You don't need a fancy ukulele

Steedy

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Today was such a beautiful morning that I decided to sit outside and do a little front porch picking. I was sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee and a metallic blue Makala Dolphin, and I realized that little uke has an amazingly sweet tone. I thought "this is really all you need." :)
 
Today was such a beautiful morning that I decided to sit outside and do a little front porch picking. I was sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee and a metallic blue Makala Dolphin, and I realized that little uke has an amazingly sweet tone. I thought "this is really all you need." :)

Very True.





Now "want" is an entirely different beast! :)
 
But are you going to sell the fancy ukes that you do have? :)

My most frequently played ukulele is also my cheapest, the concert Stagg that I bought as my first real uke. The reason is that it doesn't live in a hardshell case, so it's always available to be grabbed and played, even if it's just for a couple of minutes. It has a solid top and laminate sides, so I'm not overly worried about it and just take it with me around the house. I'd probably be fine with just that one uke, because the bottleneck isn't the uke for me, but my ability to play really well, but would I sell my fancy (mostly just expensive, heh, none of them have bling) ukuleles? I doubt it.
 
Well, I do like my fancy ukuleles as well, but truth be told, I've got too many ukes. It's about time for me to start downsizing. :(
 
My most played uke is my plastic one, as I have a one year old daughter who LOVES to try and pull the uke out of my hands...
 
Well, I do like my fancy ukuleles as well, but truth be told, I've got too many ukes. It's about time for me to start downsizing. :(

How do you decide which to keep?

I do feel that I have too many, too (seven), and I could probably narrow it down to three if I really had to, but I don't know how I'd go about downsizing further than this. The three I'd keep are the KoAloha LN pineapple soprano and the Black Bear koa soprano (just got it on Friday, and it's amazing), plus possibly the 1920s Washburn (it's at the luthier right now, will get it back in ten-ish days). And that assumes I'd even bring myself to rehome the four others I have, nor does it address the issue of me really wanting to try a KoAloha concert. :) At least I'm off the tenor train for now!
 
It's the Indian, not the arrow.
True story: As a youth, I studied the violin. I was very bad at it. I have a cousin who was on scholarship studying cello at Julliard. We were fooling around one day and he picked up my fiddle, placed it between his knees, and proceeded to play it as if it were a cello. I could not believe the sound he teased out of that beater, it was gorgeous.
 
It's true, you don't need a fancy uke. I love the feel/action on my starter Lanikai and it sounds pretty good as well. If I'm honest with myself, I almost prefer the feel of the Lanikai over my other ukes which cost around 3x and 5x as much. (Though they all play well.) I don't know how much of that has to do with the sentimentality of it being my first uke.
 
Ok this thread motivated me. I was reading it just as I was having my post dinner coffee. A friend lent me the new soprano Outdoor Uke to test drive. I grabbed the uke, my coffee and out the door I went. We finally have some nice weather so it was a pure joy to play a little soprano on the back deck. Really enjoyed the soprano sound, which I don't indulge in very much. But I think I will do more of it this summer.

Thanks " Steedy" for sharing and moving me to just grab and go. That is a big component of what the uke is all about :music:
 
I was strumming my daughters pink Makala dolphin at the beach today. I have to admit, it has a very sweet tone. I've been impressed since day one with this uke.
 
Fancy, I guess, is in the eye or ear of the beholder. A lot of folks might not think so, but my newest uke, my Cocobolo concert is pretty darn fancy to me. Do I need it? Heck no. But - I play more now than I did before I got it. If I didn't have it, would I still play more? I dunno....I don't want to find out either, I love my fancy uke!
 
Good thread and good to think about "value" too.
 
I don't think anyone 'needs' a fancy Uke. My top priorities are playability and tone, in that order. High quality craftsmanship is, for me, highly desirable but not a mandatory.
 
Fancy? No. But there is a good deal of difference in tone and playability up the neck between a $1000 uke and a $100 uke.
 
I don't think anyone 'needs' a fancy Uke. My top priorities are playability and tone, in that order. High quality craftsmanship is, for me, highly desirable but not a mandatory.

Well said Hollis, it is fun just making music. But once you have played a great instrument you always desire to hear that sound and experience the effortlessness of it's playability. It is certainly not neccassary and lots of good music has been made on "non-fancy" ukuleles, but there is a difference.
 
It doesn't HAVE to be a fancy ukulele. As long as the instrument has a good action, decent intonation and a nice tone then its a great instrument to play.

For a long time my best ukulele was a bruceweiart ukulele that cost me $30 pus $80 shipping. Still cheap. It a STUNNING instrument. It still sounds great but it needs a little fret work now 5-6 years later.

It took some nice Luthier built instruments to beat it. Sure. Cheap instruments can be nice to play. If your a gambler however the odds that a more expensive instrument is nicer to play is higher.

Anthony
 
The quality of instruments has, unfortunately, always mattered to me. When I played oboe, I was playing on a crappy plastic school loaner. When I got to play on the LaRae, I suddenly started willingly practicing an hour a day because I wasn't working against the instrument itself and it was suddenly a lot more FUN.

If I don't like the sound of something, I won't play it. I've played various other wind instruments, but I don't end up playing them that much because it always feels like I'm fighting against them instead of playing with them (I can't afford a LaRae oboe right now...).

My first uke, it felt like I was fighting against it. I'm blessed/cursed with perfect pitch, and if something is out of tune, I'm going to notice. One of these days, I'll take it somewhere that can do a proper setup and it will probably be just fine, but until then, it annoys me to play because it's out of tune once you fret anything.

My second uke, still rather inexpensive (~$70, including shipping), was setup (thanks, Mim!) before it came to me. I don't have to fight with it, so it's more fun for me to play.

Quality is important, but quality isn't always what you see on the price tag. Sometimes, it's just whether the instrument suits you.
 
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