What was your SECOND uke?

My second Uke was a KoAloha Pinapple Sunday purchased directly from Music Guy Mike while he still sold solo through his eBay store; I still have it and most likely always will.

Number three was an early Collings TU-2 in quilted mahogany that I still have; after that I fully succumbed to U.A.S.
 
Oboy. Another opportunity to post a picture of my 2nd and most favorite uke. It's a Mike Pereira (MP) tenor. Mango with Cedar top and koa binding and fret inlays.

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I've had three Mya Moe ,,,one Koaloha ,,even and Oscar Smidt but my favourite two for keeps my Kamaka tenor and my Blackbird Clara
 
Oboy. Another opportunity to post a picture of my 2nd and most favorite uke. It's a Mike Pereira (MP) tenor. Mango with Cedar top and koa binding and fret inlays.

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Could you not have at least picked something a little nicer for your second uke...........jees :biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:

That is spectacular.
 
a Makala Concert that I purchased from our dear old friend MGM. Stll play it and it reminds me of him and his crazy Aloha Friday videos!!
 
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My FIRST ukulele was a Kala solid mahogany concert that I bought from El Cerrito Music Works after trying out various ukuleles there for about three hours. (The shop was great about that, by the way.) I couldn't decide between a concert and a tenor, so I bought the concert there. My SECOND ukulele was a Kala solid acacia tenor that I bought from MGM back when he had his own ebay store. I ended up gravitating toward larger instruments (tenors, baritones, and now tenor guitars) and eventually upgraded my tenor to a Kamaka HF-3. (I have since gotten a few high end tenors and baritones.) I've kept the Kala concert - it's the only concert I have that I plan on keeping, just to have one - and a few years ago I sold my second uke, the Kala acacia tenor, to a buddy who wanted to move up from concert size. My buddy and I take a Hawaiian music class together, so I see my second ukulele all the time, and I'm glad it's gone to a good home where it's played a lot and cherished.

Oboy. Another opportunity to post a picture of my 2nd and most favorite uke. It's a Mike Pereira (MP) tenor. Mango with Cedar top and koa binding and fret inlays.

Wow! That's beautiful!
 
My FIRST ukulele was a Kala solid mahogany concert that I bought from El Cerrito Music Works after trying out various ukuleles there for about three hours. (The shop was great about that, by the way.) I couldn't decide between a concert and a tenor, so I bought the concert there. My SECOND ukulele was a Kala solid acacia tenor that I bought from MGM back when he had his own ebay store. I ended up gravitating toward larger instruments (tenors, baritones, and now tenor guitars) and eventually upgraded my tenor to a Kamaka HF-3. (I have since gotten a few high end tenors and baritones.) I've kept the Kala concert - it's the only concert I have that I plan on keeping, just to have one - and a few years ago I sold my second uke, the Kala acacia tenor, to a buddy who wanted to move up from concert size. My buddy and I take a Hawaiian music class together, so I see my second ukulele all the time, and I'm glad it's gone to a good home where it's played a lot and cherished.



Wow! That's beautiful!

Nice Mark...Pudgy at El Cerrito Music Works was really good friends with MGM....so the first 2 ukes that you owned were connected with my pal Mike...anytime I can post his name and remember him is so nice...


BTW Pudgy and his wife showed up at Mike's celebration of his life....they knew Mike when he was a teenager playing in Waikiki....:)

my second uke was my Maui Music tenor
 
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Learned I could play on a Kala concert but never liked its tone or the concert scale's cramped (for me) fingerboard. No. 2 was an Oscar Schmidt OU6 tenor, which is still my most-played uke though I've since bought two more tenors (the acoustic-electric OU6LCE and a Vorson solid-body steel stringer).
 
Could you not have at least picked something a little nicer for your second uke...........jees :biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:

That is spectacular.


Thanks. I went to the Reno, NV uke festival three months after buying my first uke (Pono ATDC) with $800 in my pocket and a plan to blow it all on a second tenor. Perhaps needless to say, my plan changed almost immediately after seeing and playing Mike's latest creation. It took me two hours and many laps around the vendor area to finally decide that I was going to go well beyond the $800 I had brought to Reno. I play it every day.
 
My first uke was a cheap Mahalo I bought on a whim after seeing it in a shop window. I knew absolutely nothing about ukes when I got it, I just picked it without even trying it because it was a cute purple colour. Needless to say it wasn't that great but on hindsight it was actually quite ok for a low-end uke, and it opened my appetite for learning how to play it, although I didn't really touch it for about a year.

