Do You Find Ukes, or Do Ukes Find You

I have occasionally searched for a certain type of uke - resonator, banjo uke, sopranissimo, pineapple - but in most cases, the ukes found me.

I would see a picture of one, read a review, or see one posted here, and I was hooked. I may not have known this uke existed, but I just had to have it. Taking a quick look at my list of ukes, it seems that fifty-seven of them found me, rather than the other way around. Wow!

How have you decided what ukes to buy?

I generally seek out certain uke brands & styles to try out. Then I keep an eye out on the usual dealer & for sale sites until I see one that fits the bill. Diversity of style & sound are my main criteria. My first "really good" ukulele kind of found me. A collector friend had two for sale, and I sat in his kitchen for an hour playing them both until I finally got a sense of which one was meant for me. I've "fished" for the rest of mine .......some keepers, some catch & release.

The uke I have found me. I was ready for it though.

After the first 3, different sized beginners, I have seen/heard or sought out the rest, & finally found my ideal ukes.

Usually I find the ukes, but occasionally one finds me -- which I don't appreciate. In fact, I had to get a restraining order against a Waterman.

It's a bit of both for me. I usually seek out specific traits when hunting 'ukulele, but I never know which uke is going to strike my fancy.

My most recent example: I recently sought a uke to keep in the office as a beater for lunchtime practice sessions, leading my music group, and taking to evening jam sessions, strum circles, etc. My parameters were solid build quality, good punch, tenor scale length, and a price of less than $500 after purchase and installation of a pickup. I paid a visit to Penny Lane Music Emporium in Ft. Lauderdale expecting to walk out with a particularly good Kala import or fluke tenor, but while there, I encountered one of the store's most recent acquisitions: a near-mint used Pono mango pineapple tenor. Having previously encountered another Pono pineapple at a fellow UUers home, I set about demoing the used Pono.

Lo and behold, the Pono checked all the right boxes, the staff were able to do same-day installation of the pickup, and I walked out that same day with the Pono in hand. If I hadn't been looking for those specific traits, I probably would have passed on the Pono due to my general dislike for their neck profile.

I definetely find them, because I tend to do an awful lot of research until I find the one I'm looking for. A different thing is to find a uke out of the price range that I'd love to have but I can't really justify spending that much. In that case, the uke didn't find me, he just stares at me from the distance, lol!

bacchettadavid said:

It's a bit of both for me. I usually seek out specific traits when hunting 'ukulele, but I never know which uke is going to strike my fancy.

My most recent example: I recently sought a uke to keep in the office as a beater for lunchtime practice sessions, leading my music group, and taking to evening jam sessions, strum circles, etc. My parameters were solid build quality, good punch, tenor scale length, and a price of less than $500 after purchase and installation of a pickup. I paid a visit to Penny Lane Music Emporium in Ft. Lauderdale expecting to walk out with a particularly good Kala import or fluke tenor, but while there, I encountered one of the store's most recent acquisitions: a near-mint used Pono mango pineapple tenor. Having previously encountered another Pono pineapple at a fellow UUers home, I set about demoing the used Pono.

Lo and behold, the Pono checked all the right boxes, the staff were able to do same-day installation of the pickup, and I walked out that same day with the Pono in hand. If I hadn't been looking for those specific traits, I probably would have passed on the Pono due to my general dislike for their neck profile.

Click to expand...

Wow, you have a nice beater. My beater is a cheap $32 one I can keep in the office to practice fingering (can't really play, it's too loud) or shove in an overhead bag traveling. With new strings it's not bad, though I am going to have to reset a frets that's not set right. A metal nail file gets rid of those sharp fret cuts on along the edge of any cheap uke fretboard.

captain-janeway said:

A metal nail file gets rid of those sharp fret cuts on along the edge of any cheap uke fretboard.

Click to expand...

'Nice' to hear that's common, probably needs human labor. Wouldn't be half that pleased with my instrument without having done that, think I used bent sandpaper. Gave the nut a similar treatment. I like round edges.

I would say that I found my first three. My fourth found me only by chance as I was looking for a different one and this one fell in my lap.

DaveY said:

Usually I find the ukes, but occasionally one finds me -- which I don't appreciate. In fact, I had to get a restraining order against a Waterman.

Click to expand...

A few years ago I would win a waterman at every ukulele festival I went to.

Yes! Both. I have actively sought out many of my ukes. After fully researching them. Other times the opportunity to get the uke fell into my lap. After mentally deciding I'd like to get one someday. Quite often I have just been in the right place at the right time and going for it--before my brain could think of all the reasons I should not.

I am definitely in full hiatus mode now.

