Buying 30 ukuleles for junior high general music classroom

Hello!

I am very fortunate to be at a school that has agreed to purchase a set of 30 ukuleles for the classroom. Budget is $100 per uke, $3000 total plus accessories, wall mounts, curricular materials, etc.

This is a big investment and I'm very excited to start my kids on this journey, and could use your input and advice!

1) the past few weeks I've played with a few different sizes, and have settled on the concert size - the soprano might be too small for bigger hands, and the tenor too large.

2) I've played with the lanikai tunauke, and am expecting a chance to play a kala ka-c and cordoba 15cm sometime next week or so. I also contacted empire music and they are sending me their classic cl500 which is $50 but I thought it prudent to consider it as a cheaper alternative. Anything else I might want to look at?

3) vendor - I would love to work with a vendor that not only has the inventory to supply me a whole class set, but willing to setup each one for the kids, and have a good customer service rep with repair/service and warranty to help me handle the inevitable issues that will happen with hundreds of kids using these instruments.

4) curricular materials - I really like the ukulele in the classroom series by James hill as it promotes music literacy and music reading, and it fits very nicely into our national music standards. Bruce emery, the skeptical guitarist series has a ukulele from scratch book that I have loved playing and I think would be very accessible to the kids. Jumpin Jim's book of tunes and tips has also been fun and can see the kids enjoying stuff from there. If you have anything else to throw out there in terms of song books, method books, please let me know!

Thanks for taking the time to read my 1st post, and any input you can provide will be greatly appreciated by me and the hundreds of students that this ukulele program will be serving!

sounds like a nice project....
maybe letting everyone know where you are would help...as you want lots of customer service...so local the only way to go...IMO

Good call! I'm in chicago so anything Midwest region should do. I'm not opposed going farther out nationally as long as we could work out the logistics.

The Ukulele Site...contact them directly and I'm pretty sure they will help you out with all this. Buying such a large amount, they might just give you a discount, allowing you to get better quality ukes and other materials. I might suggest have the wood shop in your school make you some wall hangers, as they are about $10-$15 apiece to buy them from a shop. That's at least $300 you could spend on other things, and probably would even be better quality.

Concerts are an excellent idea for size. You are absolutely right in your assessment. Also instead of only wall mounts, you might want to consider cheap cases, now that I come to think about it. Much better protection--maybe saving you from having to replace ukes that somebody inadvertently knocks off a wall. My mind is kind of flying right now.

I love it that you are able to give such a good opportunity to some teens. I hope they appreciate it. If you have any questions...I'm here all night. Where are you from anyway. I'm Scott, and I'm glad to meet you! Welcome to UU!!

consitter said:

The Ukulele Site...contact them directly and I'm pretty sure they will help you out with all this. Buying such a large amount, they might just give you a discount, allowing you to get better quality ukes and other materials. I might suggest have the wood shop in your school make you some wall hangers, as they are about $10-$15 apiece to buy them from a shop. That's at least $300 you could spend on other things, and probably would even be better quality.

Concerts are an excellent idea for size. You are absolutely right in your assessment. Also instead of only wall mounts, you might want to consider cheap cases, now that I come to think about it. Much better protection--maybe saving you from having to replace ukes that somebody inadvertently knocks off a wall. My mind is kind of flying right now.

I love it that you are able to give such a good opportunity to some teens. I hope they appreciate it. If you have any questions...I'm here all night. Where are you from anyway. I'm Scott, and I'm glad to meet you! Welcome to UU!!

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The only problem with that is as the OP states warranty work and set up for each student and keeping the ukes tuned up(in good playable shape) would be expensive if you are sending back to Hawaii...if you have a shop that is close by might be cheeper in the long run.....

hawaii 50 said:

The only problem with that is as the OP states warranty work and set up for each student and keeping the ukes tuned up(in good playable shape) would be expensive if you are sending back to Hawaii...if you have a shop that is close by might be cheeper in the long run.....

