Photojosh
Well-known member
Howdy all. Long rambling "what to buy" thread on a lazy saturday morning.
I've been a ukelele player for a while now. But the arrival of my boys kind of knocked most hobbies to the sideline for a while, uke included. As they kids have gotten a bit older, I've had more time to do some of the stuff I enjoy and have been picking up my ukuleles a bit more often.
Thinking about getting something new. I have a Koaloha Concert that I love, a Beltona resonator that I love almost as much, flea/fluke, and an older Bushman Jenny tenor that I can never decide if I click with or not.
So, I'm thinking....
-Banjo uke?
As with the resonator sound, I like the banjo uke sound a lot. I'm not trying to fight my way through other instruments, so I don't need a canon or anything. Thus, I was thinking Firefly. People seem to love them and the light weight with the slightly more mellow banjo sound might be nice. That having been said, I keep thinking that I could just buy a remo hand drum and a castoff neck and make one myself. Would I actually get around to that? Who knows? The little $200 6" Asian clones (Eddy Finn, Recording King, etc) seem like decent deals. I even saw a Rally for $120 on ebay. Also strummed the 8" Kala in my local shop and it sounded nice.
-Nice sporano?
My first decent uke was one of those Hamano Martin soprano clones. It was nice for the time, but since the boom started, the higher end Asian ukes have improved a lot in my opinion. I sold it because I wanted to put the money towards other instruments. But now I find myself wanting that classic ukulele sound. Probably wouldn't go expensive high end on this, as I'm still not sure that soprano is anything but a pleasant distraction for me. But maybe something from Opio or Pono or Mainland or....? I'm thinking mahogany just for the classic style. But I'm not tied to that.
-Baritone
I had a cheap baritone a long time ago and got rid of it. I'm not sure what I didn't like about it. Not "ukulele" enough maybe? But I strummed on one the other day at the music store and though I liked the sound. Having had a tenor guitar for a few years may have changed my appreciation of the baritone. Would mostly be a strummer for me I think. Campfire song style.
-Something else entirely?
Open to ideas. I'm sort of waiting for opio to come out with a tenor. Tenor and I have sort of an on-again off-again relationship. But one tenor I am in love with is a friends Koaloha. Hoping that an opio tenor would get the same favorable reviews as their other offerings. I like the idea of 6 and 8 string ukes, but I've never really like the reality of playing them. It always ends up on my list of things to try again someday. I've been thinking a spruce or ceder of some sort might be nice to try, just to be different from the more classic Koa of my Koaloha. I have a stew mac tenor kit in my shop waiting to be built. Not sure it really settles UAS, but it's something I want to find time for. And finally, someday, I'd like a concert uke built out of woods from my native state of WA (or at least from the PNW). But I suspect I'm either going to have to learn to build decent ukuleles or come up with a decent chunk of change to pay a builder.
I've been a ukelele player for a while now. But the arrival of my boys kind of knocked most hobbies to the sideline for a while, uke included. As they kids have gotten a bit older, I've had more time to do some of the stuff I enjoy and have been picking up my ukuleles a bit more often.
Thinking about getting something new. I have a Koaloha Concert that I love, a Beltona resonator that I love almost as much, flea/fluke, and an older Bushman Jenny tenor that I can never decide if I click with or not.
So, I'm thinking....
-Banjo uke?
As with the resonator sound, I like the banjo uke sound a lot. I'm not trying to fight my way through other instruments, so I don't need a canon or anything. Thus, I was thinking Firefly. People seem to love them and the light weight with the slightly more mellow banjo sound might be nice. That having been said, I keep thinking that I could just buy a remo hand drum and a castoff neck and make one myself. Would I actually get around to that? Who knows? The little $200 6" Asian clones (Eddy Finn, Recording King, etc) seem like decent deals. I even saw a Rally for $120 on ebay. Also strummed the 8" Kala in my local shop and it sounded nice.
-Nice sporano?
My first decent uke was one of those Hamano Martin soprano clones. It was nice for the time, but since the boom started, the higher end Asian ukes have improved a lot in my opinion. I sold it because I wanted to put the money towards other instruments. But now I find myself wanting that classic ukulele sound. Probably wouldn't go expensive high end on this, as I'm still not sure that soprano is anything but a pleasant distraction for me. But maybe something from Opio or Pono or Mainland or....? I'm thinking mahogany just for the classic style. But I'm not tied to that.
-Baritone
I had a cheap baritone a long time ago and got rid of it. I'm not sure what I didn't like about it. Not "ukulele" enough maybe? But I strummed on one the other day at the music store and though I liked the sound. Having had a tenor guitar for a few years may have changed my appreciation of the baritone. Would mostly be a strummer for me I think. Campfire song style.
-Something else entirely?
Open to ideas. I'm sort of waiting for opio to come out with a tenor. Tenor and I have sort of an on-again off-again relationship. But one tenor I am in love with is a friends Koaloha. Hoping that an opio tenor would get the same favorable reviews as their other offerings. I like the idea of 6 and 8 string ukes, but I've never really like the reality of playing them. It always ends up on my list of things to try again someday. I've been thinking a spruce or ceder of some sort might be nice to try, just to be different from the more classic Koa of my Koaloha. I have a stew mac tenor kit in my shop waiting to be built. Not sure it really settles UAS, but it's something I want to find time for. And finally, someday, I'd like a concert uke built out of woods from my native state of WA (or at least from the PNW). But I suspect I'm either going to have to learn to build decent ukuleles or come up with a decent chunk of change to pay a builder.
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