flamingo and vice versa? I do not know. But i do know the Flamingo would likely rip off its integral plastic bridge if the Islander's gauge of strings were tuned up to key of D. The Flamingo is just not strong enough for high tension. I put a set of old stock gut strings on the Flamingo last week, tried to go up to D tuning. Had to back off, quit. The Flamingo looked about ready to implode from the higher tension of the stouter gut strings. And as for tone- just - tapping the soundboards of the two instruments tells a great difference between them, one that does not seem possibly to revolve about the question of string gauges. The Islander is the winner, hands down. In the next few days I should receive a Fin-Der Beach Boy plastic uke still in box. What will it sound and play like?

Interesting, these ukes. Two different camp ukes come along next. Comparison reviews? Reader input helps. Lots of you out there know heaps more than I. Please chime in your opinions and know how or belly laughs.

Tone comparisons between plastic ukes. Hah, Mario would be smiling. He knew he did good, In my opinion (sliced thickly this time) his Islander is the single most remarkable, even the most important contribution to ukedom since 1879. Reid

regards,

robert - founder

http://makeaukulele.tripod.com/page 9.htm

I claim only that with the originally supplied strings the Islander sounds fuller than a Flamingo. Nope, plastic isn't wood. Deep winter here is 55F. Brrrrr....relatively speaking!

Oh boy, oh beach boy! This is exciting. Crumbling box carries 1950 copyright. How all these plastic ukes got tooled up, rushed to market in time to catch that Godfrey wave- amazing entrepenuereal spirit of USA. Box recommends using only Fin- der "Flower" colored strings. "Red-hibiscus, Blue- Iris, Green-Fern, Orange something or other, I won't bother to check the box at this writing. The uke is prettily enough assembled, but less well engineered I think than the Flamingo. The neck, like the Flamingo's, is bowed at about the fifth fret. This uke won't ever play right because of that flaw. The tuners though- they make the Fin-Der. Lollipop colored to match the strings. Peculiar, non- adjustable. With one particularly intelligent design feature: the string winding posts are a mere 1/16" diameter or so. Uncapped, string hole at the end. With a tuner like this one, the winding acation is "geared down" in the simplest manner, improving tuning control and reducing the frictional requirements. This sort of post is an ideal. I wish I could go into the uke friction tuner business. The tone of the Beach Boy seems unremarkable. I still like the Islander best. Have yet to swap strings around, though. My opinions are just that. Beach Boy tuners slipped, not adjustable. How to fix? Feed in a bit of "thread locker", let set. As noted the tiny winding posts require only a minor amount of friction to hold. "Loctite" is working for me here. A handsome plastic uke, great logo on peghead. It's just... not designed by a Maccafieri. Oh, wouldn't any of us like to evaluate a wood uke built by him?