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Could be...but I seriously doubt buying ukes at that price point will offer much of a warranty. And most shops local to me have them sent to the manufacturer for warranty work anyhow.

consitter said:

Could be...but I seriously doubt buying ukes at that price point will offer much of a warranty. And most shops local to me have them sent to the manufacturer for warranty work anyhow.

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Regardless...don't go to a big music store like Guitar Center. They really know nothing about ukes, and they offer an "expert" set-up, which amounts to them putting them in tune.

Thanks consitter! I have definitely been looking at ukulele site/HMS and may just give them a call maybe tomorrow or Monday. Unfortunately they do not have the kala ka-c or cordoba 15cm but maybe they can work with me on ordering or possibly getting another model. Bulk discount would definitely be appreciated by my school as well.

Recstar24 said:

Thanks consitter! I have definitely been looking at ukulele site/HMS and may just give them a call maybe tomorrow or Monday. Unfortunately they do not have the kala ka-c or cordoba 15cm but maybe they can work with me on ordering or possibly getting another model. Bulk discount would definitely be appreciated by my school as well.

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I think it would be worth a shot...about warranty issues...I don't know if any manufacturer will even offer a warranty knowing they will be used in a school setting. You may want to check on that right out of the gate.

consitter said:

I think it would be worth a shot...about warranty issues...I don't know if any manufacturer will even offer a warranty knowing they will be used in a school setting. You may want to check on that right out of the gate.

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Good call. One of my local music shops told me that typically the company just replaces the instrument as it's cheaper than actually looking to repair it. I would say the customer service aspect and a reputation for taking care of customers beyond the warranty is more important.

Know anything about empire music? They are sending me a sample uke and class materials, their reputation is specifically within education and the music classroom.

Recstar24 said:

Good call. One of my local music shops told me that typically the company just replaces the instrument as it's cheaper than actually looking to repair it. I would say the customer service aspect and a reputation for taking care of customers beyond the warranty is more important.

Know anything about empire music? They are sending me a sample uke and class materials, their reputation is specifically within education and the music classroom.

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Unfortunately, no. But if they are sending you a sample uke, that's a good sign. And the fact that their instruments are made for music education is another point in their favor. I'm going to google them and investigate.

Just looked at them. The only thing I can say is to give it about a week, playing it every day, and see if it will stay in tune. It will take about that amount of time for the strings to settle in. Any instrument that won't stay in tune, no matter how good of a price you get, will tend to discourage students, and think being out of tune is 'on them', so to speak.

Also check intonation, at least for the first five frets (I doubt you'll have the kids playing any further up the neck than that).

Contact the folks at the Langley Ukulele Ensemble in British Columbia, Canada. They are really a fantastic group of talented individuals. They've been doing this for years and the director, Paul Luongo, may have some suggestions for you. His father Peter founded the ensemble. I'm sure they know the best way to get a lot of quality ukes at the best price. Here is a link to their website:
http://langleyukes.com/

Beyond that, I also recommend the Ukulele Site.

Good luck!

23skidoo last month bought a dozen ukes for a school project from Uke Republic in Atlanta. They're all beautifully set up, and he's already posted videos of him leading his group. The kids are having a fantastic time. I recommend you contact him (his name is Bill) via PM and ask for his suggestions about the uke brand he chose. You'll also want tuners.

On this forum, you can read many dozens of wonderful posts about the good customer service from Mike McQueen at Uke Republic. You could also call him directly.

.

consitter said:

Unfortunately, no. But if they are sending you a sample uke, that's a good sign. And the fact that their instruments are made for music education is another point in their favor. I'm going to google them and investigate.

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This is slightly off-topic, but I wanted to share my experience with Empire Music...

I've bought several items from Empire Music. Their pricing is very good for classroom instruments. Last time they offered free shipping for orders over $50, however their order process seems a bit sluggish. It's been my experience that it takes 2-3 days from the time of order, to receive the order confirmation email, and another 2 days before I get an email with a tracking number and that the order has shipped, and then the items are not received until 7 working days later. SO that's 12 days in total, and if you are paying with a Purchase Order from a school, it may take longer even, so you want to consider that amount of lead time if you order from them, and factor it into your planning.

