A string instrument called the ukelin

The musical instrument lying there on the auction table looked like a fat guitar. It had the right shape: large round curvy body at one end, an elongated neck at the other end with rows of strings and knobs for adjusting.

I wondered what the heck it was, so I looked under the instrument in the box hoping to find its instruction booklet or other paperwork.

And there it was. The instrument was a ukelin, according the instructions on how to play it. The booklet also included a few songs that I recognized: “She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain” and “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” (which I will always remember as a song from an old Popeye cartoon episode).

Curious, I wanted to know more about this instrument – how it was played and its background. So I Googled. The first site, ukelin.com, warned that ukelins were very common, and could be found just about everywhere – garages, attics, basements (another site mentioned estate sales and flea markets). And that they were  generally over-priced.

Another site suggested that if you can get one for cheap on eBay, buy it for laughs. It’s one of the strangest instruments ever made, it noted.

The ukelin is described as a cross between a Hawaiian ukulele and a violin, according to several sites. A decal on the body shows the note the string should be tuned to and the numbers represent a system of notation, ukelin.com said. It also mentioned a decal around the sound hole.

The instrument at auction apparently had been sold by a company called Oscar Schmidt-International Corporation of Jersey City, NJ. The ukelin goes back to 1926 when a patent was issued to a Paul F. Richter, who handed it off to the Phonoharp Company, according to the Smithsonian Institution website. That company merged with Oscar Schmidt, which distributed the instrument itself and through several subsidiaries.

They were made until the 1960s, and were apparently sold door to door to people who knew little about music, according to the Smithsonian site. They apparently were also sold by mail order through Sears, and buyers with no music talent grew frustrated trying to play them.

The instrument is played on a table with the larger end near the performer, according to the Smithsonian site. The right hand plays the melody with a violin bow and the left hand plays the chords with the fingers or a pick.

But what does it sound like? This is what ukelin.com had to say:

“The ukelin is a satisfying instrument to play, haunting to listen to, and a demon to tune. Strike a ukelin string with a bow and immediately you’re transported. Each eerie note lingers in the air. The resonance suggests cathedral-like vast spaces. Strings respond sympathetically, glistening highs and sonorous lows. The primitive bow on the metal strings sound familiar yet distant in time.”

I decided to hear it for myself, and found several demonstrations on YouTube. Here, a man plays the “Tennessee Waltz.” Here, a man plays and explains the instrument to children. Here, a man plays it like a violin.

Most of the sounds I heard were too tinny and grating for me, like the proverbial fingernails on a blackboard. The last one sounded more like a fiddle. What do you think of the sound?