Fast-forward a bit, I finally start learning how to play and realise the action is too high and the strings hurt my fingers. I get the action lowered at a uke shop and change the strings to Aquilas based on people's advices. Massive improvement but not quite there yet. I could tell it wasn't that great of an instrument compared to others, it had buzz, some minor intonation issues, and the C-string was booming too loudly. By then I had decided the ukulele was the instrument for me, so I did a lot of research in order to find a better one for sessions, while wanting to keep the Mahalo one as a beater for my couch.

I looked online into all the mid-range ukes from Kala, Ohana, Lanikai etc, for budget reasons. I tried lots of models in local music shops too, trying to look for a good sound and playability. I even bought one and returned it an hour later because it still wasn't quite right: it had a weird resonance frequency I didn't like, and like most of the ukes in that price range (<100pounds) it sounded a bit too boxy for my taste. I realised I needed to research some more before buying. So I did, for weeks and weeks and weeks.

Finally, I went back to the little shop out of town that had lowered the action on my Mahalo, had a look at what they had and tried a Kala KA-SS (the solid spruce top cousin of the popular KA-S). Love at first sight. It had a great open and bright tone ("like the voice of a thousand angels" I said to myself), perfect intonation, and the action was as low as you cam get without a single buzz, thanks to the shop owner's excellent set-up. The price tag was very good as well. Bingo!

I kept the Mahalo as a beater for a bit then gave it away to a friend but I still use this Kala as my main pub session uke. It's a cracking little lass. Never getting rid of it!

So in short: 2nd uke = upgrade from cheap laminate to mid-range with solid top, good intonation and proper set-up. The first one (and lots of research) helped me figure out what I liked and didn't like about ukuleles, what I needed and didn't need. 2nd was a perfect fit but it opened the door to UAS, because after that I needed a banjo uke too, and a low-G one and a.... :)
 
Thanks. I went to the Reno, NV uke festival three months after buying my first uke (Pono ATDC) with $800 in my pocket and a plan to blow it all on a second tenor. Perhaps needless to say, my plan changed almost immediately after seeing and playing Mike's latest creation. It took me two hours and many laps around the vendor area to finally decide that I was going to go well beyond the $800 I had brought to Reno. I play it every day.

That is a great story. I can actually feel what you were going through, I have lapped around in a state of undecision many times myself. You are obviously very glad you made that decision to buy it and rigthfully so.

Quick story to relate a similar situation. Member "sam13" who is a friend and neighbor was going through the ordering process for his LfdM. We are lucky to live close to Luis and visited his shop 3 seperate times, being able to play a number of his ukes. Don't ever do something like that unless you are willing to spend a lot of money. I was steadfast in my resolve to NOT buy one of his ukes, I have lots of nice ukes. "Resistance is futile earthling", lust wins out over logic every time.
 
Hmm.. technically, my second uke was my Luna.

But while I was awaiting shipment from HMS, I went to a second hand store. I spied a 1950's Kay ukulele with telephone wire looped around the frictions tuners and hanging from a pegboard. One tuner was a little loose, but hey, how hard would it be to tighten it? And, my sister-in-law's name is Kay.

I went back a second time and it was still there. I bought it for $30 and bought a set of tuners from a local music store. That tuner was frozen and I never could get it off - I did not want to damage it. So, back went the tuners for some accessories.

It still needs that tuner replaced, but I know the time will come where I will be able to know how to replace it myself.
 
Oh. My second was really nice Pono MCD-E that I wish I had back. I've bought and sold many many more expensive and finer instruments since, but that one MCD-E I wish I could buy back as my travel, drunk playing out, plug in and let friends bat around, but still sounds amazing ukes.
I didn't realize it at the time, but now I do -- that uke had near-perfect playability. Not the best sounding, but just worked in the hands, and everything as so clean.

I wish I could remember who I sold it to.
 
My dolphin noir! Still one of my favs and I use it when I travel out of town. It relaxes me during down time between gigs and hey, you can't just sit in the bar continuously! lol
 
My second is my Gretsch concert. I like it, but I feel the sound is a little too warm sometimes. Considering trying different strings, but I kind of want a soprano uke anyhow. Very nearly bought a Luna High Tide concert koa which sounded just lovely, but managed to control myself.
 
My second ukulele was a pono MS, with a pickup. I wanted a nice soprano uku as I had only a tenor. Still love it today
 
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