Episode 3 – Comparing Blackbird Models

This is a discussion & sound sampling of the three main models from Blackbird ukulele. Blackbird are totally made in San Fransisco using alternative resources. Alternative to wood that is. Originally they just used carbon fiber, the material heard in the BTU tenor ukulele here. The newer models, concert Clara and tenor Farallon are made from Ekoa, a proprietary material made by Blackbird, basically linen and bio-resin. We visited Blackbird earlier this year when we were in SF and made a video I will put up at the end of this post.

We don’t just like Blackbird for it’s uniqueness. They sound great! Joel works on them to make sure they play perfectly and the set up is right on, and a big selling point for them is that they aren’t nearly as affected by humidity and temperature as wooden ukes. So traveling with them and taking them out and around is much safer than taking wood instruments, but they sound like great wood instruments, and the even great vintage ukes, which is why the Blackbird slogan for their Ekoa instruments is “vintage tone, no worries”.

At the end of the podcast Corey Fujimoto does sound sample comparisons. Corey has been one of our full time members for years and you can find him up at the shop in Haleiwa 4 or 5 days a week. He does many of our sound samples that you can hear at our Vimeo channel or at our online store, The Ukulele Site. The sound samples are not enhanced, compressed or mastered in any way so listening with quality playback is a big help in hearing the differences. As a side note, Corey has an album we carry called Fables. Check it out HERE.

While Blackbird is a relatively small production factory with great demand, we have worked to get as many ukes from them as possible because we truly believe in them and have had many customers equally happy with them. So because of our consistent pressure on them to supply us with instruments we usually have some available to you. If we are out then we always have more coming in. You check on that HERE.

All the episodes can be found on iTunes HERE. The podcast is an informal discussion with Joel, Zach, and I so take it with a grain of salt. We do study the ukulele market and products available and have worked together to run The Ukulele Site where we set-up and ship out 20-30+ ukes a day. Our experience comes from playing, setting up, and regularly working with customers and getting their feedback. We aren’t doing sponsors or trying to monetize this in any way but you can support it by going onto iTunes, subscribing and rating. Mahalo!