Uke store visit

Ukecaster

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Messages
5,259
Reaction score
2,934
Location
New England, USA
Visited the local uke store recently, where they had Kala, Makala, Gretsch, some Dolphins and a single Martin T1K,which was the nicest uke in the store, although it had a buzz coming from the bridge area when played hard. The all solid gloss Kala tenor with cedar top, cutaway and electronics was next best and next most expensive, followed by a satin Kala slot head tenor with solid MH top for just over 2 bills on sale that sounded very nice too. The Makalas had volume, but the tones were muddy and plain. I was very surprised at the Gretsches, they had 3-4 of them, and all had noticeably low volume by comparison with everything else. They looked and played well, but I'd never spend $200-350 for a uke that was so volume starved, not sure what was up with that. I guess my overall impression was that Kala is making some nice ukes now, better than I thought they'd be. Would really like to try some Islanders, for the extra nut width, but none close by here.
 
Last edited:
I have that Kala cedar top and it's one of my best ukes, it was $379 and I traded in three of my lesser ones for it, including a Gretsch G9121 A.C.E that I also found to be lacking in projection. I actually compared the Kala to a couple of K brands over $1000 and I found the Kala to be really close, felt they were not 3x better for the 3x price difference.
 
Top Bottom