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Veteran Industrial Designer Quits Gigs, Starts Company Producing Injection-Molded Ukuleles

Scott Seelye conquers glass-filled polycarbonate to produce durable string instruments

By Rain Noe - June 15, 2021

in Design Business | Materials

Portland-based Scott Seelye was an industrial designer for clients like Nike, InFocus and Hewlett-Packard for about twenty years before he decided to start his own thing, together with wife Jennifer. With the unique idea of producing ukuleles tough enough to withstand "backpacking, camping, traveling" and plain ol' extreme conditions, the Seelye worked with several manufacturers in an effort to produce a durable, injection molded, glass-filled polycarbonate ukulele.

Glass-filled polycarbonate is tough stuff; the problem is, it can be a bitch to mold. Seelye spent two years looking at mold-flow computer simulations telling him it his designs wouldn't work, and struggling with manufacturers who couldn't produce the object to his standards.

Finally Seelye discovered Sea-Lect Plastics, a manufacturer also located in Portland. "With the help and cooperation of our exceptional material and color suppliers," that company writes, "plus utilizing two brand new Milacron molding machines, we were able to meet Outdoor Ukulele's expectations."

Today the Seelyes' Outdoor Ukulele has been going strong for four years, and has expanded into banjoleles and guitars, and carbon fiber models in addition to the polycarbonate ones. Their models have "played in the Arctic Ocean, paddled down the Amazon River, and hiked both the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails," the Seelyes write.

With the body parts delivered from Sea-Lect, Scott can assemble 16 units per day, at the tidy workstation he's designed and that you can see below:

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Congratulations to the Seelyes! Check out their wares here.

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Dan Lewis

3 years ago

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I guess all of the Ukuleles made in Hawaii are technically offshore even though Hawaii is our 50th state.

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Nathan D.

3 years ago

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I really want to be able to annoy people with my ironic hipster ukelele playing in inclement weather and the environment is just going to have to deal with it.

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Billy Mack

3 years ago

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Reminds me of the now defunct (sold to Peavey) CA guitars here in Louisiana. Though they were not injection molded (carbon fiber sheet process). Polycarb is a good choice as its super durable. That's why headlight housings are usually PC.

As I am a designer (and musician) for a company that injection molds I would like to note that modifying designs to be compatible with the molding process is incredibly typical. 95% of the clients that come to us need DFM (design for manufacture). A company with enough design and molding experience can do an excellent job without compromising the functionality or aesthetics of the design. Most laymen don't realize this step alone and it's a core function of my job. Analysis can be super helpful as well.

I'd be interested to know how many components comprise these and what the assembly process looks like. Personal opinion.....they're not very visually attractive. There are ways to decorate PC but the costs can add up. Then again, maybe the target market is unconcerned.

Shameless plug, nobleplastics.com for you injection molding and automation needs!

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