Buying A New Uke?—Bring The Right Equipment

I thought this was worth a post, especially after seeing some threads on how to select a nice ukulele and not seeing something I have experienced.

Let me start off by saying, I have been playing the ukulele since I was 9 years old; and that’s 55 years ago. I’m no great musician, but I have fun with it. I had sort of gotten away from playing much until one of my grandkids became interested. So, not only did I get him an inexpensive ukulele for starters, I decided to get a better one for myself, figuring my 9-year-old GK could plink on it once in a while as well. I know all too well, that if you get a kid a junkie instrument that doesn’t stay in tune, or is hard to play, they’ll soon lose interest, etc., etc.

On to my point: I went to a music store in order to purchase a new baritone ukulele. (Did I mention, I prefer a baritone? If I ever get one of my sons to record a couple of songs I finger pick, I can show you why I prefer non-re-entrant tuning, if that’s a word…but I digress).

I liked one of the baritone ukuleles the store had—a major brand, but I won’t mention it here for reasons that will be obvious. However, the wood grain of the top wasn’t good. The growth rings were not tight, and they were curled with uneven coloration and a knot, and so on. I have seen many from the same manufacturer and knew I could do better. The store understood and was kind enough to go to the distributor to select a fine piece for me.

It took a few weeks, but the day finally arrived to go and see the ukulele that was shipped in. The baritone ukulele looked great. It sounded superb. The grain on the top was tight, straight and even-colored. There was just one slight problem—the action was a little high and there was a buzz at the 12th through 14th frets on the 3rd and 4th string. The store has an in-house luthier, so we felt he could set it up.

A week later, I picked up the ukulele and brought it home. It sounded so wonderful, I couldn’t put it down. But—you knew there would be a but—it had a buzz. I noticed it most on the 3rd string while playing an open D chord (I was picking a tune). I went up and down the fingerboard, paying greater attention and there was a lot of buzzing between the 2nd and 7th frets.

Then, I went and got the proper tool for doing a real inspection—a straight edge. Mine happened to be a metal ruler off my workbench. It is just long enough to stretch across the length of the fret board. I was amazed at what I saw—there was a deep concave dip in the fret board. At about the 7th fret, it was deeper than the height of the frets. It flattened out again at the 14th fret where the neck connects to the body. The S-curve was deep enough that I knew the ukulele wasn’t fixable with a little fret dressing.

I took it back to the store, another 90 mile round trip. The store is a great store, and they looked at the fret board with my straight edge on it, coming to the same conclusion as me. They are special ordering another ukulele for me.

When I was in the store, there were other people playing, so the slight buzz that we thought was repaired wasn’t noticeable. Eyeballing down the neck didn’t show the problem. It took a straight edge. I’ll never shop for a ukulele again without one. And BTW—I’ve played some high end instruments that are just as bad. What’s funny is the $32 gambler’s ukulele I bought through the mail plays great—just goes to show you. Bring in a straight edge when you shop, knowing a little upward bow is just right.

Attention noobs, read and heed!

Yeah and catch the real lesson that this stores luthier wasn't proficient enough or gave a s** enough to properly set up the ukulele. Buy from sellers that are known to inspect and setup every ukulele they sell. Don't continue to spend money with those that treat you like this story handing you something a simple check would catch as junk.

~my 2~