Electronic Ukelele

Finist

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Hello everyone!

I`m thinking to learn ukulele (haven`t played any instrument before) for my hiking trips. Got some basic questions really that hopefully people could help me with.

I want to buy electric Ukelele to learn (to learn it silent, with headphones). The other thing is that I want to play baritone ukelele (since the sound resembles to that of the guitar) and I was wondering, does electric ukelele really have types like soprano / concert / tenor / baritone / bass or not?
 
Most solidbody electric ukuleles come in tenor size, some in baritone, and very little in concert or soprano size. Risa makes some models like the "Stick", the "Beansprout" or the "LP" in the smaller sizes as well as in tenor size. Pono makes their TE and BE models in tenor and baritone size. Eleuke made some tenor and concert models. Then there is a model called "Peanut" that only exists in the soprano size.

Most important might be if you want steel strings or nylon strings. If you want to play screaming high distortion rock riffs, you'll need steel strings and magnetic pickups. The nylon string models have piezo pickups that work much differently.

Risa LP and ST, Vorson or Clearwater have steel strings, but no baritone version. Pono has a baritone model, but only with nylon strings. There is an American custom builder called "Monkey Wrench" who makes steel string baritone ukuleles.

The only model that (used to) have a headphone jack that I know of is the "Peanut". With all other models' you'd have to use a headphone preamp. However, some of these model like the Pono have a resonance chamber built within and are relatively loud even without amplification.

Personally, I wouldn't limit myself to the baritone size, as you have much more options in the tenor size. And the sound can still resemble that of a lead guitar, capoed at the fifth fret.

Hope that helps, let us know what you end up with.
 
Hiking & near silent playing would suggest a RISA solid/stick uke (& then get a mini amp for when you want it noisy).
(Unfortunately they don't make them with a baritone scale.)
 
What type of music do you love and want to learn to play. A solid body uke is well suited to heavy metal, punk, classic rock, screaming riffs etc. Strumming and singing or fingerpicking classical type pieces are done well on an acoustic style uke. Solid body electric baritone ukes are large and heavy so they would not be well suited to take hiking. Ukes in general can be quiet if played softly so an acoustic ukulele could fill that need and be light enough to take hiking.
 
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As an owner of a Risa Te, I have to warn you that it is heavy. It is a solid body. I wouldn't want to carry it on a hike of any distance.

As for a portable amp, check out the Altoids Amp. I picked up mine off Reverb. The sellers are calling them Ampoids. Keep in mind this is a $30 combo amp in an Altoids tin. But it works really well.
 
If interested in steel strings, you might also want to check out the Konablaster...

new ones here: https://www.elderly.com/catalogsearch/result/?cat=0&q=konablaster

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and a used one lingering in the Marketplace since Sept 2017 here: http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...r-Konablaster-Baritone-Electric-solidbody-Uke

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Also the Sojing silent electric nylon stringer, which you can read about my experience with, as previously posted here: http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...ing-as-a-silent-ukulele&p=1735429#post1735429

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