An insane question: can the makala dolphin be fitted with Gotoh UPTs?

C

cwm9

New member
Joined
Jan 23, 2013
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
I have a precocious 3 year old son who loves music and the uke in particular. I want to get him one, but sometimes he his hard on things and I thought a plastic uke would be best. But I don't want a toy: I want it to tune, and stay in tune, so he can actually learn to use it and maybe even learn to tune it himself.

Is it possible to put Gotoh UPTs on this thing? If not, is there some other cheap but durable uke that this can be done to?

-insane parent
 
If you're not completely left-handed it should be possible.
The bigger question for me: is it really worth it? Putting on high-end tuners for some 60+$ on such a cheap 35$ instrument sounds indeed a bit insane (as already indicated in your title)
I'd rather put some better strings on and stay with the original tuners (which are not that bad). Your son will get older and might eventually learn to handle the uke with care anyway...
 
Last edited:
If the ukulele has friction tuners (ones that stick out the back) you could upgrade to some geared tuners (with gears and go to the side) I'm fine with those, and I trust them. If you buy some D'addario Nyltech strings (price around 7$ CAD) they should keep the strings in tune pretty well. I use them everyday and when I pick up my ukulele it's in tune (most of the time) and I strum pretty hard.
 
The tuners on the dolphin are pleanty fine. Do up grade the strings, though. If you get it from Uke Republic they can do the upgrade (even nice color strings) and give the uke a once over to make sure it's a playable instrument.
 
Louis0815 said:
Dolphins already come with geared open tuners ("guitar style").
Click to expand...

I didn't realize they already came with geared tuners... maybe that would be OK. He pulls at the strings pretty hard, and all the friction tuners seem to give way under his joyful strumming. As for the high end gears, the price isn't really an issue. I figured that even if he destroys the uke, the tuners will still be good and I could, worst case, resell them or move them to a better uke.
 
Coleton33Music said:
Well in the original post they never said whether it was a dolphin.
Click to expand...
Oops. You're right.
Reading "plastic" the Dolphin popped right into my mind.
Must admit that apart from Dolphins the only plastic ukes I can think of are Mainland Gecko/Chili (as well w/ geared tuners) and Fluke/Flea (friction tuners)...
But I wouldn't put Gotoh UPTs on either one.
 
Agreed - on a Dolphin, seems a little overkill. But besides, I find the tuners on a Dolphin are just fine. Sure, they are cheap, but they do hold.
 
And on a side note I'd rather have the string pulled out of tune than overly stretched or even snapped (even though I dunno whether that could be achieved by a kid - but they are full of surprises.....)
 
Really??

Anyway, academic - the Dolphin has geared.

My 3 yr old daughter has one and pulls tuggs and thrashes it. No string breaks.
 
Spending twice the cost of the instrument itself on an upgrade that doesn't affect the sound does seem a bit insane, yep.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Canada - Lol, just Amazoned another Enya Nova mini just for the color and INSANE price. This is CANADIAN dollars so $34usd
Replies
5
Views
388
Ziret
Ziret
C
New Populele is great but the phone app permissions are insane
Replies
16
Views
5K
LarryS
LarryS
osnyder
New Strings: play (and get driven insane) or let it sit?
2
Replies
28
Views
2K
Tootler
Tootler
W
Bonjour! I'm newwwww! (and insane!)
Replies
3
Views
314
wake-up-sunrise
W
Uncle Rod Higuchi
It's Insane to be without a Uke
Replies
4
Views
503
Uncle Rod Higuchi
Uncle Rod Higuchi
Top Bottom