uk customer concert ukulele on a budget?

Hi everyone this is my first post so i hope you can all help. I am new to ukuleles but in the past have made a tenor guitar myself which is fairly similar. Anyway i digress i would like to buy my first ukulele and have now decided i would like a concert sized. Can anyone give me any advice what the best option under £100 would be and also the best option between £100 and £150 as im working my magic with the lady and she is contemplating learning one too which would allow me to spend a bit more. Also does buying a all mahogany uku such as the kala which i think i have seen for £135 make a massive difference in sound quality other woods? Thank you all

Hello raecarter,

Welcome to the world of ukulele. The best ukulele for under 100 pounds, hmmmm I really don't know. Anything made by Kala, Ohana or Lanikai will be pretty decent. Koaloha just put there Koalana ukes back on the market and I believe a Saple concert is just under your budget. I have not heard anything about the new ones yet but Koaloha is a very good company that cares about their customers.

If you can get your budget a little higher there are more options with each of the brands listed above but with nicer woods and all solid woods. There is also Mainland at that price point and everyone seems to love their mainland ukes.

One think that I look at alot is solid vs. laminate vs soldi tops. The solid wood ukes a ussually nicer sounding then the laminates (but MGM proved this mostly wrong a while back). Different woods can also give slightly different tones, spruce top can be brighter and mahogany mellower. Check out MGM's store and see what looks nice.

thanks

That's a great help what are these mainland IKEA then I was looking at the Lana la asmc for 133pounds from wmcmusic

Hi Rae

Welcome to UU.
Just posted some useful UK info on your New Members post.
Hope it helps

John

raecarter said:

...what are these mainland....

Click to expand...

Mainland ukuleles are a fairly new company started about a year ago by one of UUs members (hoosierhiver). Quite a few members have bought one or more Mainlands, and I don't think I have heard anything negative about them.

i saw you on youtube

Dnewton thanks for the info

Hi Rae,
I posted on your other post. Mainlands are really great Ukes. I have a Gloss Concert Mahogany, and it is a fantastic instrumnet for the price. I was given advice by Paulmjuk who suggested I had a look at the Mainland as he had one. He was right I had to have it . Paul did have a problem with his as it had a misaligned Bridge, but Eagle Music really looked after him well I believe.
I was up North on business and went to see Eagle and thay were really helpfull to me . (I am a noob to Ukes Too, lot's of guitars though!) and home came the Concert. Are you going to Farnham to the Uke meet on Dec 13th , I'll take the Mainland with me if you are and you want to have a look or maybe you can't wait that long. If you want one in a hurry then maybe the Ohana or a Kala would suit, plenty of choice.

Good luck and be warned they are addictive litlte things and when compared to the price of a good Les Paul or top end Strat, they appear so cheap, , They are indeed just like sweets! You will end up with UAS ( Ukulele Aqusition Syndrome)

have fun and let us know how you get on

cheers
Dave