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A wise guy called out, "Hey, I think you left your guitar out in the rain."
But once the 27-year-old musician started playing, people stopped joking and started listening to the unique sounds of the compact, four-stringed instrument that is enjoying a surprising renaissance both here and across the country.
For years, the ukulele was associated with novelty act Tiny Tim singing "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" in a falsetto voice, or Hawaiian artist Don Ho warbling "Tiny Bubbles."
But today, artists such as Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson, Colbie Caillat, Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen are playing the uke.
Fueled by a thriving Internet community of ukulele players, by YouTube videos and by what one local musician calls the "geek hip factor," the instrument is suddenly hot.
Local music stores can't keep the uke in stock.
"We used to sell three or four a year," said Dan Manners, a salesman at Menchey Music Center on the Manheim Pike. "Now it's like three or four every six months. Easily once a week, someone comes in talking about it. If it's not about a ukulele, it's about a case or strings."
Local musicians can't wait to get their hands on the instrument.
Mentzer and his wife, Jen, also a member of Ripe, recently hosted Ripefest IV, a benefit concert at their home in Millersville. Their house served as the gathering spot for musicians in bands including Great Big House, Reason Left Town and The Click Clack Boom.
"We have what is our music room, that has a piano, keyboards, guitars, a mandolin and there's a ukulele in there," Mentzer says. "I had come in and out of the house several times and I would say nine times out of 10, there would be somebody playing the ukulele.
"I remember some people commenting, 'Hey, this is really cool.'!\p"
Nick Skiadas, owner of the Chameleon Club in Lancaster, said, "The roots rock and Americana bands are really starting to get into it. You're seeing more mainstream people in the area using it. It's been part of the music scene, since I'm sure, forever."
The ukulele was developed in Hawaii in the late 1800s, fashioned after a stringed instrument brought by Portuguese immigrants, and the islands quickly embraced it, according to the Ukulele Guild of Hawaii.
It made its jump to the mainland, and a Hawaiian music craze flourished in the 1920s. The instrument enjoyed a second surge of popularity in the 1940s and 1950s, popularized by Arthur Godfrey and other stars.
But after Tiny Tim's burst of fame in the late 1960s, the small instrument fell out of favor and became something akin to the music world's whoopee cushion.
Its resurgence has surprised some folks.
Ken Emminger, owner of Ken's Music Center in Lititz, said ukulele sales started to pick up about six to eight weeks ago.
Before that, he sold a few during the Christmas season, but overall, "They had slowed down tremendously."
Now he can hardly keep them in supply.
Part of the instrument's appeal, he thinks, may be that it is inexpensive. A new one retails for as little as $49.
And once you start playing one, it's hard to stop, said Fred McNaughton, of Mount Joy.
McNaughton, 48, who works as the morning show co-host at the local radio station WJTL, also plays music for kids at local festivals and churches under the stage name of Phredd.
Guitar and bass were McNaughton's instruments of choice for a time. But, about five years ago, he bought his first ukulele on eBay for $60 and soon was playing that most of the time.
"I just loved the sound," he said. "I was always looking for that kind of weird, different fun sound and, boy, that was it. ... It just has such a happy sound."
Manners, the Menchey music salesman, added, "You can't be sad and play it."
McNaughton thinks the Internet has helped fuel interest in the ukulele, connecting people who share information, techniques and tips.
Also, Internet videos have highlighted artists such as Jake Shimabukuro, a virtuoso who has been called the Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele, and Julia Nunes, whose YouTube videos of her cheerful uke playing catapulted her to an opening spot for a Ben Folds concert.
Suddenly, it seems ukes are everywhere, even on "American Idol," where contestant Jason Castro, played the ukulele last year, echoing the late popular Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
To some, the instrument might look a little silly, but it's all part of what McNaughton calls the "geek hip factor."
Manners, 21, who owns and plays four ukes himself, said, "It's so goofy people want to get into it, to be a little different."
A ukulele is just another tool in a musician's toolbox, said Mentzer. Its quiet sound lends an intimacy to songs.
"It might seem new and a curiosity piece, but it could lead to something beautiful," he says.
E-mail: cstauffer@lnpnews.com