I find them after research, trying, watching and occasionally gambling. I’m pretty intentional in terms of size and wood. The one exception to this was my Iriguchi. I went to David’s shop in Sacramento with the intention of just hearing the instruments and maybe buying one. I didn’t even have my checkbook. After sampling about 7 ukes, I was awestruck by Ma’alaea with her sweet mellow tones and by her Birdseye maple/poplar look. In that case, the uke chose me.

In another vein, I had a uke leave me by way stowing away on a plane during a layover! My poor gold label is still out in wind *sigh*

Pretty much every night before I go to sleep, I surf eBay for tenor ukes and find something that grabs me. The only exception was asking Mim about 6 years ago what she would recommend for an ex-guitar player who went through 16 under $200 ukes in my first year and wants something a good step up. She said a Kala solid cedar, acacia koa cutaway with preamp/pickup. I went to McCabe's the next day and traded in 3 of mine for the Kala (Mim didn't take tradeins) that was $379, my cash outlay was $165, and I also sold 4 other of my ukes for $300, so I came out ahead. The Kala is my go to uke.

---

This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 11 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 35)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers

Jerry tells me what to get. Well at least in the cases of the Klos tenor, Tiny Tenor, and the Peanut. I still have the Peanut, which I keep in my office.
Inexplicably when I am scrolling through used ukulele listings, my finger will sometimes press the BUY NOW button. It’s all about the sound and playability for me. Even though I am basically only an advanced beginner.

Martinlover said:

Jerry tells me what to get. Well at least in the cases of the Klos tenor, Tiny Tenor, and the Peanut.

Click to expand...

And vice versa in the cases of the Clara, Mya-Moe, and Pono.

It‘s a little more complicated, I think. Of course, I start with looking for a certain Uke, and in some cases I just end up ordering one and that‘s it. But in some cases, it‘s like I look for a uke for some time, and think about ordering one from a certain shop. And then my mind says, it‘s too expensive or risky to order a used uke from the US. E.g., I was thinking about getting a vintage Martin, and had already given up as it‘s nearly impossible to find one here in Europe. And then, last year, in a ukulele meeting here in the Netherlands, I just stepped into the flea merket room with the used ukes to sell the very minute a guy whom I‘ve met a couple of times before opened his case with... you guess it a vintage Martin soprano, probably late 40s or early 50s, in a decent condition, with a simply wonderful sound. I tried it for about two minutes and then asked him to close the case again. Of course, I bought it.

Something similar happened this year in the same ukulele event. Only this time, it wasn‘t a vintage uke but a very new one built by German luthier Claus Mohri (www.cmohri.de) whose ukes are definitely about the best you can get here in Germany. I was already on his waiting list (which is quite long), when he brought an instrument to this event. It was EXACTLY what I was looking for: a concert uke with a spruce soundboard and maple body, radiused ebony fretboard and a pickup. As if I had ordered it from him myself. Yet, he had built it for someone else, who ended up NOT wanting it. You guess the end of the story.

So, in some cases, yes, I‘d say, at least I FELT like the uke was meant to come to me or had chosen me, rather than the other way around. I could give two or three more examples.

Bill1 said:

Whether you like it or not, websites and Google collect data about everything you do on-line. If you search a lot for ukes, a lot of ukes are going to pop up in front of you in the most unexpected places.

Click to expand...

One of the reasons I completely ditched TV in favor of the internet almost 20 years ago was so I wouldn't have to look at advertisements, unless I seek them out. Been so long since I've had one "pop up" in front of me that I forget what it must be like for people who don't use ad blockers.

That said, I (obviously) find all of the instruments that I buy, rather than vice-versa. Though that's not denying that sometimes serendipity plays a role (i.e., "right place at right time" sorts of things).

bratsche

Both my concerts found me. In fact I would say the concert size in general found me. I had no interests what-so-ever in concerts for a while. I liked tenors and I liked sopranos, but concert sort of felt like an odd middle ground that didn't have the fullness of the tenor nor the traditional sound of the soprano. I was looking for a mahogany tenor when I found my Takumi on Elderly's website. I really didn't want a concert but I just kept going back to the site, and finally pulled the trigger on it. Turns out I love the sound and the feel of concerts. So then one Friday afternoon, I was taking a little Ebay break at work and stumbled across a good price on a Martin concert auction that was about to end and had no bids, so I rather impulsively bought that too.

I have since sold all my tenors and now only have concerts and sopranos. Perhaps another tenor (or a super concert) will find me someday, but for now I'm pretty happy with sops and concerts.

Can I share how I got my first one? I had had a guitar stolen out of my car after I'd stupidly left in there after an open-mic. The empty stand was too much to bear looking at.. but I was pretty near broke at the outset of the mortgage crisis (I was a loan officer at the time). Most importantly, it was at the end of a month during which I tried to make a new video every day
...