Buying My First Tenor Uke

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Shakespeare

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My collection has grown since I joined this forum. I have two sopranos and one sopranino (kala pocket uke). Now I want to go bigger and buy a tenor. When I posted this on the forum a few months ago the universal reply was 'save your money until you have enough to buy something better'. I was initially hovering around the £100 mark and liked the look of the Kala exotic mahogany tenor.

A few months on and I have saved up some more money and am now in the market for a solid wood tenor. After looking around there are a few I like the look and sound of and would like your opinions and suggestions about other possible tenors.

1.) Kanile'a Islander MST-4 Tenor Ukulele Solid Mahogany

2.) Brüko No. 9 Tenor Ukulele

Thanks in advance.
 
Consider this one very strong vote for the Islander
 
The Islander was #1 on my list before I decided to go full-bore Kanile'a. It's tough to find good sound samples; so much depends on the player's ability, strings and recording equipment. Here were the best I could find. The first link is for the MST-4, but the quality of the recording is so-so. The 2nd link is for the MT-4 (laminate mahogany) and is a much better recording. As you can see from my signature, I decided to go with the laminate version for my "beater" uke strung with low-G.

MST-4 http://www.youtube.com/user/niaeee#p/u/1/6Vgh-t5TVXE
MT-4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9mCBBi-K7I

The other two finalists were:
Mahogany Tenor Slotted Headstock
Pono MTD (a used one puts it in the same price range)
 
Last edited:
Kanile'a was a great choice. Have you already picked up your Uke? Pictures?
 
ukulelepuapua said:
Kanile'a was a great choice. Have you already picked up your Uke? Pictures?
Click to expand...
Hey, Sean. It was definitely a great choice for me. Here's my review. I'm still working on better photos to add to the review, but here's one from my phone:
U5.jpg

BTW, can someone please tell me how to size photos so they fit within the boundaries of the thread? Usually I can search and find an answer, but not this time.
 
I still haven't decided. I suppose either of these ukes would be great. I keep seeing other tenors I like though. I already have three; I don't want a huge collection...but UAS has got me.
 
PoiDog may be tired of sounding like a broken record, so I'll play the tune for him this time...especially since I agree with his song.

PoiDog said:
Aloha -

I say this to every post on UU asking about which uke to get for a 2nd or 3rd: Save your money so you can get something of superior quality.

It's easy to be tempted into getting a $250 uke right now, but all that will do is make you want an even better one after that. My belief is that it is better to save up your cash until you've got $400 - $500 so you can buy a really top-quality, solid wood uke than it is to get another laminate, only to want something more later.
Click to expand...
 
A fair point. The solid mahogany islander is £250 here so it is somewhere between those two price points. Seeing as I don't have a tenor, or even a concert, I am leaning towards grabbing that one more than the Bruko which doesn't seem to have as many people championing it. Unless someone else can change my mind by suggesting another tenor under or around the £300/$500USD mark? :D
 
Not sure if this has been asked, but have you played a Tenor ukulele before. When i was starting I thought I wanted a Tenor after a while but later found I did not like the scale length. I have tried several different tenors but have only really played a few that I would consider players for me. Just something to consider. Hope you can find something you like.
 
Shakespeare said:
A fair point. The solid mahogany islander is £250 here so it is somewhere between those two price points. Seeing as I don't have a tenor, or even a concert, I am leaning towards grabbing that one more than the Bruko which doesn't seem to have as many people championing it. Unless someone else can change my mind by suggesting another tenor under or around the £300/$500USD mark? :D
Click to expand...
to buy or not to buy, that is the question, ...
How about my KoAloha tenor for sale in the marketplace for $600
http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?57449-FS-KoAloha-Tenor
 
I think that you will be happy with the Islander. It's a lot of uke for the money.
 
Alright, the Kanilea it is. Anyone wishing to stage an intervention has until Christmas day when I'll be ordering.
 
Shakespeare said:
Alright, the Kanilea it is. Anyone wishing to stage an intervention has until Christmas day when I'll be ordering.
Click to expand...

Intervention? More like active encouragement and back-patting.

Congrats on the Islander. I have a feeling you will be very pleased.
 
Due to my time spent researching other tenors, procrastinating, staring lovingly at pictures of ukes well out of my price range and other general dithering the Islander is now out of stock in the only shop that sells them in the UK. I think I'll just wait for it to come back into stock rather than panic-buy a Bruko.
 
Shakespeare said:
Due to my time spent researching other tenors, procrastinating, staring lovingly at pictures of ukes well out of my price range and other general dithering the Islander is now out of stock in the only shop that sells them in the UK. I think I'll just wait for it to come back into stock rather than panic-buy a Bruko.
Click to expand...

The Islander is out of stock? Well, that tells you something right there.
 
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