Had a very special day today...

HaileISela

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I went to the opposite end of Berlin today to take a look at a local guitar shop. what shall I say: I never saw so many Ukes in one place. and they don't only sell the usual Mahalo. No, they had Kala and Pono! I was playing so many different beautiful instruments. two of those ponos were Koa with installed pickup. never heard such a beautiful tone.

they had several different Ukes by a brand that is unknown to me, I think A. Johnson or something.

and strings! all Uke strings for 10 €, regardless if they were Aquila or trash. So I got an Aquila set for my Baritone, I needed that pretty badly. But my Baritone doesn't like them wound Aquila strings, I think there are some sharp edges on both the nut and saddle. All together I lost 5 € in two strings that broke right away and now my Uke only has two. not the best end for such a nice trip...

I wish I had money...
 
I went to the opposite end of Berlin today to take a look at a local guitar shop. what shall I say: I never saw so many Ukes in one place. and they don't only sell the usual Mahalo. No, they had Kala and Pono! I was playing so many different beautiful instruments. two of those ponos were Koa with installed pickup. never heard such a beautiful tone.

they had several different Ukes by a brand that is unknown to me, I think A. Johnson or something.

and strings! all Uke strings for 10 €, regardless if they were Aquila or trash. So I got an Aquila set for my Baritone, I needed that pretty badly. But my Baritone doesn't like them wound Aquila strings, I think there are some sharp edges on both the nut and saddle. All together I lost 5 € in two strings that broke right away and now my Uke only has two. not the best end for such a nice trip...

I wish I had money...
bummer on the strings
 
Money cannot buy happiness - but it IS useful when you need new strings.

Ukantor.
 
Can you tell me the location of that shop in berlin? Sounds pretty interesting, maybe I get the chance to give it a look! :)
 
Very cool to know that ukes are in abundance in Berlin. I recall when ukuleles had to be flown in on the hour every hour during the Berlin Airlift.:D
 
When we were in Deutschland this summer we visited many music stores, but the best was a three story store in Munich. I can't remember the name, but they carried quite a few ukes in an assortment of brands. My husband and I were bummed because we didn't think we had enough room to get one home!!!!

I went to the opposite end of Berlin today to take a look at a local guitar shop. what shall I say: I never saw so many Ukes in one place. and they don't only sell the usual Mahalo. No, they had Kala and Pono! I was playing so many different beautiful instruments. two of those ponos were Koa with installed pickup. never heard such a beautiful tone.

they had several different Ukes by a brand that is unknown to me, I think A. Johnson or something.

and strings! all Uke strings for 10 €, regardless if they were Aquila or trash. So I got an Aquila set for my Baritone, I needed that pretty badly. But my Baritone doesn't like them wound Aquila strings, I think there are some sharp edges on both the nut and saddle. All together I lost 5 € in two strings that broke right away and now my Uke only has two. not the best end for such a nice trip...

I wish I had money...
 
Baritone Strings

I went to the opposite end of Berlin today to take a look at a local guitar shop. what shall I say: I never saw so many Ukes in one place. and they don't only sell the usual Mahalo. No, they had Kala and Pono! I was playing so many different beautiful instruments. two of those ponos were Koa with installed pickup. never heard such a beautiful tone.

they had several different Ukes by a brand that is unknown to me, I think A. Johnson or something.

and strings! all Uke strings for 10 €, regardless if they were Aquila or trash. So I got an Aquila set for my Baritone, I needed that pretty badly. But my Baritone doesn't like them wound Aquila strings, I think there are some sharp edges on both the nut and saddle. All together I lost 5 € in two strings that broke right away and now my Uke only has two. not the best end for such a nice trip...

I wish I had money...

I'm using MARTIN GUITARS M630 BARITONE UKULELE STRINGS which I order from here:
http://www.thomann.de/de/martin_guitars_m630_ukulele_saiten_set.htm
They are cheap (EUR 3,30 a set) and sound really very nice. (I've tried a few and I think these sound better than the expensive Aquilas.)

Alternatively (to get an even better sound) I'm using Martin Guitars Baritone ukulele strings (M630) for the wound 4th and wound 3rd. For the 2nd I use Seaguar fluorocarbon fishing line, 0.78 mm (tension of 6.397 kg) and for the 1st Seaguar 0.57 mm (tension of 6.087 kg).

Please note: These tensions are for a scale of 550 mm (e.g. Pono Baritones). Other Baritones may have a shorter scale! (e.g. the Legacy Baritone only has 515 mm as Sam (YT user "kissing88") told me).

For a sound sample you may check out my latest Baritone vids where I'm using the Martin Guitars / fishing line string set on my Pono Mango Baritone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaYex4-BrWc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff3a2InFBvY
 
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Yes, please do share the address.

I just came back from Berlin :)love:) again yesterday and had wanted to check out local music stores for ukes, but couldn't find any online. :(
 
I'm glad you had fun in the uke shop. :) Sorry to hear about the strings though. :(


Munich? mmmmm....beeer. (did someone mention beer? no?)

Sorry, that was leakage from my thoughts. You must have a telepathic streak... :cheers:
 
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