Good ukulele shop in Australia?

japzylog

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hey guys,
anyone knows a good ukulele shop in Australia?
thanks
 
It's a bit of hit-n-miss with australian music shops.
I've been to several. Some have great ukes (Kala, Lanikai/Kohala, Flea, Fluke, Royal).
Some just have Mahalos, which aren't that great.

One uke company within Australia I've found to have good quality, consistency and sound are the Legacy brand, especially their "premium" models with laminate or solid spruce-top.
They have sopranos, tenors and baritones, and have a Shadow active pickup option.
They're great value, have a comfortable factory setup and prompt warranty within Australia.

Goto your local music store and ask them to look for them in their catalogue. Most stores I've been to are able to order them in.
I think Legacy is Australia's substitute for Kala. Decent, affordable ukes made in China, owned by an Austalian company.
http://www.legacymusic.com.au/products/?id=6

Their cheap $30 colored models are also better than the other cheapo ukes around.
Intonation is not bad for $30, low comfortable action and good projection. Much better than Mahalos, which are around the same price.
However, the quality control is a bit iffy with the cheap sopranos - some have stiff tuners or aesthetic blemishes. I pick mine out of a bunch at the store.

And you would want to switch strings - they come with GHS by default.



A good store with lots of ukes is MelMusic.
www.melmusic.com.au

However it may be a better value to buy from Musicguymic, even if they're in Hawaii, as they come with setups, case, upgraded strings and other goodies. There is a big inflation for uke prices in Australia.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Ken.

You should all come to the Cairns Ukulele Festival in July and check out the ukes there! Music City Cairns will have a stall too (www.ukes.com.au).

Legacy is fine, but seriously, it depends on what you're after. Good customer service from Billy Hydes (the company behind this brand so no wonder they push it)? mmm...

Drop me a line any time if you need any advice or comparisons. Or ring me any afternoon on 07 40516826
 
As a by word on the Legacy ukes, I was at a ukulele class this week (MUK) and one of the members had just purchased a legacy Tenor which he was passing around, it caused some comment as to how well it sounded and played, It was a spruce top with pick up and he had haggled the guy from Billy Hydes down from the $300 asking price to $200 (took him 15 minutes). Of course the caveat is that its a matter of knowing if you have a good uke in your hand or not, I as a novice would have little discernment in these matters. Also the guys at Melmusic have been very helpful whenever I have gone in there, but mostly Mahalos and Kalas(archtops as well) and I noticed Makala Dolpins there this week.

Cheers from Melbourne
 
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