How many ukes do you own and how often does each get played?

I have 7 Ukes - Tenor (Bari tuned), Concert bodied Tenor, Concert x 2, Soprano x 2, Sopranino.

I play all of them regularly - at least 2-3 times a week, I love that they all have their own "personality", and some sound better than others when I play certain songs... well sound better to me anyway

I currently have three and all three are played daily.

I have 14. The only ones I play nowadays are my 2 tenor 8 stringers & my bari 8 stringer.

I probably have 40+. I usually rotate every couple of months. About when I think of thinning the herd I play the ones I consider and then I decide to hold on to them for awhile longer. I have traded some here and there on UU, but I can't seem to make myself sale any. I guess I have a hoarder mentality and it is hard for me not to find certain qualities I like in most of them.

I have six or seven counting plastics; really four solid wood. I only play two of them, truth be told; my longneck tenor at home, and my standard-scale tenor on the road.

So why not sell the other two? Sentimental reasons. I learned to play on them, met my girlfriend while playing them... I don't feel guilty about the lack of playing those ukes get; I like playing the other ukes more, it would be silly of me to deny it. (And if the unplayed ukes are sad about anything, I suspect it's that they are no longer trees... )

Things are going to get a little more complicated next month, when my custom Little River longneck tenor will be ready.... but having to decide which uke to play is about the best problem anyone can have.

I never set out to be a collector but I've been playing for 30+ years and stuff accumulates. I have five ukes in constant rotation. Last week I played:

• Firefly banjo soprano at two uke club meetings. Strums on the Firefly (Aquila nylguts) are loud and percussive, good for keeping a group together when you're leading a song.
  
  
• Fluke concert around the house and especially on the back porch. Not too loud and I'm not worried if the cats knock it over. I'm loving the Oasis warm strings, although they are too mellow for leading a group.
  
  
• Blackbird Clara playing out with a small group. Aquila reds give it some punch and the dynamic range is glorious. When I wish I could sound like a pro, this is the uke.
  
  
• Cheap Kala bari on the back porch when I was in the mood to play blues. I don't play it every week, but several times a month for sure and sometimes at uke club for variety.
  
  
• Flea soprano in my home office where it gets played every day while I'm learning songs, making arrangements, or just waiting for software to boot.

I could move the Fluke upstairs and sell the Flea, but technically the Flea belongs to my son. When he headed to college he "temporarily" traded it for my 1960's Werco banjo uke. The Werco is a big hit in the Music Therapy department for leading singalongs at senior centers. So I guess that makes 6 ukes in frequent use between the two of us.

Arguably I wouldn't need the Fluke if I'd bought the Clara first, but that's not how it went down. With careful string selection, they sound quite different and it's easy to justify keeping both (which is a moot point because after 17 years of faithful service my Fluke ain't going nowhere and they'll pry it from my cold, dead hands).

My orphan is a Recording King metal-body resonator. It's fun and shiny but I need to tweak the intonation and figure out how to put a strap on it. And learn how to play slide. It doesn't get played much but I have good intentions.

I have 7 (oops, 8) and they are mostly in different tunings. The only truly redundant one at the moment is the Ohana laminate tenor which still has the experimental cuatro strings. I haven't played it in quite awhile especially since I got the Covered Bridge dedicated to that tuning. I also have two reentrant Bb tenors but one is solid body so not really a duplicate. But there's two chances to do something different without getting more ukes. I have no plans right now to get any more (but I've been buying NAFs like crazy.)

As far as playing time, mine is very limited due to RSI issues, so the ukes get pulled out based on the project I'm working on.

I have 3 ukes. One tenor in low G, one tenor in high G, and a baritone. In order of play: Low G 80%, High G 15%, and baritone 5%.

Gosh, I've got a mess of 'em. Looking around this room only, I count....15. There are many in the front room that don't get played much at all but, all are loved. A few are waiting to be tinkered with down in my 'shop'. They are like pieces of art to me

Mine are in my signature, plus a couple of wall hangers.

I play the Opio, OXK, and Brueko all the time, and the Outdoor Ukulele is always in my car. I love the Mainland tenor sound, but play it for specific songs. So, if I were to keep 5, those would be the ones.

Some I am keeping for grandkids when they get bigger & some are going to be rehomed - likely to the ukulele choir I joined this year.

hawaii 50 said:

Hi Damon...take the uke with the bridge problems to Kilin Reese in Kailua..he busy but can do the work for you....go visit his shop and you can see some pretty old Martins and Kamakas there....he does work for many of the musicians in Hawaii....see you at the festival?

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Mahalo Len!
Yeah, I took it to an Ukulele Guild of Hawaii meeting and they said it was pretty much Aloha No...
I think maybe just squirt some more glue in there and clamp it for a week
It seems stable but I don't want it to break.
The builder's phone # is in the sound hole but no answer.

See you in a couple weeks, if not before!

Let's see - I go back and forth between focusing on guitar to ukulele, so changes a lot.

