Sad to say, but I'm dissapointed with Makala dolphins latley.

Total Ukphoria

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First off- I'm a huge fan of the dolphin. I own several, have given them as gifts, and recommend them all the time to new players.

However, I have noticed a trend in the last 15 or so dolphins I have played. The E string (2nd) has a noticeable buzz on the 1st fret- and sometimes other places, to a lesser extent. This has been true for all but one of them- and it had the same problem on the 1st string instead. One I bought was so bad that I had to return it. :(Even the 2 I have bought recently have a slight buzz. I Have put 3 different kinds of strings on them- including aquilas- the buzz remains there to some extent. Those of you who have dolphins of old- is this true for you?

Any recommendations?
 
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Aloha Total Ukphoria,
My guess it may just be a bad batch or the the Quality control has slipped..it is what it is with entry level ukes...consistancy issues..send it back for refund or exchange...if you alter it
in any way you may void the warranty and you're stuck with it.. they should offer free shipping back for ukes with problems but not always...if not you have to think if it's worth it... good luck
A Good Retailer would.. or contact the company directly and discuss the matter with them.. privately....
 
There is a shop in Thailand that will display them but not sell them because of poor playability.

From what I understand, its the new models. Consistently bad.

Welcome to "Made in China". >8)p

I expect at some point the lead in the paint may be brought to question (D'oh).
 
I love mine, it's an older one but plastic backed. The action is awesome but the bridge is pulling up.

Lori (of the awesome Uke Leash) bought a bunch for Christmas gifts and they all had MUCH higher saddles than our old ones. Now for cheap I would buy probably a Kala, well, actually I did just sort of accidentally buy a Kala, but you know what I mean.
 
First off- I'm a huge fan of the dolphin. I own several, have given them as gifts, and recommend them all the time to new players.

However, I have noticed a trend in the last 15 or so dolphins I have played. The E string (2nd) has a noticeable buzz on the 1st fret- and sometimes other places, to a lesser extent. This has been true for all but one of them- and it had the same problem on the 1st string instead. One I bought was so bad that I had to return it. :(Even the 2 I have bought recently have a slight buzz. I Have put 3 different kinds of strings on them- including aquilas- the buzz remains there to some extent. Those of you who have dolphins of old- is this true for you?

Any recommendations?

remember they are $35 instruments. Buy a $35 guitar and it will be way worse.
 
. . . Any recommendations?

Stop buying Makala Dolphins.

Okay, before you respond with "I'm a huge fan. . .", I'll share this - I was a huge fan of Aquila, and exclusively installed them on my `ukulele. I no longer do that, and that took a LOT, because I too was a HUGE fan.

You get what you pay for, and in my world, $35 pays for tuning machines and a set of strings, maybe.

Get a bunch of StewMac, Grizzly, or Hana Lima I`a kits and build them yourself?
 
Dolphins do tend to have a bit of a cult following!

When I went to buy my cheap uke I pointed out the yellow Malaka Dolphin to the sales guy and said I wanted one of those. He gave me a sealed box and I went home happy. Wasn't until I opened it later that day I realised he'd given me a yellow Vintage VUK20 instead...

I was annoyed at first but soon got over it. Guess it might not have been such a big loss after all, lol!
 
I love love LOVE my dolphin. It plays wonderfully. I bought it from MGM last year.... However, I recently visited a music store in Lake Worth, Florida and they had about 10 dolphins on display. I was very excited...but they were all out of tune, looked a lot more shabby than mine and the two I tuned and tried did not impress me at all (even for $35). I don't know if MGM was the magic, or if recent models have a quality issue or if it was just the music store's failure to keep their display instruments playable....
 
I love love LOVE my dolphin. It plays wonderfully. I bought it from MGM last year.... However, I recently visited a music store in Lake Worth, Florida and they had about 10 dolphins on display. I was very excited...but they were all out of tune, looked a lot more shabby than mine and the two I tuned and tried did not impress me at all (even for $35). I don't know if MGM was the magic, or if recent models have a quality issue or if it was just the music store's failure to keep their display instruments playable....

