Best ukulele for beginners...Wirecutter

I hadn't heard of Donner 'ukuleles before. The company is evidently known for pedals. I don't know anything about their pedals either.

The Donner brand instruments look attractive. I like the way the fretboard curves around the sound hole, and included strap pins is a nice feature. Some won't like the slotted bridge, but I wouldn't mind giving it a try.

Still, the proof's in the playing, right? I wonder if anyone here has tried one.
 
Never heard of Donner, but that Ohana was the uke that got me back into playing as an adult after not picking a uke up in nearly 40 years. I quickly moved on to higher-end ukes and passed it on to a friend in need, and years later she's still playing it.

I actually know one of the testers and he's legit - plays anything and everything with strings and I would tend to trust his judgment.

That being said, I tend to disagree with only presenting under-$100 options as "beginner" models. It would be good to see a mix of price ranges in one of these round-ups sometime.
 
I dislike that they link to Amazon for the purchase. If buying and you don't know any better, I'd rather get your first from someone like MIM's Ukes or HMS or Mike/Uke Republic who will inspect it/ do a set up.
 
Same uke for $33 with a bag and free shipping. Only problem is that it's a Kaka and Amazon for returns is an advantage, otherwise one has no real advantage over the other. I have two Kaka's I bought as loaners for my uke group and can't fault either for the money. Neither had any setup issues and sound and play well for a sub-$100 uke. Also that Cordoba 15-CM is generally considered to be the best sounding all laminate concert under $100 by many. I'd have to question that "test group". (can get under $100 with patience)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/28250595508...49&var=581662262372&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
 
Never heard of Donner, but that Ohana was the uke that got me back into playing as an adult after not picking a uke up in nearly 40 years. I quickly moved on to higher-end ukes and passed it on to a friend in need, and years later she's still playing it.

I actually know one of the testers and he's legit - plays anything and everything with strings and I would tend to trust his judgment.

That being said, I tend to disagree with only presenting under-$100 options as "beginner" models. It would be good to see a mix of price ranges in one of these round-ups sometime.
I'm a born skeptic, so I ask myself what the motivation for writing that article was in the first place? They gotta write something I guess. I also wonder how many of those ukuleles that they tested were the same ukulele, from the same ukulele factory in China, just a different tag stuck inside it and a different decal on the headstock? Maybe some cosmetics to define it as one brand of ukulele or another? I also wonder what actually defines a "beginner" ukulele? What even makes a ukulele a beginner's ukulele? I'm thinking price. I think that for most people just getting into something and not being particularly knowledgeable, one does not want to sink a lot of money into it until they know a little more and know if it is really what they want to do. That goes for everything, not just ukes. But I think a beginner ukulele by definition is something that doesn't cost a lot but is still playable. Okay, that is a Mr. Skeptic view of it. Take it for what it is worth, probably not much more than the article itself.
 
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I dislike that they link to Amazon for the purchase. If buying and you don't know any better, I'd rather get your first from someone like MIM's Ukes or HMS or Mike/Uke Republic who will inspect it/ do a set up.

I'm a born skeptic, so I ask myself what the motivation for writing that article was in the first place?

Truth is, the actual motivation for the putting the article out on the interwebs is for the website owner to generate clicks to their Amazon Affiliate links, pure and simple. In other words, money.

And I'm a skeptic too (and not a believer in "beginner" instruments or "beginner" cars or "beginner" camera equipment and such), although I still sense the testers had some legitimacy and probably little or nothing to gain from giving their opinions.
 
Hello, this my first post and I purchased the Donner DUC1 from amazon. Pretty much what RLLink stated were my reasons. I wanted to try a ukulele but did not want to spend a lot on something that might be a short term adventure. I have had the Donner for about a month and have enjoyed playing it. I am still learning to strum and learn the chords but it has been a good investment at this point.
 
Truth is, the actual motivation for the putting the article out on the interwebs is for the website owner to generate clicks to their Amazon Affiliate links, pure and simple. In other words, money.

And I'm a skeptic too (and not a believer in "beginner" instruments or "beginner" cars or "beginner" camera equipment and such), although I still sense the testers had some legitimacy and probably little or nothing to gain from giving their opinions.
I agree that the testers are legitimate. You said that you knew one of them and that is good enough for me. But I got to thinking about it, and if the testers were not beginners, doesn't that sort of form a bias to start out? I can only base my opinion on my experience. So considering that I was a beginner for a short period once in my life, my personal experience in beginner ukuleles is pretty much limited to the ukulele I began with.
 
