Best inexpensive uke that plays in tune?

Dolphins ... inconsistent

You could get a dolphin. They are very nice. I got two at Christmas, a white and a black. One sounded like a 2 or 300 dollar uke, the other like a 40 dollar uke (its a 34 dollar ukulele by the way). So, it seems that some are awesome... others not so... so if you have a store that sells them you can go and take your pick.
 
You could get a dolphin. They are very nice. I got two at Christmas, a white and a black. One sounded like a 2 or 300 dollar uke, the other like a 40 dollar uke (its a 34 dollar ukulele by the way). So, it seems that some are awesome... others not so... so if you have a store that sells them you can go and take your pick.

Again, this is set-up. If you buy from the Mikes (UkeRepublic or MGM) they will be set up right, and in my experience your instrument will be great. Uke Republic I believe have a few in stock still, in certain colors. MGM has them, but my only wish is I could still get a $50 delivered Dolphin from MGM without the case, tuner, etc. I get why he's bundling this--the set-up takes time and the margin is probably low--but I'm just not wanting to go $89 for a Dolphin with the extras I won't use.

But these two guys will provide you with a dolphin in tune, providing you know how to tune it and you let the strings settle. :)
 
its not setup. Its the actual sound hole... the tone of the uke
 
both had intonation and action but the tone was different eom

two ukes ... different box
 
For up to $100, I recommend the Kala KA series. My first uke was a Kala KA-Tenor and I think I got it for $91. For a beater that's under $50, the Makala Dolphins are hard to beat. My experience on them is mixed but they have a 1 year warranty so you can't really go wrong. I got mine for $28.

My first Dolphin was perfect and sounded really nicely and the frets were dressed from factory. The second one buzzed severely on the first fret and sounded really badly when strummed. I noticed that the frets on this one were not dressed. After I leveled the frets out and lowered the action, it now sounds very good and buzz free. I even kept the original strings - it sounds good enough for me.
 
well I had gotten two ... both are composite, but the white one is a dream. The black one just didn't have the resonance the white one had, so I sent it back and should get a replacement shipped soon. Thing is I think maybe the white one was an anomaly. I will find out soon. The white one was soooo sonorous. So resonant. So loud. I thought maybe it had to do with the bridge. The black one's dolphin looked like it had glue dripping on it and it also had paint falling off and a slight buzz on the A string... which was not such a big deal but I got the impression it was defective from the tone difference... sonorousness.. I thought maybe the bridge was not transferring the tone enough or something. I don't think the setup can deal with the acoustic properties of the box and all ukuleles sound a little different, so I am just saying, if you want to be real picky, then it makes sense to hear the instrument in person... even if its a composite box and theres little to change between the units. I guess the wood on the top of it can make a difference?..... My black one was perfectly good enough and I wouldn't have known the difference had I not had the white one to compare it to. I felt bad sending the black one back but now am hoping I can get one as nice as my 12 year old son's!.

Oh and then I found out a local dealer sells them at the same price I was getting them online..!!!!
 
Is the Kala KA series really that inexpensive? I notice, for example, that the Kala website gives a price of $315 for their KA-KS. Allowing for dealers' discount margins, that still seems quite a lot more than "up to $100".

I'm a newbie so I've probably missed something basic here - hoping for enlightenment.
 
A dolphin that sounds like a $300 uke? Did that include airfare to pick it up?
 
Is the Kala KA series really that inexpensive? I notice, for example, that the Kala website gives a price of $315 for their KA-KS. Allowing for dealers' discount margins, that still seems quite a lot more than "up to $100".

I'm a newbie so I've probably missed something basic here - hoping for enlightenment.

Sorry, I meant the Mahogany Series. The KA-T (tenor) had a list of $150 but my local music store only sells it for $91. The soprano and concert Mahogany would normally be cheaper.
 
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A dolphin that sounds like a $300 uke? Did that include airfare to pick it up?

hey it might be the bourbon talking but it sounded better than the up to 200 dollar ukes I tried at guitar center.... and yeah I had to pay groundfreight ... I have only tried two dolphins so far so don't know what is the standard for these or if this one was just a freak.
 
this is a funny thread because the ukulele playing in tune has more to do imo (maybe I am wrong) with the strings than the ukulele. I so far have had a kohala (cheap lanakai) and a pair of dolphins and a makala tenor and a cordoba. The cordoba came with aquilas. The other instruments all came with those brown nylon strings. The Cordoba is the only of the instruments that REALLY stays in tune all the time. It is also, by looking at it, the one with the most attention to detail and looks the nicest of the bunch.

We're talking about playing in tune - up and down the neck - not staying in tune - as in holding a tune. It's called intonation and it's affected by several things. One, of course, is the frets being in the right position but that isn't an issue on modern instruments (though if you want to get really technical you could discuss even vs. "just" tuning for a decade or two).

On most factory-built inexpensive instruments, the slot in the nut is too high. This results in very poor intonation at the first couple of frets. I.e. if the string is in tune at "C" for example, when you finger at the first fret you don't get a C#, you get something higher than a C#. When you press down on the string behind the first fret, it is at a very steep angle from the nut and pulls the string sharp, often by as much as twenty cents or more on inexpensive ukes. Filing the slolts in the nut lower alleviates this problem and restores the intonation at the first fret. However, if your frets are not perfectly level or the neck relief is not right, you can't take the slots low enough to eliminate the strings pulling sharp without introducing a buzz.