KoAloha Tenor - just got so gets daily play right now
Cocobolo Tenor - couple times a week
Kala Cedar Tenor, Mainland Cedar Tenor - played at length a couple times a month, gets tinkered with every few days when doing humidity checks.
Kala long neck mahogany soprano - sits out in house, gets played daily. Also travel uke so gets all my time when out and about
Cordoba 15CM - mostly hangs on the wall - neck snapped off and re-attached but doesn't play awesome past the fifth fret
DIY kit - unplayable (neck is a roller coaster) wall hanger.
Teton Solid body tenor - serious neglect now that I've moved out of an apt to a house
Rubin sopranino - once a month?
Caramel concert - every work day (stays in office)
Cordoba Mini - couple times a month

I have 5 now but 2 are starter ukes that I don't play much anymore. My concert is played about once a week or two, I have it strung in low G. My travel uke is at work and gets played about every other day (not on weekends). My ohana tenor gets played the most but I am still undecided about which size I like best. It was tenor for about a year, now I am liking soprano quite a bit. (travel uke). My starter ukes sit in their cases because the intonation issues bug me now. My plan is to visit the islands in the next couple of years and get a K but I want to be sure about the size first so I think I am done buying until then.

My wife and I share twenty something uke-ish instruments, including things like a U-Bass, Guitaleles, and Tenor Guitars. So really it's just about 10 each...

We play almost every night, and we try to rotate through our collection, so most of them get some play time. We play our tenors and baritones more often than our concerts and sopranos. And we tend to neglect our earliest purchases; not because they wouldn't sound nice, but because we have to justify the more expensive ones we bought since. Plus, there is no denying that a nice instrument is more motivating to be played.

I don't think that playing and collecting have to be exclusive to each other. We just enjoy playing as well as owning and comparing different models, sizes, woods, etc. It's like two totally different aspects of the same dear hobby.

cua94 said:

...My concert....strung in low G. My travel uke ....... My ohana tenor ....... It was tenor for about a year, now I am liking soprano quite a bit........ My plan is to visit the islands in the next couple of years and get a K but I want to be sure about the size first so I think I am done buying until then.

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I think you should maybe try a couple of 'long necks' before deciding, concert scale soprano body, tenor scale concert body, or even tenor scale soprano body - it's where I've ended up after having tried many ukes.

I currently have 14 with 6 on the way. 5 are on wall hangers of which my first (concert sized Lanikai) is there and my daily player. The others are in cases and get played depending on mood. I do play each one at least once a week as I need to check the temp and humidity in the case (and if the humidifier needs water) but in that case I only play one song (usually the same song) on each one and try to rank them from best to worst. That ranking changes every time as I have lots of different builders, using with different woods and designs so they all sound different (some very different) even though the majority of them are tenor sized. (I only have three concerts). At some point I will start to sell off a few so I can get to a more manageable number of 10-ish.

I asked the original question so I suppose I should answer it as well. I currently have 2 concert ukes and both get played regularly. If they aren't played weekly, then each are played several times a month. I used to have a tenor making my total 3 which usually left one of my concerts neglected. Weeks might pass between sessions but wasn't totally unplayed. Once the newness and novelty of the tenor started wearing off, I found myself always reaching for my concerts and eventually came to the conclusion that I was a concert guy. My tenor went unplayed for months and I had little desire to play it so I ended up selling it because I knew I'd never give it the attention it deserved since I'd rarely play it if at all.

One of the reasons I asked the question is because my very happy and manageable 2 ukes will soon become 3 ukes again. I scratched that new uke itch and bought another concert which is currently on its way to me. I think that 3 ukes is the tipping point for me. I started neglecting one of my ukes when I had only 3. I can't imagine what I'd do if I had 4 or more. For me, I think that's just too much choice and it wouldn't be worth it to me to own neglected instruments. I think my current plan is to string one with a low G to learn/practice fingerpicking and the other two will be re-entrant tuned and I will switch back and forth between the two. My plan B if I find I'm slipping back into the pattern of a neglected uke is to hopefully recruit someone into the world of ukulele and pass along my starter uke.

Hi there!

I believe 9 ukuleles is what I have (used to be 10 but I stepped on one).

1 random soprano
1 random cigar box ukulele (My Father Flor de las Antillas for those who know cigars)
1 random tenor
1 Kala tenor
1 KoAloha soprano
1 KoAloha concert
1 Kamaka soprano
1 Kamaka tenor
1 Kamaka baritone (100th anniversary)

I only play the tenors and the baritone.
Woohoo

Hello

Mele Koa Pineapple soprano, my best ukulele

Outdoor soprano, the kick around ukulele

Spruce House soprano S-0 number 0024 made in 2006, most played love this one bought used on ebay

Fluke Flea soprano, just because i had to have one

Ohana pineapple soprano, keep at work

am a soprano guy

two concert ukuleles one cheap, one mid priced are gathering dust

yours truly
Mac near Detroit

I have three...I play the two Moore Bettahs pretty equally (about 45% of the time each), and the KoAloha slimline the other 10 percent. I don't play as much as I used to, but have been playing daily as I am practicing two songs now..."How Far I'll Go" to play at my niece's Girl Scout luau (also teaching the kids a hula there), and the theme to "Game of Thrones" to get excited for the new season starting in two weeks.