I'm new to UU (this is my first post) and to playing ukulele, for that matter - after many years of playing guitar. Like many of you, I saw a Jake video, which totally evaporated all of the ukulele "Tiny Bubbles" images from my brain, and now I am, perhaps, lost forever in the "smaller package". I love the comfort of sitting back in any type of chair, or leaning against a tree,a wall, or just walking around and picking out a tune. Sadly, now my Lowden F23 and Martin 00028 acoustic guitars seem like behemoths, and are beginning to gather dust.
Bought my first uke in December - an Alulu solid mahogany laser-etched totem tenor and must admit that I was a bit disappointed at first - not with the sound it produced - it sounded better than I expected in the lower register, but the setup was higher than I like, with the action a bit north of 3.5mm at the 12th fret, resulting in some intonation issues above the 10th, especially when chording. However, after sanding down the saddle with some #120 sandpaper, I got it down close to @3mm and it really opened up. Love the sound of it. There were/are a couple of tiny/minor finish blemishes that only an owner would notice, but all in all, it's a keeper. The neck is as smooth as a baby's butt and the frets are perfectly filed with no sharp edges, and the tuners are good. Plus, although one or two posters here claim they thought their Alulus were on the heavy side, this one was noticeably lightweight, with apparent properly-dried and cured wood - no visible changes after going on four months. BTW I always store my instruments in their cases - which brings me to another plus for Alulu: they come with a good hardshell case.
Overall, it's a very decent first uke for the price. Good enough to have me strumming away every day, sometimes for several hours. It's definitely good enough to hook my interest in an upgrade. Am waiting for delivery of uke #2, a LoPrinzi cherry tenor. It's always nice to have more than one "voice" in the instrument selection!