Portugal Built Uke

SoloRule

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Ukulele is originated from Portugal .
I will be visiting Portugal in a few weeks. I am hoping to buy a Portuguese made uke while I am there.
Can someone give me recommendation of quality built uke brands or shops ?
I visited Spain two years ago , I could have bought a Cordoba but never thought of it so I decided not to miss this opportunity again. Thanks
 
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I dont have any sources, but just wanted to say that I think this is a really cool plan, and much better than getting some meaningless and disposable tourist trinkets, and I'd think that having a Portuguese-made uke will help you to enjoy the memories of the trip later on...

Maybe search for bruginha or madiera stores, since according to most sources, these are the instruments that inspired Mr. Nunes to make his first ukulele when he came to Hawaii...?
 
I dont have any sources, but just wanted to say that I think this is a really cool plan, and much better than getting some meaningless and disposable tourist trinkets, and I'd think that having a Portuguese-made uke will help you to enjoy the memories of the trip later on...

Maybe search for bruginha or madiera stores, since according to most sources, these are the instruments that inspired Mr. Nunes to make his first ukulele when he came to Hawaii...?

Hey Booli: that's exactly my thought. A uke from each trip. Next one will be Thailand , Vietnam....much better than T-shirts and key chains.
 
Hey Booli: that's exactly my thought. A uke from each trip. Next one will be Thailand , Vietnam....much better than T-shirts and key chains.

Yes - I wonder if for example you could get a an actual true Mainland, Aiersi/KPK, Kala or Ohana direct from the factory in China?

I wonder if they have a storefront there...or if they just sell those 'KaKa' knockoffs at the corner store where newspapers and sodi-pop are sold...

If you go to Vietnam maybe also you could visit the shop of Bruce Wei and take pix and video to share with the rest of us (if he lets you)...:)
 
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Since I (barely) speak the language, I did some searches for you.

Lehua ukes are made in Portugal.

I found mention of Antonio Carvalho ukes but couldn't find a site for them. Stores like Duke of Uke in London carry them.

These are 3 actual music stores in or near Lisbon that carry ukes:

Salão Musical
Rua da Oliveira ao Carmo,2 (ao Largo do Carmo)
1200-309 Lisboa

Lismúsica
Rua Jose Falcão, 6-A
1170-193 Lisboa

Egitana
Rua General Pinto Monteiro
6300-701 Guarda

Instrument cousins of the uke you might want to check out - braga (braguinha), razão, and cavaquinho. Hope this helps :)
 
Since I (barely) speak the language, I did some searches for you.

Lehua ukes are made in Portugal.

I found mention of Antonio Carvalho ukes but couldn't find a site for them. Stores like Duke of Uke in London carry them.

These are 3 actual music stores in or near Lisbon that carry ukes:

Salão Musical
Rua da Oliveira ao Carmo,2 (ao Largo do Carmo)
1200-309 Lisboa

Lismúsica
Rua Jose Falcão, 6-A
1170-193 Lisboa

Egitana
Rua General Pinto Monteiro
6300-701 Guarda

Instrument cousins of the uke you might want to check out - braga (braguinha), razão, and cavaquinho. Hope this helps :)

I see two in Lesbon. Thank you. I will try to find them.
 
Buy a Uke from Andrew at HMS, free shipping world wide.

Then bring it back in duty free to Canada. Lol
 
Bonesoup has mentioned Antonio Pinto Carvalho. The instruments from his factory go by the name APC:

http://www.apc-instruments.com/2013/

They have been quite present in European stores at times. But honestly, Brenda, I would say that every uke you already own exceeds the ones you can buy from there. Instead, you might want to look for a decent Cavaquinho. They are one of the ancestors of the Ukulele and can be tuned like a Uke.
 
Was under the impression Cordobas are made in Portugal. From my limited experience, Lehua fit and finish can be iffy. They do have a few that look like some of Cordoba's better models.
 
Rakelele : For each good uke purchase, I always ended up buying 2 entry levels in between to satisfy my UAS . I actually buy them just to drive Simon (sam13) crazy. LOL
Just thought it would be nice to collect a uke from each country that is known for building ukulele. Thanks for the link.

PhilUSAFRet: I was in Cordoba for two days. Wish I thought of hunting for one. If I see a six strings Cordoba mini uke in Portugal, I will definitely grab one.

