How does one become a Ukulele Monogamist?

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?

Un-possible

Mivo........the question is doomed to go largely unanswered. Remember the people that you are asking the question of are the same ones who you yourself said probably have more than your count of seven. We are all like minded enablers, even Janeray has more than one uke.

This is a great topic! I have definitely been where you are... While I've never had seven ukuleles at one time, I have gone through about 25 in total during 11 years of playing. I feel it's normal to go through a "collecting phase" where you may acquire several instruments at once. For some people, this phase never goes away! For me, that lasted for a few years. Then I decided that rather than having several ukuleles that I sort of liked and played for a certain portion of time each, I'd rather have one ukulele that I really loved and developed a bond with. By selling my other instruments, I was also able to use my budget to buy a more expensive, really nice instrument. So really, my decision to downsize merely came down to budget and, as you say, the desire to be minimalist in my possessions. For me personally, I do feel that the experience of playing is more special when you devote your efforts to a single instrument. However, I know this sentiment isn't shared by all and that's ok! I like to collect things in general but can easily go overboard. I have made an effort to live a more minimalist life and eventually felt having more than one uke was excessive for me.

For me? Getting better at being content may be the biggest thing.
I've become more and more of a minimalist as well. It seems the fewer possessions I have the more free I am.
I simply do not need multiple ukes. I don't even NEED one uke. I really enjoy having one around though.
For the record -- I've owned quite a few, and also some really nice ukes... Now my one and only is an Outdoor Ukulele tenor. It works for me, but wouldn't be the choice for a lot of people as their one and only. I'm thankful to have it. I think that's another thing for me: just being thankful.
A new uke can bring a temporary high, but it fades...and excess does nothing positive for me at all.

I guess you have to decide what works for you. Some people have more fun with the collecting than the actual playing it seems. There are different ways to go at most any hobby.

I don't collect anything and I do like the minimalist approach. Yet, I have too many instruments (of all kinds) in general simply because it's a hassle to sell them or I wouldn't get enough to justify it.

I do get the progress though. You learn what you want only (it seems) after going though many instruments. I could easily settle for one model of each instrument if I could easily sell everything and just settle on one model that I now know that I like.

For me it's not even a matter of moving up to some really expensive model. I've moved down in price in many cases.

I only have two uke's, one laminate soprano and one solid wood tenor but I have 3 mandolin's,1 banjo, 1 charango, 3 electric guitars and 2 acoustics.

I could get down to 1 mandolin, a different banjo, a better charango, 1 electric guitar and 1 acoustic guitar. I would like a better solid wood tenor ukulele and I have no reason to get rid of the $60 laminated soprano.

In the first year of playing ukulele about three years ago, I went through 16, with maybe 8-9 at one time. As I got better at playing and could better hear the differences between them, I decided to pick the ones I liked the best and just sell the rest. I decided on the 4 in my signature and put the word out to my ukulele group (50_ people), list the ukes on UU marketplace, take them to a ukulele festival, and check with the uke store I frequent (U-Space in downtown Los Angeles). It took a few weeks to get them all sold.

The ironic thing is about a year ago I started playing bass ukulele and have been neglecting my ukes, and now I'm up to 8 bass ukes, trying to hold the line there.

DownUpDave said:

...even Janeray has more than one uke.

Click to expand...

Hahahahahaha! Since I play both low G and reentrant daily, I'll probably never have fewer than two. And I actually keep three on hand - you know, just in case.

To answer the question in your title: sheer will power, I would say. Nobody is forced to have more than one Ukulele, this is all about wanting. Pick one that you like best, and you're all settled. However, I would think that even the most minimalist Ukulele enthusiast should be ending up with at least two instruments: a re-entrant Soprano and a linear Tenor. Add to this a fine Baritone - and there we go again, starting to pile up.

As for downsizing our collections: I think this is a lot harder to do for us Europeans, as we don't have a large market for used ukes, especially if they cost more than, say, 100 bucks. With high shipping cost and added taxes, like you said, it's just not worth the hassle. Example: If I buy a uke for $300 USD, I'll have to add shipping cost of about $70, and finally fees/taxes of up to 25%. That uke will have cost me close to $500. Even if I could re-sell it close to its original price, I'd be losing half of that money, and there will be another $70 for shipping.

Most priority is handiness to me. I'd compared travel guitars with ukulele at first, and I bought soprano. Handiness requires cheapness. If it was expensive, I can not play anywhere or at anytime I want. I often play in back yard and out door. I don't want another ukulele so far, because no one wants two cheap ukuleles. I've set up nut and saddle by myself. I've installed strap pin. I put strap on. I've changed better friction tuners. I have both low G and high G strings and both work very good. So far so good.

Interesting thread, and it caused a little soul searching for me, as I consider myself a one ukulele man, yet I have three.

