In UKE Magazine Issue 42, Lil Rev’s article on the Texas Waltz referenced an mp3 recording. You can listen to that here.
And below - the video to go with it:
UKE Magazine Issue 42 - Competition
To enter Issue 42’s competition and be in with a chance of winning an aNueNue Lyra concert ukulele, you can complete the form below by 1 August 2025.
You need the magazine in front of you and to answer 9 out of the 10 multiple choice questions correctly to be entered into the draw. The question was, which brand made the models illustrated in the magazine.
UKE Magazine Issue 42 - Music That Matters
You can download a pdf of the summary and conclusions from Kate Knight, from the University of Chester, as referenced in the ‘Music That Matters’ feature in UKE Magazine Issue 42, by clicking here.
UKE Magazine Issue 42 - Warm Up Exercises
Here is an audio file for the warm up exercises feature in UKE Magazine Issue 42.
UKE Magazine Issue 42 - Patterns
This is the video that goes with the piece ‘Patterns’ in UKE Magazine issue 42.
You’ll need to do two things…
1) Jump ahead to 9.52
2) Keep in mind when I recorded it some years ago I was ill with a thyroid issue and a bit… porky!
UKE Magazine Issue 42 - Paul Mansell, Slipping Away
Here is the accompanying video from Paul, for the piece described in UKE Magazine issue 42.
Big Hoose by the Beach - Coming 6-8 February - Ayrshire Coast
Our Big House event is moving to the Ayrshire Coast in 2026, with a date booked for 6-8 February. We’ve secured exclusive use of a hotel and will release more details and tickets shortly.
There’ll be a great line up of artists, for performances, workshops, open mic and group sing and strum sessions. This event has been on the go since February 2015 - so it’s well loved and well established.
To get a one-off email when the lineup and tickets are available, please complete your details below.
Power issues will cause communication delays in the week commencing 16 June
From the 16th of June, for one week, my building is being re-wired. While this occurs there will be regular periods where I am without power. This will affect both my internet and phone system and is likely to result in some communication delays. I will answer when I can, both the phone and e-mail, but there may be delays as I will be working using my phone as a mobile hotspot while the power is off.
I will still be working and dispatching orders (my set up process doesn’t require any power tools - apart from my fully charged battery drill!)
I am sorry for any inconvenience this causes.
UKE Magazine Issue 42 - Online Resources
Videos and sound samples, plus the competition form, will be added here soon.
World of Ukes is Closed: Between 2 and 7 April, 2025
World of Ukes will be closed between the 2nd and 7th of April.
My wife is in hospital for an operation and once complete and she’s home, I will be at home also, while she recovers. I’ll be in charge of cups of tea, cooking, cleaning and providing any ukulele set-ups she requires!
During this period it’s still possible to place orders and these will be dispatched when I return. There will, most likely, be spells when I can come into work for a couple of hours to ensure when I am back fully, I am not behind. But just in case, please allow me a little time when I return to work for your order to arrive.
My friends Jerry and Andy will also be coming in at times to deal with orders that go by post (magazines and accessories), so there should be little in the way of disruption there.
Thank you for your patience,
Matt
UKE Magazine 41 - Competition
This is the form to complete if you’ve got a copy of UKE Magazine issue 41 and would like a chance to win the Kala Gardenia ukulele that was provided by Kala Brand UK. This will go to a randomly chosen reader who answers the following questions correctly.
UKE Magazine 41 - Silver Sand Rag, arranged by Zoe Wadey
This is a video from Zoe Wadey, to accompany her arrangement of Silver Sand Rag in issue 41 of UKE Magazine.
This is taken from a digital songbook - 10 Blues and Ragtime Solos for Ukulele - which you can find available to download by clicking here.
UKE Magazine 41 - AI Demonstration - Final Word
This video shows a demo of a song written by me, but created by AI, as detailed in ‘Final Word’ in Issue 41.
I wrote the lyrics and set them to some chords, and recorded a quick demo on my phone. Not being the finest singer, and not being that good at singing and playing at the same time, the standard of that recording was extremely low! However, I wanted to share it with the band for comments and to see if they might want to work on it.
However, this song was very personal - and the terrible recording I made was not going to cut it. So I used AI (an app called Suno), uploading my demo and lyrics. It was then able to generate a demo for me, using my words, my melody and my song structure and chords. So it was still my song - but the production was better and therefore I could share it without the embarassment.
In the end, I forgot to describe the vocal style on the app - so it was a female vocal. But a) any would have been better than mine and b) I quite liked it.
It was a song written after waking up from a dream that it was the mid 90’s again (a common theme for me, who lives for nostalgia). My best friend had passed away and it set me thinking about our lives together. So, you can see why sharing an awful demo seemed wrong somehow! For the purpose of this article it would have been better to share the ‘before’ as well as the ‘after’, but trust me, it’s out of tune singing and ropey ukulele playing - it’s bad!
