Plastic Ukes- PLAYERS Vs. Wall-HANGERs Input WANTED! Please respond.

Total Ukphoria

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 30, 2011
Messages
147
Reaction score
0
Location
Charleston SC
I love plastic ukes- and I know I'm not alone.:)
I have a small collection of plastic ukes- many of them playable- some of them... not so much. I was hoping to create a thread that would help potential buyers know which ones of these old beauties are players and which ones are wall-hangers once and for all. Perhaps It's been done, or at least touched on many times, but I was kind of hoping for something a little more comprehensive. I hope all owners and players of plastic ukes will contribute. :)


Here's my input... Feel free to disagree!

IMG_1516.jpg

A little closer...
IMG_1517.jpg
IMG_1518.jpg

Left to RIght:
Mona Loa- PLAYER
Amuse Sekiguchi pineapple (orange-white)- PLAYER
Happy Tune- PLAYER
Bandstand (with 50’s images on it)- WALL HANGER
T.V. Pal- PLAYER
Islander (Macciferri)- PLAYER
Flamingo- PLAYER
Mona Loa (white)- PLAYER
Lisa (solid brown)- PLAYER
Flamingo (with pitch pipes attached)-PLAYER
T.V. Pal Ukette- PLAYER!
Carnival Cowboy ukette-WALL HANGER
Islander Ukette- PLAYER!
Fin-der- PLAYER
T.V. Pal (another one)- PLAYER

I would love to hear from others!
 
I have a Fin-Der too. Defiantly a player.

That little thing almost holds tune better than my wood ones. Which is impressive since it still has it's original strings from 1950.
 
Interesting...

My Fin-der was only so-so, while the purple Mauna-Loa (that I should never have sold!) was fantastic.

I'd be interested to hear just how good the new Amuse ukes are -- they ain't cheap.
 
I have a lot of plastic ukes but they spent most of the time as wallhangers.
I have some 5 ukettes and all of them got the same problem: the C string has a terrible intonation.
What strings do you recommend on ukettes?
 
I have an Islander soprano, a Flamingo soprano (with attached pitch pipe!), and an Islander baritone. All three are players, but the Islander soprano is quite a bit nicer than the Flamingo.
 
Where do you find these plastic ukes. The ones on Ebay go for ridiculous prices. Do you scrounge thrift shops and yard sales?
 
I have Worth Browns on one and Worth Clear on the other- I'd go with the Browns overall- but both are good.
 
Last edited:
I have noticed about a 300% or jump on many of the Buy IT NOW ukes on ebay recently- don't go for those ridiculous prices- bid for the normal auction ones- and please don't think think that the Islander (which almost always go for over $100) is the only uke worth having; as a matter of fact, there are 3 or 4 in this group that I like even more- mostly for subjective sound quality reasons. You can land a good uke for anywhere from $25ish to $60ish in my experience. Be patient. Millions of these things sold in the 50s.
 
Where do you find these plastic ukes. The ones on Ebay go for ridiculous prices. Do you scrounge thrift shops and yard sales?

Found mine at a antique market that heads over here every month.

That place is a goldmine.
 
I forgot to mention in my first replay that that is ONE HECK of a great collection!
 
Wow, so many beautiful plastic ukes. Cool.

My Islander is right up there with my Kamaka and my Kiwaya as one of my top three soprano players. Sounds and feels great.

I have an Amuse Sekiguchi as well which not so great. The neck's significantly thinner (from the fretboard to the back) than the Islander, which you'd think would be comfortable, but it's so thin that it gives a little when squeezed. To fret a string, one must exert enough force to overcome both the string tension and the give of the neck. So it requires significantly more effort than usual to play chords. It's okay for open chords, but barre chords are a pain. The thin neck is also somewhat bowed by the strings' tension, which wrecks intonation up the neck. Still, it's a cutie and I can play it in the rain here in Portland.

Woohoo, plastic ukuleles!
 
Top Bottom