I have had a hand in over 50 makala dolphins being purchased from UkeRepublic. 95% of them turned out fine. There were some paint issues and some of them developed cracks by the neck but it didn't affect (or is it effect?) the sound.
They were (not sure if still are) the best beginner uke in that price range. But they were a $35 instrument. I have never understood why the had such an awesome sounding reputation. Mine sound like cheap ukes. Maybe it helps that I have some very nice ukuleles to know what a good ukulele sounds like. I no longer am upset if i get a dolphin that isn't perfect. Once again, it is a $35 instrument.
 
Makala Dolphins serve many purposes. I sell them to people looking for the following:

"My 2 year old wont take his hands off my guitar and I want him/her to have something where they feel like they are playing guitar... but still gives them the experience of a fretted instrument"
(then later I sell a uke to the guitar player who cant stop playing his 2 year olds dolphin :p )

"What is the cheapest you got?"
(I wont sell anything of worse quality, so yeah, it is the cheapest I got)

"Thinking of picking up the uke but dont know if I will like it"
(Get a dolphin. Play around with it. Then if you like it, save up your pennies and go nicer, but then you will have a good beater/car uke when all is said and done)

"Look at that... it is sooooo cute!"
(Yes, it is cute! And still plays! And for $35, it is the best value for $35. Go for it! They are fun!)

Sooooo... that being said... I usually do a nut, sometimes saddle adjustment, and for an extra $5 throw some Aquilas on it. And tah-dah... a functional, playable, cheap ukulele, that can withstand a beating.

Musical Perfection... nah... but as a dealer I have learned you can't expect but so much until you get over the $80-$100 range depending on the brand.

The fret should not be popping up, but I am sure it can be tapped into place if necissary. I have a bunch of them and have not run into that problem yet. But, I am happy for the heads up, because some are still in the box until I sell the stock in-store (basically I have multiples of the same color) and I could crack a box and find the same problems.

A lot of people sell Dolphins right out of the box (or without even cracking the box). They do not carry a great profit margin so it may not be worth their time to put so much time and effort into them I would imagine.
 
^ thanks for this useful information Mim!

I bought my Makala Dolphins (4 of them) from MGM and UkeRepublic, and the Black Sparkle is noticeably quieter than the rest (the kids pointed it out to me, too).

I also got a Mainland Gecko 2nd from UkeRepublic in lieu of a Purple Dolphin and the kids have pointed out that it throws more sound (The 1st quality Gecko is $80 versus $45 for the Makala Dolphin).

I think that whenever something gets popular and the factory has to put out more items faster, it makes sense that quality control will suffer to a degree.

I know a good quality music store Alpha Music 45 minutes away has Dolphins -- they keep them behind the counter, so no rampant walk-by jammin' like the Guitar Center's Lunas and Cordobas.

Alpha Music sets up every fretted instrument they sell, so I might recommend my students get Dolphins there in the future. However, Alpha doesn't carry Aquilas or Fremonts or Worths. Just D'Addarios.
 
dude, its a makala dolphin, its just a fun piece of... ukulele. I have one for my daughter and the paint flakes terribly, one side of the body is actually wider than the other giving the whole body this strange twisted look.... that being said it does sound fantastic for the price, but I wouldn't expect the frets to be silky smooth and the nut and saddle to be perfect. But at the price it'd be worth having a read through how to set up and doing it yourself... not much bad can come of it and you'll notice the world of difference.

Yeah and aquilas sound good, I really recommend concert size aquilas, they give it a really good sound
 
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my $400 Kala limited edition 'Larivee' Koa didn't sound or play much better than my blue dolphin, but it did look a whole lot better. I guess I got a good one.
 
Did they come down in price? I bought mine awhile ago but I seem to remember paying more than $30...oh well. I'm happy with mine. Glad I bought it when I did. I've beat on mine and it's still looking pretty good.
 
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