Les Paul Ukelele?

Probably the astute marketing person who realized how much money Gibson was losing to the people selling the Risa and Mahalo and Stagg brands. The Epiphone offering may not be too little, too late. Sam Ash wants $99 for it.

 

Well ukeleles saved the bacon of C F Martin and Co over 80 years ago.

Maybe Henry has been studying history.

 

Somehow, I don't imagine this coming out before Les passed on. Just sayin'.

 

That does seem to be an Improvement over the TOM Bridge.....

 

Wouldn't it be more appropriate to have named it the "Arthur Godfrey" model?

 

Uke sales have shot thru the roof since the monster hit by Train: "Hey Soul Sister"

 

Thats cool thanks for the heads up Penny.

 

Ukeleles are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. YouTube stars like Julia Nunes and Jake Shimabukuro (look him up) get millions and millions of hits...hell, Eddie Vedder just released an album of uke tunes. Gibson's made some inexplicable moves in the past, but this one's just a case of picking up on a trend.

 

Alas, if only they'd made ukuleles in Groton 80 years ago, maybe that would have saved Bacon Banjo Company

 

Mmmm...bacon banjo.

 

Bolt on neck. Blasphemy!

 

At one time, the plastic Maccaferri guitars were selling for about $100 each from George Gruhn...they are now somewhat more expensive. I have seen one in the flesh nearly 25 years ago, and was quoted a price of near $300...someone evidently bought it for that price.

mark

 

Great playing John! I have never heard a uke amplified with overdrive like that. Very cool. To me however it sounds more guitar like than uke.

 

pretty cool! Can't argue with that vid. I like.
I attended a Ukulele festival (Reston, Va) about three weeks ago. The "2nd Annual Lake Anne Ukulele Festival". My wife started strumming uke a little while ago, and I kind of got into them a little when I started getting into steel guitar. (I listened to a LOT of Hawaiian music, which if you want to learn lap steel, you should a least be a little familuar with where it came from, IMO..)
Anyway, I got to see the great Del Rey play her reso Uke, I tell you, it gave me a new respect for the humble 'lil things.
Here's Del:


There's a Uke revival happening right now, and it doesn't supprise me that Gibson would do a Les Paul Uke. Seems like a good idea to me. In fact, I'm sure old Les himself would smile to see it.
I'd get one, but I already have a Luna I like.

 

It's an Epi and I think you can get a much better uke for that kind of money.

 

it's 99 bucks from musicians friend. 99 bucks for an acoustic electric is real cheap. Frankly, it's hard to get a GOOD uke for under 200 bucks. A lot under that price range are toys.
Really good ukes can get real costly. (300-500 dollar range)
I would think 99 bucks for the epi is a good deal.

 

I played one of the Epi LP Ukes a few weeks ago. Sounded like crap. My $40 Hilo sounded much better. Having said that, even a cheap Uke will sound 100% better if you install a good set of strings.