Best Cheapie Uke

tad

tad

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 8, 2008
Messages
771
Reaction score
20
Location
Outside DC
I work at a research Center with a lot of-- and I say this with a high level of respect-- geeks. I find playing the uke eminently relaxing, and conducive to taking your mind off a problem and thinking "outside the box."

So I'm looking at getting a uke I can just leave in the Center, so I can strum on it, and I can encourage my coworkers to do the same...

Think of it as ukulele evangelism.

So I was wondering, what brand/style uke should I get? I'm gonna want to get the cheapest possible ukulele that still can hold a basic tune... Please note, we're talking about something I can keep in the break room, unsupervised. Something that I'm basically donating-- and I'm a poor grad student. Let's say under fifty bucks. Twenty to thirty is great.

Any suggestions? I'm thinking Mahalo...
 
Last edited:
Mahalo is alright. My neighbor owned a Mahalo concert which sounded pretty nice. And I know someone over here at UU just bought a concert for $20? That's a steal. Musician's Friend has that Rogue Bari that guting has. Sounds great but we all know its' GUTING. He can make 4 strings and a piece of wood sound like a Pono. :eek: lol
 
degracia said:
Mahalo is alright. My neighbor owned a Mahalo concert which sounded pretty nice. And I know someone over here at UU just bought a concert for $20? That's a steal. Musician's Friend has that Rogue Bari that guting has. Sounds great but we all know its' GUTING. He can make 4 strings and a piece of wood sound like a Pono. :eek: lol
Click to expand...

My basic concern is something where they're not making any shortcuts with the tuners-- sound quality isn't that big a deal, I just want something that won't need extreme tuning every time after a song or two.
 
Last edited:
degracia said:
Mahalo is alright. My neighbor owned a Mahalo concert which sounded pretty nice. And I know someone over here at UU just bought a concert for $20? That's a steal. Musician's Friend has that Rogue Bari that guting has. Sounds great but we all know its' GUTING. He can make 4 strings and a piece of wood sound like a Pono. :eek: lol
Click to expand...

Haha I was about to mention guting's rogue bari from musicians friend. It's going for 30 bucks right? That's probably the next ukulele I'm planning on buying.

My Soprano Hilo was $40 bucks. Its a great little ukulele to take everywhere with you. It's cheap enough to take it with you and not worry about getting dings or scratches on it. the strings sound terrible though because they are about 5 years old though lol. I'm suprised they didn't break after all these years. When I first got it though it had a pretty decent bright sound. Not so good on the projection though.

Question: what strings should I put on it next?
 
i've seen some cheap makalas at the store i buy my ukes at. so you might wanna check that out.
 
My soprano Makala was cheap, goes everywhere and has a few bashes and chips. It has geared tuners, so holds its tuning and Aquila strings really improved the sound. It's fairly quiet though, but that might be a good thing if the blokey ukey geeks band takes off. Hope so!
 
Once the US Dollar rises a bit more, one popular brand here in Europe for a high bang-for-buck ratio is Bruko, or Brueko or Brüko. They're a German company that produces all their own stuff.
 
If you want a real CHEAP ukulele, there is the Harley-Benton HBUK-11, with Aquila's strings ...
Not the best ukulele you can have but reaaaally cheap and have a decent sound.

If you can pay a little more a recomment you the Brüko Slim, with a very very slim body, it's sound projection will surprise you Here is an example
 
UkuCouS said:
If you want a real CHEAP ukulele, there is the Harley-Benton HBUK-11, with Aquila's strings ...
Not the best ukulele you can have but reaaaally cheap and have a decent sound.

If you can pay a little more a recomment you the Brüko Slim, with a very very slim body, it's sound projection will surprise you Here is an example
Click to expand...

So how much are those ukuleles and where do you get them? Is that you in the video? that ukulele sounds good!
 
Here
$183, I was expecting a cheaper price, a friend told me she had it for $130, I'll ask her where she got it.
Not it isn't me on the video ^
 
My Hohner (lanikai) solid spruce top with geared, guitar type tuners seems to stay in tune forever (once the strings settle in).

I don't know that I would leave it laying around for anyone to pick up though. Even though cheap, it is made with pretty thin wood (which I think is why it sounds pretty decent)

How bout a fluke for a bit more money? Would certainly be more durable and you can stand it in the corner.
 
I think brukos are thought of as the best "cheap" ukes because they're all solid wood, all handmade, all not imported, and still cheaper than laminates that are factory made. So yeah, they're most expensive than 30 bucks but the euro goes far with them is all.
 
Musician's friend has a lot of varieties of cheapies. I just ordered a friend an Oscar Schmidt concert for 60. They have Lanikai sopranos as well going for 30 or so :eek:
 
UkuCouS said:
If you want a real CHEAP ukulele, there is the Harley-Benton HBUK-11, with Aquila's strings ...
Not the best ukulele you can have but reaaaally cheap and have a decent sound.

If you can pay a little more a recomment you the Brüko Slim, with a very very slim body, it's sound projection will surprise you Here is an example
Click to expand...

I think it will be very expensive importing it these day. Without doubt, They are the ebst at their price range, very good quality, a very good tone, solid wood for around 130$, I'm a real fan of brueko and own one (not a slim one).
But shipping to the USA and the devaluation of the dollar makes it rather expensive to import from the EU market.
The reason why the brueko shop sells the bruekos at higher prices, is because they follow a fair policy towards shops selling brueko ukes as well. Of course big music shops like the german giant thomann don't need to sell their bruekos for as much money as a small ukulele internet store, so they benefit from the fair price policy and can offer the ukes for dumping prices.

As for the cheap ukes.. Don't try Mahalo, I tested them at a locala music store and they are just horrible, really horrible. I have heard good stuff about Makala, look for more information about them.
 
If you want to risk it a little, you can sometimes get a great old cheap Japanese uke from the 1950's or 1960's on Ebay. The risk is that you might need to glue the neck back - which is actually easy to do and then they work fine. Make sure the tuners look good too.

I bought two ukes from a guy that had no picture of them on the listing for $14 and although one was moldy and had to be thrown away, the other uke was a Decca from Japan and plays and sounds great! Those old Japanese ukes sound waaaay better than a $34- 45 Johnson.
 
bof said:
As for the cheap ukes.. Don't try Mahalo, I tested them at a locala music store and they are just horrible, really horrible. I have heard good stuff about Makala, look for more information about them.
Click to expand...

I really don't care about sound quality. I'm just looking for something that can play, that I can set out in the break room... (AKA, where anyone could just walk off with it...)

If you're able to afford to set out a $50-100 instrument where anyone could steal it, I'm jealous. Personally, I don't make that kind of money. I'm looking for something $35 or less-- something I can afford to lose or have broken.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Cliff E
Best case for my needs?
Replies
6
Views
200
Archeonn
A
Jag-Stang
Ukulele and microphones which work best for recording
Replies
4
Views
117
Shaw
Shaw
GreatPotoo
Best alien series of all time ...
Replies
11
Views
448
Joe T
Joe T
K
Best sites to sell Ukes?
Replies
10
Views
598
KaminTheWeaver
K
K
  • Poll
Best Nintendo character?
Replies
2
Views
520
Farkvam
Farkvam
Top Bottom