I realize that they are in Vancouver, BC (Canada) and I am in NJ, USA, but it seems really slow compared to most other online vendors.

Having said that, I have no complaints other than the waiting time being painful for me, but they were the only vendor that sold the James Hill 'Jazz Ukulele' at the time when I first ordered. My other 2 orders were each for tenor hard foam cases ($29), which seem to be a little larger inside than the copy-cats of the Kala 'Uke Crazy' cases sold everywhere under various brands, which is a GOOD thing, as a bit larger can be stuffed with a piece of foam, but a smaller case may not fit all ukes.

If they are sending a sample uke for you to try, that is great - but remember as consitter said, and as well documented all over the internet, that the uke has to be PLAYED constantly and re-tuned constantly for the first week or so. It is the vibrating of the strings that helps stretch them until they settle to pitch, and if you just tune it, and put it down, and ONLY do that, even 10 times per day, it will take like 2 weeks for the strings to settle, but if you actually PLAY it, even for 10 mins each time you tune it up, (i.e., lots of aggressive strumming) you will ACCELERATE the stretching of the strings until they find their proper tension and hold pitch more constantly.

This is often confused with a uke not holding pitch or staying in tune. If you only tune it once per day, and/or merely plink on it, most people will give up long before the strings have settled and declare the uke 'defective' and this paradigm is actually what is 'defective'.

Keep in mind that stock strings on a cheaper instrument are usually of the lowest possible quality and that if you can find out what strings they use, or even get them to install some Aquila Nylguts or Martin M600 strings as opposed to some random cheapo unknown item, you will probably have a better time evaluating the instrument, regardless of where you buy it.

In addition, you might also want to contact MIM at MIM's Ukes, or Mike McQueen at Uke Republic. Both of which are also highly regarded here on UU, and I have personally dealt with Uke Republic many times and have been very happy with the transactions, and Mike is a really nice guy when you speak to him.

Mim - http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/mimsukuleles/StoreFront or http://mimsukes.com/ or
(540) 505-5444, 6191 Buffalo Mountain Road SW Meadows of Dan, VA 24120

http://www.ukerepublic.com/
UKE Republic 5000 Austell Powder Springs Rd., STE 290, Austell, GA 30106
(770) 235-6606 - Mike

hawaii 50 said:

The only problem with that is as the OP states warranty work and set up for each student and keeping the ukes tuned up(in good playable shape) would be expensive if you are sending back to Hawaii...if you have a shop that is close by might be cheeper in the long run.....

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Except for the Cook County, Chicago, 10.5% sales tax, that would be right, Len. (Perhaps just the sales tax that is paying for the ukes in the first place, admittedly).

coolkayaker1 said:

Except for the Chicago 10.5% sales tax, that would be right, Len.

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You know it

GinnyT11 said:

23skidoo last month bought a dozen ukes for a school project from Uke Republic in Atlanta. They're all beautifully set up, and he's already posted videos of him leading his group. The kids are having a fantastic time. I recommend you contact him (his name is Bill) via PM and ask for his suggestions about the uke brand he chose. You'll also want tuners.

On this forum, you can read many dozens of wonderful posts about the good customer service from Mike McQueen at Uke Republic. You could also call him directly.

.

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Thank you! I'll reach out to him.

Booli,

Thanks for the feedback regarding empire music. So far email communications have been excellent - prompt, courteous, they clearly know how to work with schools and are purchase order system, and were very easy about getting samples of an uke and curriculum materials. Next week I should have an empire, kala kac and cordoba 15cm to play with and especially on the empire will make sure to jam out on the strings a bit.

Another option might be Butler Music. They have a lot of blems with solid tops or even all solid for under $100 that might be better than nato/laminates you're likely to find elsewhere.
http://stores.ebay.com/Butler-Music/Ukuleles-/_i.html?_nkw=Concert+ukulele

Another thought is you might want to find a local service contract even if you don't source the instruments locally.