what is a good ukulele

what is a good ukulele to play??

price range 300-200



thanks for those who are helping me with this

Koa Pili koko is a good brand for that much and its wood is a relative of hawaiin koa. But with 300 bucks u can get a lot of good ukuleles off ebay.
 
were you looking for a particular size?
i really like my koa tenor applause...
i got it for about $300.
 
^ tell me lol, i want to buy an applause but they more than an acoustic uke lol :D
 
There is plenty of choice in that price range.

So what should be the criterias for your Ukulele?

Intonation? I think every Ukulele in that price range has a good intonation.

features
With Pick-up or without?
If you take a Uke with Pickups I can recommend the Soprano Applause

Solid wood!
If you shop in that price rane, you have to insist on a solid wood ukulele. It just sounds louder better than the plywood Ukuleles
However, you normally can't have a ukulele with a pick-up and made out of solid wood. These Ukuleles normally start at 400 $. Do the Applause has a laminated top, not a solid one.

What size?
Of course the size is also a deciding factor. Sopranos are usually a bit cheaper than Concerts or Tenors.

Bindings, Inlays etc.?
Of course you don't really need them. They add additional $ to the prize.

Now look at some modells and brands, the usual suspects for your category are: bruko/brüko/brueko (the best for their price category! top quality solid wood ukes starting at 70€=100$), koa pili koko, Pono (only the mahogany model), C.F. Martin (only the new mahogany model), Kala (Exclude the laminated ones), Ohana (They offer a solid Mahogany for around 200$), and of course the Applause i mentioned.
 
ovation koa appllause with pickup lil over 300 bucks. i have it. and i LOVE IT

I just got one-- a soprano-- and I'm actually rather shocked at how good it sounds, even unplugged. Don't let the plastic back fool you! (I'm now starting to see what people mean when they say that about Fleas and Flukes!)

And even on my ridiculously tiny Honeytone amp, I can turn up the distortion and feel like a real rock & roller!
 
Solid wood!
If you shop in that price rane, you have to insist on a solid wood ukulele. It just sounds louder better than the plywood Ukuleles
However, you normally can't have a ukulele with a pick-up and made out of solid wood. These Ukuleles normally start at 400 $. Do the Applause has a laminated top, not a solid one.

You're the one who wrote the review, right?
I've been wondering where you got this intel about the top being laminate-- 'cause the specs that Ovation lists in their brochure say that while the tenor is laminate, the sopranos-- UA and UAE 10 & 20-- are solid spruce tops.

It's not koa or anything, but it's solid wood. It just doesn't look it 'cause it's painted.
 
You're the one who wrote the review, right?
I've been wondering where you got this intel about the top being laminate-- 'cause the specs that Ovation lists in their brochure say that while the tenor is laminate, the sopranos-- UA and UAE 10 & 20-- are solid spruce tops.

It's not koa or anything, but it's solid wood. It just doesn't look it 'cause it's painted.

Every shop in Germany says that they have laminated spruce tops, and in fact, thats what it looks like if you look at the edges of the soundholes, it really looks like plywood to me.. Maybe I'm wrong but I rather believe the German shops. Why would they say that it's laminated while it is in fact solid wood?
 
Every shop in Germany says that they have laminated spruce tops, and in fact, thats what it looks like if you look at the edges of the soundholes, it really looks like plywood to me.. Maybe I'm wrong but I rather believe the German shops. Why would they say that it's laminated while it is in fact solid wood?

See, most of the dealers that give any indication of whether it's solid or not in the US seem to say it is. And why would the manufacturer lie about it being solid wood if it was plywood? It seems like that would get disproven pretty quickly.

When I look at mine, at the soundholes, it is hard to tell, 'cause they're small. But I see grain, and plywood doesn't have grain.

It's also hard to tell 'cause it's painted, and because the soundholes have those weird decorative tobacco leaf things over them. But to me, it looks like Tobacco leaf, a layer of paint, and then solid wood.

Of course, I could be wrong. OR the manufacturer might make their models for export to different specs than the domestic ones. Who knows?

But yeah, the tenors seem to definitely be laminate. And I've read a couple places that the UAE-KOA is koa laminated spruce.
 
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Yeah but is that really a layer of paint? It's quite thick, isn't it? I think i was a bit wrong about Plywood. Maybe its just laminated in the way that they really used solid spruce but than laminated it with another layer (if you look close at the soundholes you can see 3 layers, the first, the leaf, of course, but then the second, seems to be a foil rather than just painting and the third the wood). So they laminated this kind of foil on the wood. Probably that's why some say the top is solid spruce (it is only one layer wood that seems to be solid) and the others say that is laminated because of this foil. Just my theory, does it make any sense? Anyone who doesn't need his Applause Soprano and has a predilection for destructive actions?
 
That *is* an interesting theory...

I may just try to contact someone at Applause and try to find out that way...
 
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