Three years ago, when I looked for a new hobby that would hopefully add some depth and width to my life, I took up the ukulele because of its portability, smallness, and underdog status. I liked the small size because it meshed well with my minimalist lifestyle desires (less stuff, less clutter).
I partially succeeded in what I set out to find: The ukulele did add width and depth to my life, and new friends as a bonus! What didn't quite work out was my plan to just have one instrument. Right now I'm at seven, and I'm planning to pick up two more this year, and while I enjoy the aspect of learning about new instruments and getting to know them, as well as the anticipation and the magic of a new romance, deep down I'm a little uneasy with having so many ukuleles (I realize that seven or nine is probably below average around here!). I also feel that it adds an element of "too much choice" when it comes to improvement.
But in spite of the mild unease (it doesn't trouble me all that much lately, but it's on my mind), I think I have resigned to it being likely that in order to learn what you really want, you need to get exposure to what's out there, and that takes going through instruments and spending time with them (my recent experience with switching a tenor to Bb tuning demonstrated to me that first impressions are not very meaningful). My difficulty is probably rather with selling the "temporary" ukuleles, the letting go part and the hassle, which causes the potential issue of them piling up.
So anyway, those of you who managed to voluntarily downsize (no financial hardship forcing you) their ukulele collection to just one instrument, or who never got in the habit of collecting a five or ten or thirty ukuleles and are satisfied and fully happy with their One Uke, what did the trick for you?
I partially succeeded in what I set out to find: The ukulele did add width and depth to my life, and new friends as a bonus! What didn't quite work out was my plan to just have one instrument. Right now I'm at seven, and I'm planning to pick up two more this year, and while I enjoy the aspect of learning about new instruments and getting to know them, as well as the anticipation and the magic of a new romance, deep down I'm a little uneasy with having so many ukuleles (I realize that seven or nine is probably below average around here!). I also feel that it adds an element of "too much choice" when it comes to improvement.
But in spite of the mild unease (it doesn't trouble me all that much lately, but it's on my mind), I think I have resigned to it being likely that in order to learn what you really want, you need to get exposure to what's out there, and that takes going through instruments and spending time with them (my recent experience with switching a tenor to Bb tuning demonstrated to me that first impressions are not very meaningful). My difficulty is probably rather with selling the "temporary" ukuleles, the letting go part and the hassle, which causes the potential issue of them piling up.
So anyway, those of you who managed to voluntarily downsize (no financial hardship forcing you) their ukulele collection to just one instrument, or who never got in the habit of collecting a five or ten or thirty ukuleles and are satisfied and fully happy with their One Uke, what did the trick for you?