Do You Do This?

mangorockfish

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Been gone from here for some time now just living life and retirement and had grown indifferent to music in general. Now I'm beginning to gravitate back to the uke somewhat. Anyway, I have some nice ukes, not on a level some on here have, but nice none the less that sound great, look good, and are comfortable to play. BUT, when I do grab a uke, it is always my red Dolphin. It is the cheapest, most "road worn" of all my ukes but it just feels right and sounds right. The case cost twice what it cost, but I don't think I could ever replace it and I know I'll never get rid of it. So, does anyone else always play a lower end uke when you have an arsenal of "big guns" to play and if so why do we do this?
 
I do find that my cheaper ukes get much more than their fair share of use. That's because I keep one cheapy in the car, and when I'm at home, I keep another by my chair. The ones I value more, live in their cases, safely tucked away. From time to time I will select one of the "elite" to play, but mostly I just reach for the old faithfuls.

They are good enough for most purposes.
 
My Martin OXK (bought at a Black Friday sale price) and Outdoor Ukulele are more middle priced ukes for me, but I can grab them and always get a consistent sound. Like you wrote, they always just feel right and sound right. I often grab them first over the solid wood ones. My Opio seems to get into a snit when I don't play it often, and can sound crappy out of the case for a few songs.
 
I spent most of my first year accumulating ukes to try out, & for most of that time my go to uke was my Kala long neck, it's certainly not very expensive, but just seemed 'right', so yes, a cheaper one gets most of my attention too. :)

Welcome back to the fun of uke. ;)
 
I play the ukes I built the most, but of my manufactured ukuleles I play my good ole' Lanikia LU11 the most.
 
I often grab my Kala for lo G stuff, and leave the Tiny Tenor to my spouse. I love the TT, but i'm used to the Kala and if I scratch it, so what?
 
I'd guess you simply like what you know best, as simple as that.

When you always grab your cheapo beater you are completely accustomed to that sound and feel - and consequently every other uke feels/sounds not as right at first.
 
Kinda tells you something huh? I have a $1200+ Kanilea soprano that looks and sounds like it fell from heaven next to an old Gretsch soprano that I bought for nothing and completely reglued. The Gretsch sounds wonderful (it's the glue!) and I don't have to worry about leaving it on the couch. So it gets 10x the playtime.

That said, I feel that...
Paint is paint. A clear coat on a Kanilea may not be that much different from the red spray paint on a Dolphin. They are both are coated.
First three frets are pretty hard to mess up at a factory. Playing up the neck would reveal intonation problems on the Dolphin (or the Kanilea). But we mostly play in the first position.
Sometimes it all just comes together. There must be Dolphins that sound wonderful and uh-hem...Kanileas that don't come out as good as others. (I know blasphemy)

So, ya might have gotten a really nice Dolphin....or you have a tin ear like me. :)
 
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