Fender Pa'ina for my first uke

Hi

After a lot of thinking and based on what I've seen, heard, read ...I'm probably going to go for the Fender Pa'ina, unless someone manages to convince me to do otherwise!

I had a few questions for you:

1 At DV247 it's £ 20 cheaper and delivery is probably faster than at Thomann.de. Are there any reasons why I shouldn't trust them?

2 The Pa'ina comes with GHS® Hawiian Ukulele Tenor (1-A, 2-E, 3 Wound-C, 4-G). Are they good enough strings? Should I order another set? (I understand they easily break).

3 Can someone explain why the C string is wound, it looks a bit weird...

thanks again for your help!

I don't know anything about either of those companies.

I would definatly order a new set of strings. (Worths, Aquilla, D'Addario...) almost any new set of strings will be an upgrade from the GHS. I have been playing for about a year and a half and I haven't ever broke a string. I am just saying that break that easily.

I am not sure about why some have wound and some don't, but I can say that the wound strings , in my early expirence, overpower the other strings and have longer sustain. They also produce a squeek when moving fingers up or down them, like a gutiar. I do use a wound low G right now but there are not that many unwound low G strings (Worth and Orca). I haven't really used a wound C though. Hope this helps some.

The stock Fender/GHS strings will play well enough. There' not been much chatter about Fender ukuleles and I take that to be a good thing.

I have a Fender Nohea (middle of the three Fender uke models) and prefer Aquila strings over the stock ones. I tried going with a lowG setup, but never adjusted my ear to liking it. So I am flying with standard-tuned Aquilas and am quite happy.
http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12213&highlight=ohana+fender

My Fender has a lower tone than my Aquila-equipped Ohana TK35G. It's a matter of preference for which sound appeals to you.

The Fender will catch the eye of folks outside the ukulele world, it plays nicely, and should give years of great service.

Thank you both for your advice. i will buy an extra set of Aquila strings.

Harold, what made you choose the Nohea over the Pa'ina?

I'm still hesitating between the 2. I thought the Nohea looked cool at first but then I read some people didn't like the look of it and as I've never seen it 'in the flesh'...

I thought on this vid the Pa'ina sounded better and was not that much more expensive than the Nohea. Plus it's electro accoustic and made of solid wood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBzOHCLgARM

my suggestion: get the Nohea and add a passive pickup for about the same price of the Pa'ina. String it up with d'addarios and have fun!

oh yah, in the "looks" department. the Pa'ina doesnt even compete with the Nehea. Pa'ina looks and feels cheap.

I wanted the mahogany one, whatever that's called, just to get a first year Fender and address some UAS issues. But I had trouble finding one. Then the store I finally bought through (JR Music in New York) kept switching their story on did it ship or did it not.

When I told them I wanted a refund so I could buy one elsewhere, they upgraded to the Nohea for me and there it is.

As it happens, I had the Nohea at a Banjo & Fiddle contest to help keep me entertained (I was there as a woodwork vendor). Some guy saw it, wanted it, and bought it for $100 more than it took me to replace it. I bought a second one through JR the next day.

Looks and sound of any instrument will vary. It's up to you to decide what suits you. The Nohea is a decent enough instrument to give you years of pleasure. As a Fender, it will attract some attention. Pull the trigger, man. Then shoot some video.