I am a guitar player, who recently got into ukuleles, bought a few, reading here, etc.
When I got my Yamaha guitalele though, I find that I am playing that more than any other uke or guitar. It has the small size, lightness to pick up, and tuning of a tenor uke, but has those two bass strings that I miss in a uke. (I guess a uke player who never played guitar would not miss those two strings though.)
The Yamaha GL-1 ($100) is the main guitalele around today, and it is a very nice instrument. (However, the action on mine was too high out of the box, and I had to bring it to a shop and pay $40 to lower the action.) With good strings it sounds great.
There are other variants, with different dimensions, such as the discontinued Kala U-Tar (I think more bari uke size), and the very inexpensive (but not bad) Mahalo uke guitar.
One that many are anticipating is the Cordoba Guilele. It looks just like the Yamaha GL-1, the dimensions are similar, but has a solid spruce top, bone nut and saddle, etc. (upgraded parts over all) Will cost twice as much though-$200. Cordoba has announced for months that it is about to become available, but that still has not occurred.
Something just occured to me though.I was looking at the Strunal student classcal guitars, made in the Czech Republic. They have a very good reputation on guitar forums, much better quality than the Chinese made guitars that dominate the lower end market. Strunal has been a music instrument factory for a long time--earlier making only violins, violas, and cellos, but now branching out (for a while now) to classical guitars.
They have a solid cedar top guitar, which looks very good, and I have read very good reviews about. It comes in various fractional sizes--4/4 (full size), 7/8. 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4. (Those fractional sizes are far from standardized, and mean something different to each manufacturer. Don't buy a small guitar by the fractional size, but find out the exact dimensions and scale length.)
Look at that guitar in 1/4 size: http://www.smallguitars.com/catalog/79-1-4_size_STC_1-4_size_solid_red_cedar_top_classical_guitar
Look at the dimensions--Scale length-17 5/16. Just slightly longer than the Yamaha GL-1. Neck slightly narrower- 1 11/16 nut width rather than 2". Ït occurred to me, this instrument could be a very nice guitalele. Put regular (not "fractional") classical guitar strings on it, and tune a fourth up, like a guitalele. I think it could quite likely be a better instrument not only than the GL-1, but also than the Cordoba Guilele (made in China). (Cordoba's Chinese-made instruments do not have a good reputation for quality control.) Solid red cedar top, and very likely better workmanship. (I don't know the nut and saddle material though.)
On that site it costs $229, but if one goes to https://meantone.com/Shop/SolidTopGuitars.shtml chooses that Strunal student concert 4855, then over to the right chooses the 1/4 size, the price there is $180.99, fifty dollars cheaper, and cheaper than the Cordoba guilele will cost. (The Strunals are also available at other vendors, such as Elderly, but the lowest prices I found are at that second link, meantone. (Of course there might be a lower price somewhere that I did not find.)
Has anyone here tried one of those? Do you think it would make a good guitalele? A guitalele is only a very small classical guitar, tuned a fourth higher, correct? (Or is there something different about the construction, other than smaller size?)
Your opinion?
Edit-PS- There are two lines of the Strunal student classical guitar. Both come in all those fractional sizes, and both are supposed to be high quality. One line has laminated spruce tops, and the other that I linked to (concert 4855) (on the other link called STC) has the solid cedar top. Of course the laminate ones are cheaper, but not by much at all, so IMO no point in getting the laminate.
When I got my Yamaha guitalele though, I find that I am playing that more than any other uke or guitar. It has the small size, lightness to pick up, and tuning of a tenor uke, but has those two bass strings that I miss in a uke. (I guess a uke player who never played guitar would not miss those two strings though.)
The Yamaha GL-1 ($100) is the main guitalele around today, and it is a very nice instrument. (However, the action on mine was too high out of the box, and I had to bring it to a shop and pay $40 to lower the action.) With good strings it sounds great.
There are other variants, with different dimensions, such as the discontinued Kala U-Tar (I think more bari uke size), and the very inexpensive (but not bad) Mahalo uke guitar.
One that many are anticipating is the Cordoba Guilele. It looks just like the Yamaha GL-1, the dimensions are similar, but has a solid spruce top, bone nut and saddle, etc. (upgraded parts over all) Will cost twice as much though-$200. Cordoba has announced for months that it is about to become available, but that still has not occurred.
Something just occured to me though.I was looking at the Strunal student classcal guitars, made in the Czech Republic. They have a very good reputation on guitar forums, much better quality than the Chinese made guitars that dominate the lower end market. Strunal has been a music instrument factory for a long time--earlier making only violins, violas, and cellos, but now branching out (for a while now) to classical guitars.
They have a solid cedar top guitar, which looks very good, and I have read very good reviews about. It comes in various fractional sizes--4/4 (full size), 7/8. 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4. (Those fractional sizes are far from standardized, and mean something different to each manufacturer. Don't buy a small guitar by the fractional size, but find out the exact dimensions and scale length.)
Look at that guitar in 1/4 size: http://www.smallguitars.com/catalog/79-1-4_size_STC_1-4_size_solid_red_cedar_top_classical_guitar
Look at the dimensions--Scale length-17 5/16. Just slightly longer than the Yamaha GL-1. Neck slightly narrower- 1 11/16 nut width rather than 2". Ït occurred to me, this instrument could be a very nice guitalele. Put regular (not "fractional") classical guitar strings on it, and tune a fourth up, like a guitalele. I think it could quite likely be a better instrument not only than the GL-1, but also than the Cordoba Guilele (made in China). (Cordoba's Chinese-made instruments do not have a good reputation for quality control.) Solid red cedar top, and very likely better workmanship. (I don't know the nut and saddle material though.)
On that site it costs $229, but if one goes to https://meantone.com/Shop/SolidTopGuitars.shtml chooses that Strunal student concert 4855, then over to the right chooses the 1/4 size, the price there is $180.99, fifty dollars cheaper, and cheaper than the Cordoba guilele will cost. (The Strunals are also available at other vendors, such as Elderly, but the lowest prices I found are at that second link, meantone. (Of course there might be a lower price somewhere that I did not find.)
Has anyone here tried one of those? Do you think it would make a good guitalele? A guitalele is only a very small classical guitar, tuned a fourth higher, correct? (Or is there something different about the construction, other than smaller size?)
Your opinion?
Edit-PS- There are two lines of the Strunal student classical guitar. Both come in all those fractional sizes, and both are supposed to be high quality. One line has laminated spruce tops, and the other that I linked to (concert 4855) (on the other link called STC) has the solid cedar top. Of course the laminate ones are cheaper, but not by much at all, so IMO no point in getting the laminate.
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