What to expect with lower cost ukes?

I'd posted in a review thread on a Kohala (Hohner) concert uke from Costco that I was disappointed with it. Intonation issues on two strings (pretty bad to my musician's ear), finishing (nut, saddle, frets), and fretting out issues above the fifth fret. It is, however, very attractive and the rest of the fit and finish are quite decent.

For $100 maybe that's what you get but I want a better quality instrument. Appearance matters but playability is more important.

What should one expect at various price points? Where do you have to be pricewise to get a *good* instrument?

I purchased a package deal from Austin Bazaar which was comprised of a Lanikai LU-21C, a hard shell case, a (non-chromatic) tuner and a polishing cloth for $107.00 and change which I still think is a good deal. I really like the overall look of it. The edge of the frets are a bit rough but I wouldn't consider them bad or bothersome. There was a tiny off finish spot and a tiny glue spot on the finish which don't bother me at all. In hindsight, it would have benefitted from a setup because the action is a bit high. I'm hoping to get that corrected sometime soon. It holds a tune well and sounds pretty good to me though I haven't checked the intonation against a chromatic tuner. I hope to do that before I have the action lowered so I can compare the two. Other than the action, I'm happy with it.

Many people are very happy with Mainland ukuleles. They are solid wood, come set up and can be had for less than $300.00. I think with a proper setup, you can find a lot of satisfying ukes in the $200 - $300 range. Then again, I don't really have the experience to judge, I'm only going by what I've read.

There are people with a little more experience with this than me, but here's my take:

-Where you have to be price-wise to get a good instrument can very much depend on the brand. The first thing you should look for is an all-solid instrument. Ohana and Koa Pili Koko are two brands that have solid soprano instruments for under $200... and if you buy them from HMS or another reputable site, they will be set up perfectly for playing and for getting the best sound out of your uke. I have an Ohana and it sounds and looks great, for about $180 including shipping.

-In my mind, the next step up is something $500+. Once you're paying that much, you're getting a handmade instrument vs. a mostly machine-made instrument. The uke should also be flawless in terms of assembly and finish.

Hope this helps!

I bought my young nephew a $79 Makala and was pleasantly surprised. I bought it from a shop that deals heavily in ukes, and had set it up properly, which was probably a big part of it. It was intonated properly and stayed in tune, which is really all I expect from a uke at that price point. It was visually blah and the tone was quiet and thin. Nobody can learn on a uke that has poor intonation or won't hold tune, so those are the minimums for me (well, along with playable action). I don't expect great tone at that price. The key thing about the Makala was that it had no visual appeal whatsover-- which I consider a positive. A cheap pretty uke means too much money was spent on pretty and not enough on building it properly.

As an owner of both a "high-end" Kala and a Mainland, I feel that these are tremendous value. At about a $250-350 price point, you're getting an instrument that is well-made, attractive, and has reasonably good tone. For the casual player, this may well be all the uke you'll ever need.

Pretty limited experience here but I'll echo what has been said about some low-end ukes: if they have intonation issues (and many do), it will only frustrate a beginning player by making them sound like they are somehow "bad" at playing.

My first uke was a low-end $100 Ohana. It sounded dreadful with the stock strings. I put Aquilas on it, and it sounded great! No intonation issues that I could find.

My next encounter with low-end ukes was shopping for a $50 Dolphin for my friend's kid. I tried about twenty of them. Of those twenty, only one had good intonation. Again, I put Aquilas on it and it sounded pretty darned good.

My third encounter with low-end ukes was a $50-ish Costco Cordoba that I offered to do a string change on for a friend. It sounded awful with the stock black nylon strings. I put Aquilas on it and... it still sounded awful. The action was ridiculously high, the volume was ridiculously low, it was just bad all around.

The main thing to keep in mind goes for all factory ukes, in my opinion - the build quality can vary considerably from uke to uke. I'm the biggest Kamaka fangirl there is, but also the first to admit that every single one of them that I've played has sounded different - and a few just weren't that great. Add to this the issue of setup - some shops do a setup on ukes before they sell them, others do not - and really, high end or low, you never know what you'll be getting unless you are able to try it out first.

