For Your Viewing Pleasure

     For the amateur pilot/ukulele enthusiast who has everything, we now present the Aero-Uke (and this one actually is for sale). Featuring a removable tail-piece and separate altimeter and air speed indicators, the Aero-Uke has virtually no cargo space, and is therefore best suited for air shows and exhibitions. The lack of a cockpit makes navigation difficult, and the absence of any kind of landing gear adds an extra level of adventure to even the most routine flights. What it lacks in airworthiness, however, it more than makes up for in tone and playability. Roger, you are cleared for takeoff.

     From the early 1930s (or thereabouts), the KeyKord is tuned as a baritone ukulele, and played somewhat like the autoharp. Apparently, the only chords anyone needed back then were C, D, F, G, Am, Cm, Dm, Em, Gm, A7, B7, C7, D7, G7, Ab7, Eb7, Cdim, Ddim, Edim, and Ddim7. Perhaps that has something to do with why the KeyKord was not favored by blues musicians. In the '50s, similar key-operated instruments were marketed as "Arthur Godfrey Ukes." Kaycraft also made a banjo version of the KeyKord, but, fortunately, very few of those still exist.

     Some members of the McCabe's staff walk to work and pick up odd things on the way. This threaded gizmo is one of them. As far as we know, it has nothing to do with music, and it seems too well made to have fallen from a utility pole. In fact, we have no idea what it is, and it's driving Bob nuts. Our guess is that it suspends something that needs some freedom of motion (but not much). It's about 5½" long and ¾" in diameter. In the thin places, the thickness of the remaining metal is only .027" (or about .8 mm). Somebody out there probably sees these things every day and can tell us all about it. Please do! The first visitor to send in a convincing and documentable explanation gets a free McCabe's T-shirt.

UPDATE: We have a winner! Some fellow named Jerry sent us this explanation, and is now one T-shirt richer for it. Isn't it nice when stuff like this works out?

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#37: The Barcus_® Bagel

     Originally built as a musical instrument, this unique specimen was later used to investigate the velocity of sound in a bagel (eventually determined to be approximately 256 meters/second). Amazingly, this single-stringed delicacy has been kept in tune for over twenty years! It is a tribute to the engineering of the bagel that, although it is deviating from its original roundness, it still retains structural integrity. Cream cheese available upon request.