I never knew !

I bought my Uke, my first musical instrument, about 2 months ago, and bought a very cheap £8 one just to try and make sure I was set on it and enjoyed playing before buying a better one. I changed the very nasty strings to some Aquila ones, and it sounded better, but I knew it was still below what a good Uke would sound like.
I had a new Uke on my list to Santa, and my other half asked me to come and point out/choose from the selection I had seen in a good music store nearby.

I had a play with a few, and a nice Lanikai, but settled on a concert Arai ACU 120 (not the cheaper AU 120 version).

Anyway.......The title, " I never knew ! " ?
I never knew how good a proper Uke sounds ! I know there are better sounding ones than my new one, but this one compared to my £8 toy it sounds like an angel
Yep, I've heard them on vids and the like, but playing and listening in person, wow ! My 2 months of skills now sound 100% better when I play the chords.
I was grinning from ear to ear for about an hour !

I'm seriously hooked now lol. And it's packed away now for wrapping till christmas day

Has anyone else gone from a cheapy plywood toy to a better quality Uke and been blown away like that, or remember the first time you strummed a good Uke and fell in love with the sound ?

I went from a Mahalo U-30, to a Makala S.

After it settled in, it destroys the Mahalo. Now I can't wait for my Mainland to arrive

Tonyd said:

Has anyone else gone from a cheapy plywood toy to a better quality Uke and been blown away like that, or remember the first time you strummed a good Uke and fell in love with the sound ?

Click to expand...

I've been thinking that the last few days - the difference in sound quality, tone, sustain... It's truly amazing. And to think I've been happy with a cheap Mahalo until recently.

Fuzzy said:

I've been thinking that the last few days - the difference in sound quality, tone, sustain... It's truly amazing. And to think I've been happy with a cheap Mahalo until recently.

Click to expand...

What you got now?

I went from an oscar schmidt ou2 to a mele solid mahghany concert and I was hooked. I owned that ou2 for three years. Then I went from a mele to a koaloha. Yeah there is even a difference between a high mid level or low high level (depends on how you look at it) uke and a higher end uke.

Tonyd said:

I bought my Uke, my first musical instrument, about 2 months ago, and bought a very cheap £8 one just to try and make sure I was set on it and enjoyed playing before buying a better one. I changed the very nasty strings to some Aquila ones, and it sounded better, but I knew it was still below what a good Uke would sound like.
I had a new Uke on my list to Santa, and my other half asked me to come and point out/choose from the selection I had seen in a good music store nearby.

I had a play with a few, and a nice Lanikai, but settled on a concert Arai ACU 120 (not the cheaper AU 120 version).

Anyway.......The title, " I never knew ! " ?
I never knew how good a proper Uke sounds ! I know there are better sounding ones than my new one, but this one compared to my £8 toy it sounds like an angel
Yep, I've heard them on vids and the like, but playing and listening in person, wow ! My 2 months of skills now sound 100% better when I play the chords.
I was grinning from ear to ear for about an hour !

I'm seriously hooked now lol. And it's packed away now for wrapping till christmas day

Has anyone else gone from a cheapy plywood toy to a better quality Uke and been blown away like that, or remember the first time you strummed a good Uke and fell in love with the sound ?

Click to expand...

Have only been playing ukulele about 1/2 year now but have owned a couple of others and tried out many in three different music stores. When I received my concert KoAloha last month from MGM, had the same "sounds like an angel" experience as you did. Wow, just wow. I've played classical guitar and mandolin and didn't know a ukulele could sound so good.

Enjoy your new uke!

My first Uke is almost 47 years old It still sound pretty good but its pretty whipped you could imagine what a 6 year old did to it. When I decided to be serious I got and Oscar Schmidt OU5. Nice but not what I'm use to. So when I came across a video of a Kanile'a being played that was it- the one for me. I got a very nice super concert thinking I would enjoy having the extra finger room over the soprano. Played that about 6 months loving the sound and quality of the instrument. Then one day on a whim I called Joe and had a really custom soprano made for me. I think it sings like an angle. And it beautiful to look at.
Today I hangs next to my chair in the living room so I can grab it off the wall and play along with CD's There is always a reason to buy the best instrument you can afford.

I've been a luithier for almost 30 years and I'm starting to build my first Ukes after all that time. I have a soprano, concert and tenor all made out of birds eye maple- from the same board and a spruce top plus I'm participating in the arch top built right here on our own board. Can't wait to see if I can get the sound quality I want and demand from my instruments.
Doug

Tonyd said:

Has anyone else gone from a cheapy plywood toy to a better quality Uke and been blown away like that, or remember the first time you strummed a good Uke and fell in love with the sound ?

Click to expand...

Well I started out with a Lanikai Ck-C man when I first started I love the sound it was amazing, then came my mainland mahogany tenor, and it was just . Lol The difference, man it was amazing, I love my tenor. Since the neck is bigger on the tenor compared to the concert it got me accustomed to having to reach a lil farther to reach strings, so when i went back to my concert every now and then, it felt like everything was so easy to reach lol.

But man, when I strummed my Tenor and heard that sound I was in love lol.

Thanks for the replies, I'm not alone then, I felt a bit daft posting "it sounded like an angel" not a very manly sounding line, but that's just how heavenly it sounded. Now got me :drool: for the future when I save for an even better Uke but this one will keep me happy for a good while yet

First time I got my Kamaka concert home and into a quiet living room I couldn't believe it, it still knocks my socks off. For the tenor Kanile'a', the same, though it has sounded less nice with the Aquilas, they don't seem to last very long before getting dead sounding on some ukes. The new Worth Clears sound better, and of course some of that "less than an angel" sound change is humidity and most is likely user input.