And SPEAKING of Baritones...

..if I were to want a "trial" barry, just to play for a while and see if it's for me, what would you suggest? Kala, Lanikai, etc--the usual suspects?

The usual suspects are all good, but you should also look in to the Rogue Bari from musiciansfriend. $29.99 is hard to beat especially if you just want to try it out. I haven't tried their Bari but have one if their soprano's and it's a good uke for a traveling companion. I know M M Stan here has a Bari or two and I'm sure he'd answer your questions

kenikas said:

The usual suspects are all good, but you should also look in to the Rogue Bari from musiciansfriend. $29.99 is hard to beat especially if you just want to try it out.

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I'd agree with kenikas! They sound pretty good to my ears, especially when Guting plays his.

I might have to pick one up!

i have a kala ka-fmb, and i love it! i would highly recommend it.

The Kala mango baritone is hard to beat.

I tried quite a few sub £100 baritones before getting my first bari uke. This is what I feel about the instruments I tried out.

The Kala KA-B was very good for a laminate bari, construction is fantastic, set up perfectly, sounds superb. (I bought one)
Cheaper but pretty good, the Makala MK-B sounded great, but was fitted with cheaper tuners, no fancy binding.
The Mahalo U320B was OK, not as 'bassy' as the Kala or Makala, I felt it was completely eclipsed by the better made Kala/Makal instruments.
The Lanikai LU-21B was fine, but didn't feel as nice to hold as the Kala.
I also tried a Blue Moon pear shaped 'f hole' Tenor, fitted with baritone DGBE strings. A totally different sound, was not well constructed or finished, but I liked the sound.

I recently bought a Korala solid mahogany baritone, which cost only marginally more than the Kala laminate. It is by far the superior instrument, but not sure their available in your location

RyRod said:

I'd agree with kenikas! They sound pretty good to my ears, especially when Guting plays his.

I might have to pick one up!

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Guting could make anything sound good.

I play Baris mostly in C tuning low G. I started with the Makala mahogany which I still really like, but also have a Kala Spalted Maple spruce top, which is my favorite, and I do have a Rogue, which is OK but just doesn't have the quality sound my other two have. In my opinion I would go with the Makala mahogany for about 75 bucks which will give you a nice sounding Bari without investing too much until you see if you like it. Are you thinking DGBE or GCEA tuning? In C tuning it is an oversized tenor with fuller sound and depth for me. good luck!! Lozark

I just played a Kala laminate mahogany bari yesterday in a local music shop. It was pretty cool. Had a unique sound and felt pretty good in my hands. I didn't check out the price tag cuz I was all like "oo I'm playing a baritone! (but I'm not gonna buy it!)"....it was fun though

ukularwarhead said:

I just played a Kala laminate mahogany bari yesterday in a local music shop. It was pretty cool. Had a unique sound and felt pretty good in my hands. I didn't check out the price tag cuz I was all like "oo I'm playing a baritone! (but I'm not gonna buy it!)"....it was fun though

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Cool, that's what I started with, laminated wood yes, but a decent Bari uke nonetheless; but there are some solid tops out there now for around the same cost, so plenty to choose from.