EU Shipping is Ending Soon - Since Brexit, Charges are Unustainable
Unfortunately it will soon be no longer possible for me to ship ukuleles to the EU.
Magazines will be unaffected.
Since Brexit, I have offered to send instruments to EU countries, over a certain value on a delivered duty paid basis (which means the tax and duty is paid by me). I have continued to charge my regular price (which includes 20% tax), and I have used that to pay the tax bill in the destination country. This varies from country to country, between 19% and 25%. In addition I pay 6% import duty (despite it having already having been paid when the ukulele arrived in the UK). This can mean that I am using 20% of the ukulele’s value to pay up to 31% tax in the destination country.
I have always accepted this as the cost of doing business post-Brexit. However, the administration charges for doing this have steadily increased also. This fee is now up to £27.17.
Increasingly too, customs officers are checking the purchase value with customers. They (naturally) give the price they paid, rather than the amount I declare (I declare the price of the instrument minus VAT - as I use that 20% to pay customer charges). They then calculate their tax and duty on the full value. I am often losing money sending instruments to the EU as a result.
If we take an example of a ukulele at £200, being sent to Sweden. I receive £200. In the UK I would receive £166.67, and pay £33.33 in tax. In theory I am attempting to pay all of the charges to send to Sweden using £33.33.
The cost to send that ukulele is £17.33. The admin fee is £27.17. Swedish customs ask the customer how much they paid and they say £200. Customs then charge tax on £200, which comes to £50. And they charge 6% import duty on this amount too, which equals £12. So my total charges are £105.50.
A typical profit margin might be around 30% of the selling price, excluding VAT. In this example, that means a cost of £128.21. Add the £105.50 charges and the total cost to me is £233.71, a loss of £33.71.
It doesn’t always happen this way - as higher value ukuleles do generate a profit still, but this profit margin is greatly reduced.
I may consider sending ukuleles over £400 to the EU in future - but this will be on a case by case basis. But it is likely I will cease doing this altogether. There is the option to allow EU customers to purchase ukuleles with the tax excluded, but I am reluctant to do this as the charges are so variable from country to country that I am unable to provide accurate advice on what they might be. Some countries (Cyprus and Greece, for example), charge huge fees which would make any instrument hugely more expensive. I don’t want customers to have to pay these charges, especially as they’re applied in a seemingly inconsistent manner.
I have to stress that UKE Magazine is unnaffected as there is no tax on printed paper.
I will shortly cease shipping ukuleles to the EU. In order to do this I need to make a number of time consuming changes to the website. When I have been able to do this, shipping ukuleles to the EU will no longer be possible. I am sorry to report this - which is of course no fault of customers in the EU.
Big House Ukulele Weekend 2025 - Itinerary and Dietary Requirements Form
This page is for attendees of the Big House Ukulele Weekend in Penrith, 7-10 February, 2025. You can find a lot of information about it in the Events Store.
The itinerary is now available too. If you need a copy, you can download it here.
There is a quick form below to advise of any dietary requirements you may have. If you don’t have any, I would appreciate it if you could still complete the form. (If you don’t I’ll ask you anyway… I will worry if I don’t get a reply from everyone!)
Matt
Ukulele String Selector - Help Choosing Ukulele Strings
Choosing ukulele strings can be quite baffling, with the range of materials, feel, sound and sustain.
I have produced a diagram based on my own observations, and my own experience to help. It’s very much what I feel - and people have different perceptions of sound - but it might be of assistance!
If the image is too small for you, you can download a pdf. To do that, click here.
You can find my selection of ukulele strings here: https://worldofukes.co.uk/ukulele-strings
Help choosing ukulele strings
UKE Magazine 40 - Competition
In Issue 40 of UKE Magazine, readers have the chance to win an Ohana CK-50MG, solid cedar top concert ukulele. To be in with a chance, complete the form below by 1 February 2025
Your details won’t be used for anything else - only to inform the winner when correct entries are put into a pot and the winner picked at random.
UKE Magazine 40 - Elisabeth Pfeiffer
Elisabeth Pfeiffer demosntrating ‘Sandcastle Nostalgia’, as featured in UKE Magazine 40.
UKE Magazine 40 - Phil Doleman
From UKE Magazine 40, Phil Doleman demonstrates ‘Hand Me Down My Walking Cane’
UKE Magazine 40 - Lindsay Higgs
From UKE Magazine issue 40, Lindsay Higgs demonstrates his piece, Study No. 12.
(As this has been uploaded as a YouTube short, it can’t be embedded in this post - so click the link above!