Sometimes I think about having just one ukulele and then I come to my senses. But seriously, minimalism is being forced on me as we prepare for retirement later in the year and selling up and moving across the continent. The less stuff we have the less stuff we have to pack and store while we find another abode.
My ideal collection would be 1 high g, 1 low g, 1 8 string, 1 resophonic. Conspicuous consumption would be illustrated by adding to this list: 1 lap steel, 1 banjo Uke, 1 mandolele, 1 Bari or Kinnard-esque Kiku.
How can I even say these things in a thread discussing owning only one Uke?

Mivo said:

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?

Click to expand...

For 40 years or so I had just the one guitar. We were very happy together and we played the same few dozen tunes over and over and over and .... then I bought a nylon-strung 3/4 size Yamaha and found there was more to life than six steel strings on a jumbo acoustic, then along came a 12-string ... and an electric Epiphone ... and a bass ... and a 5-string banjo ... and a mandolin ...

The same is true for me with ukuleles ... there's just so much more one can do with a range of differently configured instruments that having just one would be a very difficult decision, but if push came to shove, I'd probably keep the re-entrant tenor ... I think

I have too many ukes. I am about to get rid of a few, and I believe I will donate them to one of the refugee centers here. When refugees enter the country, they live for some time in special quarters before they are either returned or given asylum. There is generally nothing to do there, so I know that some musicians have donated guitars etc. Others donate clothes or other useful goods. Why not a couple of ukes? Who knows what kind of music might emerge?

drbekken said:

I have too many ukes. I am about to get rid of a few, and I believe I will donate them to one of the refugee centers here. When refugees enter the country, they live for some time in special quarters before they are either returned or given asylum. There is generally nothing to do there, so I know that some musicians have donated guitars etc. Others donate clothes or other useful goods. Why not a couple of ukes? Who knows what kind of music might emerge?

Click to expand...

What a wonderful idea. Thank you for mentioning as I never gave their "other" needs much thought.

I have given this thread a lot of thought since reading it last night. I would like to give this a try. I thought if I just kept one uke on the main floor to play I would put the others in the basement for a few months. As I was filling the humidifiers I took them out of the case and played a final song.

I can't do it........they all sound so nice and so different. That is why I bought and have kept them. I am weak, weak I say

Here's how you do it.
You buy one uke.
And then don't buy any more.

DownUpDave said:

What a wonderful idea. Thank you for mentioning as I never gave their "other" needs much thought.

I have given this thread a lot of thought since reading it last night. I would like to give this a try. I thought if I just kept one uke on the main floor to play I would put the others in the basement for a few months. As I was filling the humidifiers I took them out of the case and played a final song.

I can't do it........they all sound so nice and so different. That is why I bought and have kept them. I am weak, weak I say

Click to expand...

Or you enjoy the different qualities and builds of musical master pieces.

Enjoy them Dave, or give them to me as I will be happy to appreciate them.

I will also help you Dave. As much of Canada empties out into South Florida in the winter months, so too can your Ukes. They will be handled properly.

I've been playing a little over a year so my perspective is still that of a newcomer. I am not a collector by nature so the reasons I am NOT a uke monogamist are:

1) There are too many sizes and materials and shapes out there so curiosity leads me to buy more ukes
2) For me ukes are not prohibitively expensive so there is some impulse purchasing (and rationalizing) involved.
3) When I sit at a desk in an office all day it is much easier to look at ukes on the internet than it is to play one I already own. Looking leads to wanting which leads to buying.
4) Finally, buying is relatively hassle free while selling is a pain in the butt, so the collection naturally grows.

The main reasons I may yet become a monogamist are:
1) it's become clear that any uke I own will sound a LOT better if I learn to play it better.
2) having a lot of ukes around makes me feel kind of silly

hollisdwyer said:

Sometimes I think about having just one ukulele and then I come to my senses. But seriously, minimalism is being forced on me as we prepare for retirement later in the year and selling up and moving across the continent. The less stuff we have the less stuff we have to pack and store while we find another abode.
My ideal collection would be 1 high g, 1 low g, 1 8 string, 1 resophonic. Conspicuous consumption would be illustrated by adding to this list: 1 lap steel, 1 banjo Uke, 1 mandolele, 1 Bari or Kinnard-esque Kiku.
How can I even say these things in a thread discussing owning only one Uke?

Click to expand...

I have two abodes, one surrounded by corn fields, and the other by ocean. I think that I could get along with one ukulele just fine, as a good part of the year I do just that. The ukulele that I consider my one ukulele is my Mainland concert, and it is everything that I want. It resides in Iowa most of the year. Then there is the Makala concert, and it resides in Puerto Rico all of the time. The thing is, that when I'm bouncing back and forth, one is in one place, the other in the other place, and that way I can travel light. But when I came down to PR for three months or so this year, I hauled the Mainland down with me, defeating the whole idea of having one uke in each place. So as I write, I have both ukuleles here in PR. OK, so number three is a Waterman, and it doesn't count. Well, I'm saying that. I won the Waterman in a contest late last summer, I don't ever play it, and I don't plan to have it long when I get back up to Iowa. But that is how I justify being a one ukulele man, take it or leave it.