Starter uke for a 2.5 year old

Agreed. And a setup is really an overrated issue that can be addressed later if necessary.Technique and practice is more important.

I have seen an overwhelming number of positive reviews of Caramels as opposed to "less than glowing". Google is your friend.

As Baz inferred, Caramel isn't necessarily the 'best' but for the price but they can be very good. It is unlikely he will be able to tell when it is out of tune for years.
 
As Baz inferred, Caramel isn't necessarily the 'best' but for the price but they can be very good. It is unlikely he will be able to tell when it is out of tune for years.

He didn't infer they weren't the best. He said he wouldn't buy anything like a Caramel. He seems to be ok with the the 6.99 plastic uke recommended in this thread but when I mentioned Caramel he felt the need to rebut. Trolling much...
 
He didn't infer they weren't the best. He said he wouldn't buy anything like a Caramel. He seems to be ok with the the 6.99 plastic uke recommended in this thread but when I mentioned Caramel he felt the need to rebut. Trolling much...

Several people in the Ukulele Club that I attend have a Caramel as one of their Ukes, the little pocket type are a novelty that they enjoy but I've not seen anyone use a Caramel as their main Uke, just as something cheap and disposable. Of course your experience may well be different.

I really struggle to see how Baz Maz's only comment so far on this thread could be described as 'trolling'. I believe his words were:
"I too would be saying something durable. In fact I did exactly what the op asks - my daughter was about 2 when I first bought her a ukulele - a Makala Dolphin - tough as old boots and it still plays fine despite being treated rough.

Really don't agree with getting something like a Caramel - contrary to comments, not all reviews of them are glowing."

All I see is his opinion and an expression of his observations; the opinions (his) that he expresses on his own website have been a great help to me and many thousands of others.
 
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Several people in the Ukulele Club that I attend have a Caramel as one of their Ukes, the little pocket type are a novelty that they enjoy but I've not seen anyone use a Caramel as their main Uke, just as something cheap and disposable. Of course your experience may well be different.

I really struggle to see how Baz Maz's only comment so far on this thread could be described as 'trolling'. I believe his words were:
"I too would be saying something durable. In fact I did exactly what the op asks - my daughter was about 2 when I first bought her a ukulele - a Makala Dolphin - tough as old boots and it still plays fine despite being treated rough.

Really don't agree with getting something like a Caramel - contrary to comments, not all reviews of them are glowing."

All I see is his opinion, and the opinions (his) that he expresses on his own website have been a great help to me and many thousands of others.

Enjoy your Kool Aid. He called out one recommendation in this thread. One. He has a history with me. You do the research yourself. I am not here to make fans or generate traffic to my website. In others words, I don't really care what your opinion of me is. I am here to learn a bit and help when I can. Most people have been very nice. Those who have been contentious have been so only in defense of their hero, baz. No worries. I won't bring it up again. Unless I am called out again...
 
Haven't read the whole thread but I have recently purchased a uke for a toddler grand daughter. She was very interested in plucking mine and my daughter thought she would enjoy one that more or less would be a toy at this point. She loves strumming it, though i find that most very young children want to pull hard on the strings and may break them. But oh well...our main purpose was for her to enjoy making some kind of music. I was lucky enough to find a used sop flea from a fellow UUer. I'm sure it's way more than my little grand daughter needs but I thought it was likely to survive any possible toddler abuse and will last for when she's older ( or another family member could use it). If I didn't happen upon this flea I probably would have went with a dolphin or shark.
 
Enjoy your Kool Aid. He called out one recommendation in this thread. One. He has a history with me. You do the research yourself. I am not here to make fans or generate traffic to my website. In others words, I don't really care what your opinion of me is. I am here to learn a bit and help when I can. Most people have been very nice. Those who have been contentious have been so only in defense of their hero, baz. No worries. I won't bring it up again. Unless I am called out again...
I think the 'history' you refer to is your own. You took to one of my threads and did nothing but plug Caramel on it for about 10 pages, then told me (on my thread) to walk away.. I didnt troll here, i merely expressed an opinion on the disussion. And the Dolphin isnt a '6.99 plastic uke' either. I am allowed to have a ukulele that I recommend for kids - which, after all, was the point of the question.
 
