Barnes and Noble Ukes

So I was at Barnes and Noble Bookseller the other day and while I was walking through the aisles, I heard a buzzing sound. At first I though my Spider sense was tingling, but as I turned to see, it was a kid strumming a totally out of tune ukulele!

Well, I watched as he took interest in it and after a few minutes of him trying to tune the pegs, he walked away losing interest in it and I proceeded to check it out. Well, it was a gift set they sell there at Barnes and Noble Bookstore which comes with a book on the history of the ukulele and basic chords, and a really cheaply made ukulele with metal strings. Has anyone else seen this?

So I opened one of the boxes because it has this little flap you could open up like a case and I tried to tune the uke thinking it would help its appeal to more people who pass through and try to strum it. As I started to tune it, I noticed that the glue has come off of the nut where the strings rest on, and it was just a mess. Well, I thought it was just a damaged one and tried checking another box. All of them had the same problem! They all had detached nuts! (no pun intended, ok maybe a little ) Not only that, but they were also strung wrong! I was looking at the thickness of the strings and notices that they were even in the wrong sequence!

Anyway, this is just a public service announcement of Caveat Emptor for anyone who knows someone considering the buying an uke as a gift during the holiday season. It retails for about $30 and for a little more, anyone could purchase a much better one on MGM's site for a first time experience. They could do without the history of the uke and the chord chart as they are both accessible for free online.

This looks like the set you are referring to:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ukulele/J-W-Oswald/e/9781402754814/?itm=7

Hmmm....

If it's either of these: 1 2...then I have to say, as much as I like B&N those look pretty iffy.

yup, that's the one with the yellow packaging! Kudos to Barnes for the attempt, but that uke they chose to carry will either have a negative effect on the buyer/receiver of what they think of ukuleles or it may have a positive effect by raising their curiousity and be a mild UAS drug. I'm hoping for the latter.

pebbleInDaPacific said:

yup, that's the one with the yellow packaging! Kudos to Barnes for the attempt, but that uke they chose to carry will either have a negative effect on the buyer/receiver of what they think of ukuleles or it may have a positive effect by raising their curiousity and be a mild UAS drug. I'm hoping for the latter.

Click to expand...

I hope so too. If nothing else, maybe it'll help boost sales of playable ukes for people who are motivated to move up a notch when they tire of poor tuning stability.

I think its a sad attempt, but it just might make people start thinking about the uke more, which is always good.

They should Sell a Jake Shimakuburo uke set with one of his signature ukes in it....Only downside is I don't think it'll go for 30 dollars

Thats what really people think a uke is, a toy, About a week ago I was playing and friend walked into the room i was and said thats a cool mini guitar. I said it was a ukulele and he proceeded to argue with me

They might as well buy a Mahalo brand tenor uke like me in a guitar store (only place that was close to me) which was only like 25 dollars and go on Ukuleleunderground.com and learn with the help of the helpful UU crew like what I did :3

And after mastering that for a few months, they should upgrade to a better uke, which I also feel like doing once I get enough money and time (to order online) to do so. :]

I honestly hart you guys.

I don't think all of UU should descend upon it like a pack of wolves, but... if those who have actually checked out the set in the store could post a rating on the Barnes & Noble website, and perhaps mention, in the comments, a few inexpensive ukes that would make better choices, that would probably be good ukulele karma.

- Jeff