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I agree that the testers are legitimate. You said that you knew one of them and that is good enough for me. But I got to thinking about it, and if the testers were not beginners, doesn't that sort of form a bias to start out? I can only base my opinion on my experience. So considering that I was a beginner for a short period once in my life, my personal experience in beginner ukuleles is pretty much limited to the ukulele I began with.

Excellent point about the testers not being beginners. Also, often the lower cost instruments are not properly setup and lack the playability that a higher-end uke tends to have off the shelf. An experienced player can work with this, but a beginner might find it difficult to play and therefore might not sound so good.
 
If the testers were beginners, would you trust anything they wrote?

A beginner looks to the voice of experience because he/she doesn't know what to consider.

A beginner doesn't want to spend much money on a hobby they aren't sure they'll stick with.
 
The site looks legitimate enough - not one of the fake bullshit affiliate cash-in sites that pop up every now and then. Reading the article it sounds like they put together a decent panel of testers - including both experienced players and novices - and took everyone's opinion into account. And they seem to have made some good budget picks, such as the Cordoba and the Ohana. The Donner feels like a bit of a left-field choice - but it's left me more curious than skeptical.
 
The site looks legitimate enough.

Unlike a lot of unreliable "fake" affiliate link review sites, The Wirecutter has been around for a long time, and in my experience they generally make really solid recommendations. Just recently they were purchased by the New York Times.
 
There are two types of beginners. The first group half heartedly tries something and maybe will continue with it and maybe not. The second type commits themselves to learning something new and sticks with it.

Maybe the ukuleles shown are fine for the first group but for the second they'll be wasting money for a ukulele that sooner or later will be disposed of. They would have been much better off getting a higher quality ukulele which will serve them well for the long term. Such a ukulele will also be easier to learn on since it's been properly setup.

-- Gary
 
Maybe the ukuleles shown are fine for the first group but for the second they'll be wasting money for a ukulele that sooner or later will be disposed of. They would have been much better off getting a higher quality ukulele which will serve them well for the long term. Such a ukulele will also be easier to learn on since it's been properly setup.

-- Gary

As a relative beginner, I can attest to that. When I caught the bug, I just saved $20 from every paycheck for a few months and then bought a beginner's ukulele, a $200 Oscar Schmidt. It served me well...and it still does as my dedicated amplifier-uke. However my mind was blown by the difference in quality when I upgraded to a $700 solid wood Cordoba. Everything was easier to play, the action was lower, the fret wires were filed down, the fluoro-carbon strings felt much better than nylon. In a way getting that cheaper uke has been a very integral part of my career. If I had started off with a koolau I wouldn't have the perspective and the memories.
 
In hind sight I would have probably been $65 ahead if I had just bought my Mainland in the first place. But when I first got the itch to learn to play a ukulele, if I had known that a real beginner's ukulele costs $200 plus, I wouldn't even be playing a ukulele right now.
 
In hind sight I would have probably been $65 ahead if I had just bought my Mainland in the first place. But when I first got the itch to learn to play a ukulele, if I had known that a real beginner's ukulele costs $200 plus, I wouldn't even be playing a ukulele right now.

what makes this discussion interesting is the fluidity of our criteria for nomenclature such as "beginner." I bought my first instrument while still in high school. I paid $23.89 a month for a flute and I paid on that loan for years. In that context, a $200 ukulele doesn't seem outlandish to me, especially when I consider that I still play it. I could have purchased something cheaper but it would have been more of a toy and it wouldn't have given me a good, representative feel for what I can expect from a ukulele. My Oscar Schmidt is a good, but not great, ukulele and that is what I had in mind for a beginner's ukulele--at least for this beginner.
 
I was a little surprised that Caramel wasn't included. Some of the ukes mentioned, you couldn't give me. I won't pick on them. No pun intended.
 
what makes this discussion interesting is the fluidity of our criteria for nomenclature such as "beginner." I bought my first instrument while still in high school. I paid $23.89 a month for a flute and I paid on that loan for years. In that context, a $200 ukulele doesn't seem outlandish to me, especially when I consider that I still play it. I could have purchased something cheaper but it would have been more of a toy and it wouldn't have given me a good, representative feel for what I can expect from a ukulele. My Oscar Schmidt is a good, but not great, ukulele and that is what I had in mind for a beginner's ukulele--at least for this beginner.
Maybe it depends on where you are coming from. You were probably a pretty accomplished musician when you came to the ukulele. You also probably had a track record of success with another instrument and knew that you could make music. I had no idea what I was getting into. I think that someone with your kind of experience might be more inclined to spring for a more expensive instrument right off the bat. If I were to become interested in another instrument at this juncture, my criteria for a beginning instrument would be much different than it was when I bought my first ukulele.
 
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