And the Dolphin isnt a '6.99 plastic uke' either.

Try to follow along. You let your emotions get in the way of your posts. I never said the Dolphin was 6.99. Breath before you post.

Plugging is one thing. Defending is another. When the tops on the Caramels start caving in, we can have a chat. People here can do their own research. I will not provide a link to your thread.

I stand by all my remarks.
 
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Ooh that Caramel review REALLY got to you didn't it? It's just an opinion...You don't HAVE to agree.
 
Enjoy your Kool Aid. He called out one recommendation in this thread. One. He has a history with me. You do the research yourself. I am not here to make fans or generate traffic to my website. In others words, I don't really care what your opinion of me is. I am here to learn a bit and help when I can. Most people have been very nice. Those who have been contentious have been so only in defense of their hero, baz. No worries. I won't bring it up again. Unless I am called out again...

A while back I found the thread in question. My recollection is of puzzlement about someone seemingly getting upset when there was no need to (unless you work in or for a marketing department; no accusation of such intended) and of being impressed both with you putting up a video of yourself playing and the playing content to support your points. I recall too a point, withinin that thread, that you made about being here to have fun and to learn. IMHO there were definitely some good points in you posts but also some that seemed, to me, to be more argumentative than constructive and so (for me anyway) detracted from what you were trying to say. Incidentally, I don't take everything that Baz Maz writes as 'gospel' and critically read what he writes; I look for logic in Baz's comments and for supporting information too. There's no hero worship here, just recognition of well informed opinion.

Of course, as is the nature of theses things, text when read may - and too often does - take on an entirely different meaning(s) to the one(s) intended by the author. I also find that 'YMMV' is a very true statement that needs to be allowed for rather than taking subjective and variable things as having fixed and defined values. I'm off to 'chill' and relax now - I'm really not sure what Kool Aid is but wonder whether it should be pints all 'round and who might like to join me at the bar.
 
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A while back I found the thread in question. My recollection is of puzzlement about someone seemingly getting upset when there was no need to (unless you work in or for a marketing department; no accusation of such intended) and of being impressed both with you putting up a video of yourself playing and the playing content to support your points. I recall too a point, withinin that thread, that you made about being here to have fun and to learn. IMHO there were definitely some good points in you posts but also some that seemed, to me, to be more argumentative than constructive and so (for me anyway) detracted from what you were trying to say. Incidentally, I don't take everything that Baz Maz writes as 'gospel' and critically read what he writes; I look for logic in Baz's comments and for supporting information too. There's no hero worship here, just recognition of well informed opinion.

Of course, as is the nature of theses things, text when read may - and too often does - take on an entirely different meaning(s) to the one(s) intended by the author. I also find that 'YMMV' is a very true statement that needs to be allowed for rather than taking subjective and variable things as having fixed and defined values. I'm off to 'chill' and relax now - I'm really not sure what Kool Aid is but wonder whether it should be pints all 'round and who might like to join me at the bar.

With all due respect, Graham. I think I remained remarkably civil in that debate. Don't rely on your recollection. Please go back and read the thread. The man has claimed the tops of these Caramels are caving in. He has offered nothing to support this opinion but you still call his opinion "informed". He had to check with "luthiers" to back up his opinion on fretboard fallaway. They all agreed with him but I didn't see any come forward to back him up. If he was informed he would be confident in the facts.

I am sorry if my confidence in this matter came across as argumentative. It was not my intent.

Drinking Kool Aid is just another way to say you are blindly following your leader. Sorry if that came across as snarky.

Sorry the thread got hijacked. That was also not my intent. My only intent was to recommend the Caramel for a beginner. I don't work for Caramel.
 
