Spotted a Cordoba Ukulele for sale at BestBuy today- Good or bad?

My suprise is that I live in Normal, IL, not in a place where you can buy a uke just anywhere. the uke is a 10CM (or UP110 pack) I have one to review right now, it is nice for a $100 ukulele. Just trying to wrap my head around how I feel about it. I am all for music to the masses, but I also feel that buying an instument in a big box store is not a good idea. At least when you buy an instrument at a music store they can make sure that it is good, what does a kid in the PS3 and WII section know about ukuleles?

Your thoughts?

ukeeku said:

My suprise is that I live in Normal, IL, not in a place where you can buy a uke just anywhere. the uke is a 10CM (or UP110 pack) I have one to review right now, it is nice for a $100 ukulele. Just trying to wrap my head around how I feel about it. I am all for music to the masses, but I also feel that buying an instument in a big box store is not a good idea. At least when you buy an instrument at a music store they can make sure that it is good, what does a kid in the PS3 and WII section know about ukuleles?

Your thoughts?

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Mixed feelings.
It's great that more people have access to the ukulele but you would like someone to have a positive experience on their first ukulele. The guy thats selling TVs and microwaves may not have much knowledge. That being said a lot of music stores don't have knowledge or respect for our beloved instrument. Being a small ukulele provider I take pride in what I do and try to be knowledgable as possible about what I sell. Plus I don't sell TVs and microwaves.

I saw a couple of Cordobas in a Best Buy a few months back. They were apparently the same model but looked very different. One was highly figured and the other was pretty plain looking but they were both laminates. The plain looking one had some fit/finish issues that I would consider unacceptable but it definitely sounded better than the prettier one. I ended up ordering a Mainland instead.

I walked into the best buy at in the Mall of America the other day and saw that in the instrament part of the store. there were two or three Ukuleles... all Cordoba. I played all of them and thought that they sounded pretty good for the price of about $200. I looked at the one of the tags and saw that one of them said it was a solid Koa wood ukulele. I at closer examination I saw that it was defenately solid wood on the top but made of Mahogany. I don't really know how i feel about it. if someone gave we $200 to spnd on a ukulele I wouldn't buy it from best buy, but if someone said "here have a free uke" and gave me a Cordoba. i wouldn't mind at all.

Cordoba ukes have quality issues. Some are really nice, some are really bad. So, I'd play before you buy. They are over-built, so you find a good one with a nice neck and it will last... and if you get tired of playing music on it, you can swat flies or play tennis. They don't project much sound. Some do look nice, though. Their solid mahogany tenor with a pickup is a nice uke... best in their line... $200 USD.

I really don't think it matters. We may question ukes in Best Buys but we are in the know. I don't think anyone serious about playing goes to Best Buy for instruments. Ukulele, guitar or otherwise. My guess is that they would be impulse buys for people in that store. Or a parent who doesn't know better and buys their teen a new uke or a guitar for Xmas. Only to have that instrument collecting dust by February. With stores like that, I would actually guess that if instruments really took off that they would end up having a dedicated music staff in that dept-if and when the demand was there. But until then-it is what it is.
I would think that the person who became really serious after buying their first uke at a Best Buy or Toys R Us is extremely rare. The uke purist will hate seeing ukes anywhere but in the music store. I, personally, don't care where they sell them. It's not a good or bad thing either way. It just puts ukes in the hands of people who probably won't be serious about the long run anyway. And we see plenty of those people here on UU anyway. People come and people go, thats just a fact. Just my opinion.

I know the Best Buy in our area that opened a music section was looking for someone with some knowledge of musical instruments.

I think it's the same thing with chains like Guitar Center selling ukes. They don't always have the most knowledgeable staff either.

It would be very convenient to have a local place stocking a wider range of ukulele strings.

PS. I like my Cordoba.

nickman2 said:

I walked into the best buy at in the Mall of America the other day and saw that in the instrament part of the store. there were two or three Ukuleles... all Cordoba. I played all of them and thought that they sounded pretty good for the price of about $200.

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I have mixed feelings as well. I would think for an impulse buy, they'd be better off stocking something cheaper like Makala Dolphins.

The really crappy thing is that I tried to see if I could get a dealer price on some and was told no becasue they have contracts with people and can not under cut them (AKA BestBuy)
Kind of crappy if you are a dealer and need to compete