Jim : Make a trip up here , I will bring one back for you.
 
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I had one. I was completely underwhelmed and even after installing a bone saddle and installing new strings, I sold it to one of my beginning uke students. Fit and finish wasn't all that great, intonation ok. Perhaps others have had a different experience. Was watching one of these that went on ebay recently for just under $60. Tried to snag it cheap and tray again
 

I had one. I was completely underwhelmed and even after installing a bone saddle and installing new strings, I sold it to one of my beginning uke students. Fit and finish wasn't all that great, intonation ok. Perhaps others have had a different experience. Was watching one of these that went on ebay recently for just under $60. Tried to snag it cheap and tray again

I think this definitely falls into the try-before-you-buy category! A friend has one of those and it's actually a pretty fun little uke. It has good intonation and is really easy and fun to play, but it's definitely not a fancy uke, and has an almost toy-like sound quality. I'd definitely consider buying one as a souvenir, but only if I could try it out first.
 
I am a Lehua dealer in Oregon and find the comments about them to be not good fit and finish to be surprising. John Porner and another fellow inspect each uke. I prefer the newer model changes to satin finish and strung through the body rather than tied to the bridge The newer Aquila strings are also an improvement over the older white ones. I have one of the long neck soprano ukes of my own.

Were I going to Portugal....I would buy the best cavaquinho I could afford. What a sound!!
 
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Cavaquinho
This is interesting. A dealer in Toronto carries it for $650cdn.
Are they the same tuning as ukulele ? The body seems to be bigger?
 
Bonesoup has mentioned Antonio Pinto Carvalho. The instruments from his factory go by the name APC.

Antonia has his workshop in Braga, up north near Porto. He has dealers (mentioned above) in Lisbon however, should you not be able to visit him, which would be a shame. His 45-man outfit turns out an amazing array of stringed instruments, including all of the ukuleles siblings (braguinha, braguesa, rajao, two kinds of cavaquinho, timple, terceira, cuatro, tres...).

APC - INSTRUMENTS
Rua do Sol Nascente, nº 40 A, Celeirós
4705 - 454 Braga, Portugal

Was under the impression Cordobas are made in Portugal..

Alas, no. Their website states that only their España and Loriente guitars are made in Spain (Valencia and Barcelona respectively), their Master Series guitars in Oxnard, California, and all other guitars and ukuleles in China. It was originally a Spanish company, not Portuguese.
 
Cavaquinho
This is interesting. A dealer in Toronto carries it for $650cdn.
Are they the same tuning as ukulele ? The body seems to be bigger?

There are two different kinds of Cavaquinho: The Portuguese is about the size of a soprano uke and very slim, the other one from Brazil has the scale length of a tenor with a fat body. They are used with steel strings tuned to DGBD (open G chord), so it can easily be tuned to DGBE, i.e. one octave up from a baritone, with the same intervalls and chord shapes as on an ukulele or guitar (e.g. 0003 is G, 0232 is D, 2010 is C etc.).
 
There are two different kinds of Cavaquinho: The Portuguese is about the size of a soprano uke and very slim, the other one from Brazil has the scale length of a tenor with a fat body. They are used with steel strings tuned to DGBD (open G chord), so it can easily be tuned to DGBE, i.e. one octave up from a baritone, with the same intervalls and chord shapes as on an ukulele or guitar (e.g. 0003 is G, 0232 is D, 2010 is C etc.).


Yes that's the one I saw on the link. Fatter body from South America
I don't care for steel strings but I should visit the Toronto store to get a feel of the instrument
 
Rakelele : For each good uke purchase, I always ended up buying 2 entry levels in between to satisfy my UAS . I actually buy them just to drive Simon (sam13) crazy. LOL
Just thought it would be nice to collect a uke from each country that is known for building ukulele. Thanks for the link.

PhilUSAFRet: I was in Cordoba for two days. Wish I thought of hunting for one. If I see a six strings Cordoba mini uke in Portugal, I will definitely grab one.

Jim : Make a trip up here , I will bring one back for you.


I think Cordoba guitalele's are an excellent value for the money. Based on my comparison several years ago, superior to the Yamaha in every conceivable way. Fun part will be finding strings that you love.
 
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