The Pimped-Out Flea

When reader Pat Klopich wrote in to see if we'd be interested in adding his customized "pimped-out" Hibiscus Flea ukulele to The Flea Museum, we took one look at the pictures he sent and said: "You betcha!"

Here's the story behind this beautiful little customized Flea:

I sell Flea and Fluke ukuleles, but for some reason I just couldn't sell this bright-sounding Hibiscus Flea... except to myself! But, in order to justify keeping it, I felt I had to personalize it so it would stand out as: "Not for Sale!"

So, I thought about it for a while and came up with a design, and sent it down to my brother-in-law Robert Portillo in LA, who's a noted musical instrument builder and conservator, and an avid ukulele player, to boot!

First of all, I really wanted to change the standard friction tuners on the Flea to geared tuners, so I can get a more precise tuning. We set out to find a good replacement geared tuner and surprisingly, because of the tight spacing on the Flea's head, we had trouble finding a tuner small enough to fit. But, with a lot of internet searching, we finally found the Sperzel Ultra-Lite Open Back Tuners in black. Then, with "just a little" modification to the head: like removing the old tuners and plugging their holes, and then drilling new holes for the new tuners, they work perfectly, although the tuning pegs stick out towards the back now!

Then we inlayed MOP (Mother Of Pearl) dots on the rosewood fretboard at frets 3, 5, 7 and 12 and, in honor of the fact that it's a Hibiscus Flea, we added a beautiful MOP hibiscus flower inlay to the fretboard, too. And, finally, we also added tiny little MOP dots to the side of the fretboard at frets 3, 5, 7, and 10, too. This much-needed inexpensive little fix is a wonderful helper when playing, especially for the beginning to intermediate player, and I would highly recommend everyone get this done, especially since it's fairly cheap and easy to do.

There's also a "B Nood" sticker inside now, too. Why? Well, I travel up and down the west coast during the summer visiting various nudist (yes, nudist) resorts where I sell Fleas and Flukes out of my canopied booth, and teach beginner-level ukulele classes to the natives, both clothed and unclothed. In fact, truth be told, almost all my Flea and Fluke ukulele customers are nudists! As nudists, also known as naturists, we're comfortable with who and what we are, and we don't need something of the size of a guitar to hide behind. So, the "B Nood" sticker inside my Flea is just a smaller version of the bumper sticker I sell: "B Nood" = "Be Nude."

So, that's the story... except to note that the autographs you can see on the side of the Flea in the picture are from Daniel Ho, Herb Ohta Jr., Lyle Ritz and Lil' Rev., and next in line is Jake Shimabukuro, who's coming to Seattle in October! I got the Daniel and Herb autographs at the ukulele workshops that the Seattle Ukulele Players Association and Dusty Strings music store have held in Seattle, and I got Lyle Ritz and Lil' Rev. while attending the Portland Ukulele Festival, one of the best festivals on the northwest coast!"

If you'd like to contact Pat Klopich directly to tell him how groovy you think his "pimped-out" Flea is, visit his website, and be sure to check out "The Naked Flea" his terrific clothing-optional ukulele newsgroup on Yahoo, too! And, if you'd like to have luthier Robert Portillo customize your Flea (or Fluke) ukulele, too, you can contact him directly at: midcitymusic.com