Decisions Decisions

PTOEguy

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I'd like some thoughts:

I'm interested in getting another ukulele to supplement the ones I already have. The Clara is my main player - but I'd like to be able to mix it up a bit with different tunings. My Flea doesn't help much because I can't do wound strings.

I have found that I like loud, even brash instruments (latest purchases were one of the louder ukes out there - the Clara - and a 5-string resonator banjo).

I can't justify another uke of the caliber of the Clara, so I'm looking at stuff in the $400 range.

The frontrunner right now is the Koaloha Opio - although I'm having trouble deciding what size.

Or maybe its time to check out something in a Mainland, perhaps with a cedar top.

What else should I look at in that price range?
 
In that price range, it's hard to find something "loud, even brash" smaller than a concert size. I have a KPK concert that you can buy new for under $200 that sounds like it cost 2-3 times as much....loud, woody bark. Koalohas are known for their loud, ringing concerts. A number of cedar topped concerts out there as well. Of course I am a concert fan, so that's my bias. I'm sure you'll get several good recommendations. Note that it may take a string change or two to get the sound you want out of whatever you decide to buy. I'm still working on getting a Clara.
 
I have the KoAloha Opio soprano and I love it. If I had the money, I'd buy the Opio tenor. Will be loud and have a have full sounding tone.
 
Opio is anything but brash. It is reasonably loud but pretty refined. In the $400 range the only concert I can think of is the Brueko. I have a Brueko concert and I don't play it much because it is brasher than I like and it only has 12 frets to the neck. But it fits your description. PM me if you want to discuss it more.
 
For something which makes people's eyes open wider and their head draw back, there is nothing in my "Heard" of ukuleles which gets that reaction but the thin bodied concert. Kala makes one, and so does Eddy Finn. I know the Eddy Finn sells for $125.00. I don't know the Kala price. I have a chrome and a brass reso. They have a different kind of sound, but for a bold sounding ukulele at a decent price, you could have two, so one is reentrant and the other linear for less than a reso. Thanks to Dirk at South Coast, I have come to really like the sound of a low G and a low A tuned f C F a or g C E a. I may just have to pull another one out of my inventory of new ukuleles and do one in Cuatro tuning with Aquila red strings.
 
If loud and brash is the desire, consider the Deering Banjo Uke. You can't get much louder and brash is what best describes nanjo ukes. It's got the same pot as other GoodTime line instruments, just with a concert-scale neck and nylon strings.
 
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