Elementary music teacher needs help buying 1st uke!

Hello! I am an elementary general music teacher and I am looking into buying my first ukulele. I'm looking at possibly doing an unconventional set-up, and I'm hoping to get some advice about what equipment to purchase to meet my needs in the classroom.

While I do play piano and other instruments, I have been telling myself for a long time that I needed to learn guitar so that I could have those quintessential "grab the the guitar and do a sing-along" music teacher moments. After recently trying a friend's baritone ukulele, I decided that instead of a guitar I really love how the baritone uke is robust enough to use to accompany a large group but that I really love the lighter (beautiful!) tone quality for playing along with young voices. I also have a set of classroom soprano ukes that I use to teach my students, and so I already have a basic understanding for ukulele and I love the thought of expanding this skill set since it's something that relates more to what my students will be learning too.

So... I really want a baritone uke, but I would really like to keep the same tuning as a soprano uke because 1) I could play along with/demo using my uke when my students are learning theirs and have it all be the same key and 2) The keys of F (for my students to sing in) and C (for me to sing in) are the keys I use most in my classroom and these lie much better using the soprano tuning.

I don't care whether the G is high or low, but do I need special baritone strings that would allow for this tuning? Or can I just tune the regular baritone strings up a 4th? Will this cause too much tension or any other problems to be aware of?

And while we're on the topic... I would love a quality instrument that will hold its tuning and sound decent, but I don't want to break the bank. I know better than to go for the cheapest instrument I find, but what are some quality budget friendly brands to look out for?

Thanks in advance for your advice!!

Getting reentrant GCEA or gCEA strings for a baritone is no problem. Many people love the Southcoast ones. It would be helpful if you were to define "break the bank." Many fine reasonably priced baritones. In general, you get what you pay for. Many great used ones available. At the low end, consider Kala, Lanikai, Ohana, Cordoba, and Oscar Schmidt lamnates. Some of these come with a solid top...a good compromise if you don't want to fork out for an all solid one, but aren't sure about an all laminate one. Mid range, there is the Kala and Ohana solid mahogany and the Pono. $200 - $350 should get you a decent baritone. You will likely get many more suggestions. If you put together a list, you can often find demos on YouTube of them.

An example of one you can get for $350: http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/f...D-Mahogany-Baritone-with-Hard-Case-and-Extras

For $285: http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?85618-Pono-MB-Baritone

At the lowest end of the price scale, I've seen some $50 Johnsons that blow away all the rest in their price range.

I think Riptide is a great, affordable brand, and zenukes.com is a great Riptide dealer.

Thanks for your advice! I'm really happy to hear that it won't be difficult to find strings for the set-up I want - I had read other posts about high tension and broken strings but those must have been people who were trying to just use that tuning with the original strings.

I will define "breaking the bank" as below $200. I totally understand the merits of purchasing a higher quality instrument, but for my my purposes in the classroom and my limited playing abilities that's all I can justify spending on one for now.

I'm really trying to stick with my local music store for this purchase, and they carry the Lanikai brand mentioned above so I will definitely try those out (specifically this model http://www.tedbrownmusic.com/p-4726-lanikai-ukulele-baritone-nato-lu21b.aspx). They don't carry any Johnson's but I might look into those as well. The Riptides sound nice but at school we spend a fair amount of time comparing various string instruments, and I don't want to confuse the issue with the unconventional sound hole placement

Their cheapest model sold at my local store is a Hilo, and I have also seen a few used ones of this brand for cheap on Craigslist, but I'm assuming I should stay away from those?

So far it sounds like the Lanikai has moved to the top of the list, thanks for the advice

Have a listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61C4TPNs7iA

Do not get the Hilo. I got one for my grandniece and thankfully she was only 2. The tuners are a joke and the strings were so high it would have best be used as a slide uke (but it was pink!). Dolphins are in the price range and are much more playable. The Eddy Finn Minnow are also better than the Hilos. There is nothing worse than trying to learn on an instrument that is fighting you the whole way.

As far as your upgrade, IMHO Kalas and Ohanas are a bit better quality than Lanikais but the LU series has gotten a lot of folks uking.

Hope this helps and keep us posted

+1 on the Riptide Baritone.
My brother got one cheap from Amazon. Setup was fine right out of the box.

The simple basic Lanakai LU-21B which is a nato laminate was my first ukulele and while I now have many ukes, including "better" ukes, it remains much loved and often played. I really don't think one needs to spend alot to enjoy your instrument. The Lanakai is a very sensible choice for beginner players, or even for the more advanced player who may not play baritone very regularly. It's also a brand that's usually easy to come by locally, but if you are looking for a bargain, you should check the UU forum and also do a search under Lanakai baritone for sale. I have seen some super good deals on the marketplace forum here and also passing mentions in some threads that folks are thinking about selling theirs. Post a WTB on marketplace and I'm sure that you will get responses for very reasonably priced ones. I got mine new for my husband about 10 yrs ago and it's had alot of kicking around before I started playing a few years ago and it has held up very well and still sounds nice. Good luck with your search.

"Low G" (Linear tuning in C) on a Baritone Uke is a nice sound. I'm currently debating a Baritone vs a Tenor in that tuning. Best bet is to go to your local Uke Pushe...er.... Uke Dealer, and play a bunch of instruments to get an idea what you like.

Capo 5 turns a "Standard" (Linear in G) bari into C tuning.

From one el-ed music tchr to another, you are going to be pleasantly surprised at the change of attitude of your classes!
When you string a baritone as a GCEA instrument, the sound you like from the bari goes away. A gCEA brings some of it back,but nothing like dGBE. Since a gCEA ukulele is really just a bari barred or capoed at the 5th fret, why not have one instrument which will do both ? A tenor ukulele can also be tuned dGBE. For packing around with all of the other stuff you have, the tenor is a big sound in a smaller package. There is no one set of strings which will do both tunings, nor one string which will tune up or down an octave. Cheap baritones will drive you nuts if you have any sense of pitch. There is a wider selection of quality and prices with a tenor.

TheCraftedCow said:

From one el-ed music tchr to another, you are going to be pleasantly surprised at the change of attitude of your classes!
When you string a baritone as a GCEA instrument, the sound you like from the bari goes away. A gCEA brings some of it back,but nothing like dGBE. Since a gCEA ukulele is really just a bari barred or capoed at the 5th fret, why not have one instrument which will do both ? A tenor ukulele can also be tuned dGBE. For packing around with all of the other stuff you have, the tenor is a big sound in a smaller package. There is no one set of strings which will do both tunings, nor one string which will tune up or down an octave. Cheap baritones will drive you nuts if you have any sense of pitch. There is a wider selection of quality and prices with a tenor.

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If you decide to go this route, a tenor fluke second from flea market music would be a big sound in a durable package and the setup and intonation on the plastic fretboard can't be beat.

That said, I've got a Lanikai LU-21B that I bought from Butler Music on Ebay for $29+shipping that has Aquila re-entrant CGEA strings on it and it sounds great. The setup needs some help, but the sound is pretty good.