So - that $50 Dolphin sounded pretty good for the money. So did the $100 Ohana. The $50 Costco uke, not so much. Price really can't tell you much.

One would think a factory made uke would be more consistent, especially where laminated woods are used.

Costco is sending out a second one to compare with this one. While I'm not experienced with ukes, I am a very experienced guitar player and feel I know that with issues like intonation, I know where the fault lies.

We'll see what happens with uke #2.

Cheap ukuleles are a bit of a crap shoot. I've had two Makala tenors ($75 each), one had cheap tuners, brass frets and a crooked neck. The one I have now has decent tuners, nickel-silver frets, and a straight neck.
I would'nt hesitate to buy another cheap one, but I think I would pay the little bit extra to get it from a place that does a setup.

CSG123 said:

One would think a factory made uke would be more consistent, especially where laminated woods are used.

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That depends a lot on the factory. The challenge of most factory-built instruments is that many people are involved in the construction of the instrument. They usually focus on one part of the instrument, rather than the whole thing. Each time somebody touches the instrument, they have the opportunity to introduce variation. The final instrument is assmbled from many different parts, made by different people, and stored until they are used.

How well this turns out depends on the quality management processes in place. Even the best factories produce bad parts; are they identified before they move on in the process or not? And all factories will ultimately produce finished product that doesn't meet requirements. Do these products go to market or not? And lastly, most musical instruments don't leave the factory in ready-to-play condition. Have they been set up for playability or not?

I've toured the Martin factory, and I've seen what a good process looks like. Mulitple checkpoints and processes in place to guarantee parts made to spec. Highly skilled employees who understand the subtle variances in their materials. Machines used for many things, but even more done by hand. Musicians who test finished instruments for tone and playability. And finally, they destroy instruments that don't meet standards, so they don't enter the marketplace. Even with all that, not all Martin guitars are perfect-- but their hit rate is pretty good.

In factories that make inexpensive products, it's possible that those checks and balances are not in place. It's also possible (likely) that product that is out of spec still goes to the marketplace. When an out-of-spec product hits, say, HMS, its either corrected or goes back to the manufactuer as defective. Unfortunately, when that product hits CostCo, it goes on the shelf, and you have to figure out it's bad.

My $200 Fender Nohea rocks. However, I'm currently on the outside of a bottle of Gin, so I shall resume my review of this fine instrument 'pon the morrow.

CSG123 said:

One would think a factory made uke would be more consistent, especially where laminated woods are used.

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Not at all, unfortunately. The biggest problem on almost all factory ukes is that they are typically delivered with actions that are intentionally high - apparently going by the theory that it is better to have a uke with poor intonation than one that buzzes. Nuts are molded plastic and no one ever checks to see how the strings seat, what the action is like at the first fret, etc. Since they aren't going to spend the money to have an experienced technician adjust the slots by hand, they default to anywhere from high to very high.

You almost always have to touch up the slots in a nut on a factory uke whether it is laminated or solid wood. Exceptions are the Mainland ukes (because Mike and Tootka do that up in Indiana before they ship them) and factory ukes purchased from outfits like HMS, Mim, Uke Republic, etc.

It's not that you'll never get a good factory uke from a big box store or ebay drop shipper - I once got an inexpensive Lanikai 8-string acoustic electric with perfect intonation at the first fret from an eBay drop shipper - but it's really a crap shoot.

The next big problem on factory ukes is they are often overbuilt. You would think that would be a good thing but it is not in an acoustic instrument. Overbuilt means tops are too thick, bracing too heavy, and glue is often slopped on with a trowel. The result is an instrument with little volume, sustain, or tonal complexity. Unfortunately, there really isn't any fix for this. That same Lanikai 8-string played well plugged in but had all the acoustic character of stroking a wet dog. It was so bad I couldn't bring myself to stick someone with it by selling it so I gave it away. Generally, overbuilding will be less of an issue at the higher end (solid wood) ukes in a factory line. They still aren't anything like a Hawaiian uke with the occasional rare exception but they are generally pleasing to play once set up.