No, no I didn't. I said the top on the one I had (the one in MY possession and ONLY that one) Might be showing signs of dipping. I even said in the summary that it was only a 'possible' error. I didn't say ALL Caramels were suffering from this, that yours was, that any other one was. Just the one I had MIGHT be.

And this is how that last thread went. You focussed ONLY on that over and over and over again. Seemingly missing the fact that I also didn't like the tuners, the sharp frets, the rough finishing, the lack of sustain, the heavy body either.

In case you are mistaken - or for anyone interested in that - the review is here http://www.gotaukulele.com/2017/04/caramel-cc102a-concert-ukulele-review.html

You see that's the thing with reviews - they are combination of MANY things. Actually the dipping top didn't bother me as much as any of the other things...

Yet because of that mention of a dipping top you have used it to try to incresingly take pot shots toward me - now suggesting some sort of weird messiah thing going on.

I don't give a damn about the Caramel to be honest. It's just another ukulele. I approach all reviews the same way and will continue to do so. You can't please all the people all the time!
 
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Back to the OP - I still think that small tough coated ukuleles (ie thinks like Makala Dolphins) are a superb choice for young kids. If you absolutely do want to go with a more traditional wooden ukulele there are tons of new brands coming to the market all the time. Many are questionable. This brand has been mentioned on this thread a few times and was actually pretty good. Not without its issues, but still quite liked them. They do smaller and cheaper ones than this too.

http://www.gotaukulele.com/2017/04/donner-duc-3-concert-ukulele-review.html
 
Just WOW!

This thread has lots of negativity, and malice it seems.

WHY??????????????????
 
Anywaaaaaays,

back to the original question. When my itty-bitty nephew seemed to take an interest in my harmonica, I didn't buy him a Hohner meister-klasse such as I was playing. He got a little plastic harmonica and he wails around on that. If he pesists and gets to the point where he's saying why can't I play this or how do I play that...then, I'll get him a real instrument. It won't be an elite instrument but a nice entry-level one.

I would approach this the same way with ukulele. A 2 year old gets something crappy like a plastic waterman or a Kala. At that point, it isn't about the music and whether or not the 2 year old is playing 4-part partitas; It is about stoking the interest in music.
 
A while back I found the thread in question. My recollection is of puzzlement about someone seemingly getting upset when there was no need to (unless you work in or for a marketing department; no accusation of such intended) and of being impressed both with you putting up a video of yourself playing and the playing content to support your points. I recall too a point, withinin that thread, that you made about being here to have fun and to learn. IMHO there were definitely some good points in you posts but also some that seemed, to me, to be more argumentative than constructive and so (for me anyway) detracted from what you were trying to say. Incidentally, I don't take everything that Baz Maz writes as 'gospel' and critically read what he writes; I look for logic in Baz's comments and for supporting information too. There's no hero worship here, just recognition of well informed opinion.

Of course, as is the nature of theses things, text when read may - and too often does - take on an entirely different meaning(s) to the one(s) intended by the author. I also find that 'YMMV' is a very true statement that needs to be allowed for rather than taking subjective and variable things as having fixed and defined values. I'm off to 'chill' and relax now - I'm really not sure what Kool Aid is but wonder whether it should be pints all 'round and who might like to join me at the bar.

It's a sugary kid's drink. Powder that you mix in water or you can now buy it already mixed.
http://www.koolaid.com/
It's really gross, IMO.
 
I have a Makala Shark as one of my ukes. (Same thing as a Dolphin, just has a shark instead).

I speak as a 2nd grade teacher. It is a great instrument for fun. It's brightly colored. Kids love colors. It has an animal on it (shark thingy). It looks good and sounds fine. I haven't been rough with mine, but I think it will take a good bit of abuse.

My opinion is that the kid is gonna be attracted to a bright, shiny object quicker than a wooden one (that adults might prefer).

Just my 2 cents worth.
 
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