Intonation at the twelfth fret is primarily a factor of string tension (unless the bridge is extremely high). Theoretically, if all of the strings were under exactly the same tension the intonation would be identical across all the strings at the twelfth fret. In practice the tension is never exactly equal across all the strings, and in most string sets the manufacturer intentionally chooses gages that will make the lighter strings under more tension for balanced volume. Often on guitars you will see angled bridges to help with intonation - and also often compensated saddles. Because the uke has two small, high tension strings on the outside and two lower tension strings on the inside you can't really achieve much by angling the bridge. Therefore, most ukes will either be a little flat or a little sharp on two of the strings, at the twelfth fret (actually all the way up, but we usually measure at the twelfth fret). The bottom line is that unless the bridge is very high there isn't a lot you can do about twelfth fret intonation except try different strings.

Fortunately, I've found that intonation at the twelfth fret isn't off by more than ten cents absolute, and about five cents string to string, on most of my ukes. That's in the same general ball park with good guitars.

So, for most inexpensive ukes the biggest issue is getting that nut filed down - though if you can't get it low enough you also have to level the frets. It's tedious work and that's why I'm perfectly happy to let somebody like MGM or Mim or whoever do it for me!

Oh, and another thing affecting intonation is fret height and fingering technique. I've got guitars with jumbo frets that I can pull twenty cents sharp just by pinching the string hard right behind those big 'ole frets.

John
 
I'll add the Mainland plastic body ukes to the mix....I have a Reggae Gecko and it sounds sweet!
 
My Lanikai tenor (nato plywood model) doesn't have particularly good intonation. Nut grooves seem to be fine out of the box, I won't file them any deeper (unlike with my el-cheapo first soprano which I had to file down). Action at the bridge of my Lanikai doesn't seem too bad, I may try to file it a tiny bit down though. Original strings are aquila. So what I suspect (I will do some measurements to be sure) is that the bridge is actually positioned a little bit too close to the neck, so that strings go sharp when pressed. I've seen this with guitars all the time, the price level makes very little difference - cheap or expensive, the variation seems to be there anyway. So when I buy I try several of the same type until I find the one with good intonation. Everything else seems to be equal so it's really only the bridge position that can vary. I didn't have the luxury to try several when buying my Lanikai though.

If my measurements confirm my suspicion I will remove the saddle and file the saddle slot a little bit wider (at the far end from the neck) and shim the saddle at the front. The slot is pretty deep so I think it should be safe to do. I haven't tried this before so any luthier may well tell me I'm nuts.. but that's the plan anyway! :)
 
I've got a Makala Concert that came from MGM. Aquila strings, set up just right and stays in tune and fun to play and take anywhere!! ($60)
 
Uke color theory emerges!!!!!

You could get a dolphin. They are very nice. I got two at Christmas, a white and a black. One sounded like a 2 or 300 dollar uke, the other like a 40 dollar uke (its a 34 dollar ukulele by the way). So, it seems that some are awesome... others not so... so if you have a store that sells them you can go and take your pick.

I've experienced a similar thing. I've bought 3 dolphins, the blue is awsome [kept that one] , the yellow was good , and the black was fair-poor. Maybe it's the color. I read in a poodle book that the different coat colors had different attribute ratings , and the Black standard rated the highest. could this be the same in ukes, only in reverse!!!!!
 
I've experienced a similar thing. I've bought 3 dolphins, the blue is awsome [kept that one] , the yellow was good , and the black was fair-poor. Maybe it's the color. I read in a poodle book that the different coat colors had different attribute ratings , and the Black standard rated the highest. could this be the same in ukes, only in reverse!!!!!
I don't know about color being a factor. I had 10 dolphins that I re-strung before giving them away, and the metallic black one was pretty good. I had an assortment of colors too, and two each of the pink burst, purple burst, and three metallic blue. One each of green, metallic black, and lt blue burst. The one that was the most "off" was one of the pink ones. I think it depends more on who was doing the final set-up work at the factory that day. That is going to be pretty variable.
–Lori
 
Here is what you do...

Take the advice of potential ukuleles given here, but...

...buy a digital tuner, then go find a ukulele in person from the suggestions that meet your intonation requirements. If you really want to do a bang up job, buy an automotive feeler gauge with various blade thicknesses and you can measure first string height, 12th fret height, you can even measure how much neck relief (not that you can do anything on that one).

John
 
yesterday I dissected a dolphin (cut personal soundholes ) and it is all plastic so practically indestructable. My sons sounds totally awesome so some of them are totally awesome... I have a mediocre one myself.. I bought two (online) and he lucked out. Hey they cost 32 bucks. His sounds like over a hundred.... forget about paying extra for the setup unless you feel incompetent to do it yourself. Otherwise, I roger the idea on the travel ukes.
 
ok out of a white and a black dolphins I bought for christmas, the white is the awesome one. I doubt if it is color related but my son's white one is totally THE soprano dolphin... loud, sonorous, ringing etc.
 
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