My recommendation for someone in the ~$200-300 (depending on size) range is a Mainland (in spite of the rope binding) or an Ohanna or Kala set up by a pro like MGM at HMS, Mim, Mike at Uke Republic, etc.

When you get into the KoAloha-Kanilea-Kamaka range you usually can buy with confidence without worrying about whether the uke has been set up because they do that in the shop before they send them to dealers. The action may not be perfect for you (I find KoAloha actions to be a little high at the bridge end) but they will be very playable, well intonated, and have volume, sustain, and tonal character not generally matched by even the solid "factory" ukes.

Then, you can get into the luthier built stuff where you should expect near perfection in every category.

John

CSG123 said:

Where do you have to be pricewise to get a *good* instrument?

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The short answer - if you buy from HMS, Mim, Uke Republic, etc. just about anything they sell is going to be "good" in that it will be set up to inonate well and play reasonably well. However, if by "good" you mean a uke with decent volume, sustain, and tonal character then the minimum I would recommend is a solid-wood top (preferably all solid wood but the top is the critical part) factory uke set up by someone who knows what they are doing. Generally, that means a Mainland, or an Ohana or Kala, etc., from a dedicated dealer like those mentioned above. For a concert you're looking around the $250-$300 range. If by "Good" you mean something that is going to have volume and tone that make people sit up and take notice - you're talking anywhere from $500 on up or getting lucky and getting one of the better specimens of a factory uke (sometimes the factories actually manage to spit out something that doesn't give up a lot to something like a KoAloha but it's not something you can necessarily rely on).

John

Some great advice here. My take is, avoid buying any uke from a drop shipper or mass market dealer like Amazon. Some decent cheap ukes CAN be had, but please, I urge you, buy from a real dealer. I regularly plug the Makala dolphin. Bought from a no name mass brand store you may be disappointed. Buy from a real shop like MGM, HMS, SUS etc who will check over setup, or even better, improve strings and you are laughing. Save three bucks by buying from Costco and you deserve what you get!

More than a $3 saving from Costco, I suspect but yeah, I take the point about where you buy from and what to expect. Costco's sending out another one and Hohner said if I got another lemon to give them a call to see if they couldn't find something in house to check and send out. With Costco's great return policy, it's a no-brainer to at least give it a go.

I like HMS and will likely do some business with them in any event. I don't know who Mim is.

But I'd argue that there isn't a soul in Costco who can check something and know that it is ok. I suspect they couldn't even tune it, let alone adjust the action. And there lies the problem. Ditto Amazon. Only a real music shop with someone who understands / plays stringed instruments will really have a clue whether what they are sending out is ok or not.

I don't think anyone would presume otherwise.

I would add to all the above that the lower level Kamoas are pretty decent too. Aldrine reviewed them in a video after the NAMM show and they were pretty decent and under $200 for a solid wood Uke.

CSG123 said:

More than a $3 saving from Costco, I suspect but yeah, I take the point about where you buy from and what to expect. Costco's sending out another one and Hohner said if I got another lemon to give them a call to see if they couldn't find something in house to check and send out. With Costco's great return policy, it's a no-brainer to at least give it a go.

I like HMS and will likely do some business with them in any event. I don't know who Mim is.

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Here's Mim's contact info...

http://www.mimsukes.com/

Clicking on any of the links for that site results in a Page Not Found 404 error.

Nickie's link works OK from here in ON. Canada

CSG123 said:

Clicking on any of the links for that site results in a Page Not Found 404 error.

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A lot of the pages are 404, but not all. I think Mim's too busy tweaking and selling ukes to get her site working properly. Maybe at UWC I'll bug her into letting me fix her site for her.

The eBay "bubble" will take you to her ebay store though. She does most of her sales through eBay. Unlike a lot of ebay sellers the photos in her ebay store are of the actual instrument you'll get, not "stock" photos from the manufacturer.

She's good people - sets 'em up right and stands behind what she sells just like HMS, Uke Republic, etc.

John