First ukulele, advice needed!

M

MopedDork

Member
Joined
May 16, 2014
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
First off, hello! My name is Adam and I'll be buying my first ukulele pretty soon. I've taken my friends' ukes and I learned to play relatively well, and I know for a fact I already have quite a passion for it, as I have fallen flat on my face already learning guitar and piano(cursed giant's hands), therefore the uke has proven to be the instrument for me!

Problem is; I'm on a budget. A tiny one. As it stands, I can only afford about $25-35 for a uke right now, In the future I can afford upgrades, but I'll be moving soon (I live in Europe, and I'll be heading to Oregon for university this coming summer). This presents me with a few options, but I'm not sure which is the best bet for right now.

OPTION 1(ONE)
The Diamond head cheap thing
initially, then some time down the road I would purchase some nice strings for it, as I bought some Aquila strings for my friend's uke, and straightened that cheap POS up.

and the obvious
OPTION 2(TWO)
I could buy a proper beginner ukulele in a few months, in the $50 price range such as this or this

Please, please help me out, do you guys know of any ukes in this price range which you swear by?
Do you know of strings that can revitalize any uke?
Tips to make a cheap uke play like a pro?
Maybe even a used ukulele?

Anything helps!
 
Oh wow, what a bad start. I didn't do a search until just now, could I get this moved maybe??
 
Adam,

I recently bought a Mahalo, (budget uke), from CraigsList for $15. They are not great ukes to begin with, but in reality we must have bought at least a dozen Mahalos in the past to give away to people. It is a rare Mahalo that has no intonation issues. I had to lower the nut and and compensate the saddle to get the thing to play in tune.

You must have some European equivalent to CraigsList-right? I have played some Diamond Head ukes and they have sounded as good to me as the Makala Dolphins, though I never played the model that you linked to in your post.

I like Bill1's idea in the above post. Borrow a uke from a friend for a while until you can afford to browse some music stores in Oregon.
 
I visited with a ukulele club last night and they had a table with about 6-8 ukuleles on it. They use that for folks who want to walk in off the street and try it out. I asked where these ukuleles came from and the lady said "Essex", which is a bargain type store. She calls every week and asks if they have ukuleles. When they do, she goes and has a look. Every uke she has bought is from there, including her personal ukulele.

They looked nice and played well. And she said the prices were crazy low.

Here's the website - http://www.bargainhunt.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=54&lang=en

I really like the idea of borrowing someone's ukulele until you have enough money to get something you will enjoy. What Bill1 said.

And if you have any ukulele clubs near where you live, get in touch with them and see if they can hook you up with something until you are able to go shopping.
 
Would it be possible to fix up the Diamond Head, do a home setup, and put some new strings on it for better sound?
 
MopedDork said:
Would it be possible to fix up the Diamond Head, do a home setup, and put some new strings on it for better sound?
Click to expand...
Keep in mind that I am just an amateur at uke facelifts, I am not a builder or expert by any stretch of the imagination but I have been able to make some cheapo ukes play in tune, mostly by reading up on it here and from other online sources.

Cheap ukes usually come with pretty sketchy strings and a new decent set should help.

You are probably going to buy this uke anyway, my psychic senses tell me that you will have pulled out your credit card and bought this instrument by the time I wake up tomorrow, so go ahead. It can be your camping uke when you upgrade after graduating from the university.
 
Hi Adam. I bought an old car (MGB) and my brother told me "remember, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t no matter how much mayonnaise you add". This will probably be true with the Hilo. The ones I have seen had very poor quality tuners, needed the frets dressed and the action was more suitable for using a slide instead of chording. One of them had bad intonation due to an improper bridge placement. It would cost more to fix than their worth

The above Kala or Dolphin would be a much better instrument. If you get one that plays hard and sounds bad you won't be enjoying playing as much as you should. Buying from a reputable dealer that knows ukes is critical for a starter. They will weed out the bad ones for you.

Good luck and keep us posted
 
Last edited:
I'm looking at that dolphin that was linked, as it seems to be the best value, but shipping is ~$20, jacking price to 70. Does anyone know if this can be circumvented? I'm at an APO address, so everything ships for about half price, if that helps.

EDIT; Are there any ukes listed above or on your mind that may be a better deal than the one I'm buying?

EDIT EDIT;
looking at a few, now it's between A, B, C , and D
Of the four, which comes the most highly recommended?
 
Last edited:
So I'm trying to order the dolphin that was recommended, as it seems to be the best value, and worth the extra, but I go to ship and suddenly price jacks up to ship at ~$70 total. Can this be circumvented? Am I missing something?

Additionally, I am still up to almost all suggestions, and the four I'm presently looking at are as follows
dolphin, mentioned previously.

Kala KA-15S

Makala MK-S

and Kala KA-MK-C

EDIT;
Sorry, thought it needed to be specified. I am beginning, and I'd LIKE something bigger than a traditional, so a concert would be nice, as linked previously, but would a concert size, specifically the one I found be be recommended?
 
Last edited:
So I'm trying to order the dolphin that was recommended, as it seems to be the best value, and worth the extra, but I go to ship and suddenly price jacks up to ship at ~$70 total. Can this be circumvented? Am I missing something?

Additionally, I am still up to almost all suggestions, and the four I'm presently looking at are as follows
dolphin, mentioned previously.

Kala KA-15S

Makala MK-S

and Kala KA-MK-C

EDIT;
Sorry, thought it needed to be specified. I am beginning, and I'd LIKE something bigger than a traditional, so a concert would be nice, as linked previously, but would a concert size, specifically the one I found be be recommended?
 
Last edited:
So I'm trying to order the dolphin that was recommended, as it seems to be the best value, and worth the extra, but I go to ship and suddenly price jacks up to ship at ~$70 total. Can this be circumvented? Am I missing something?

Additionally, I am still up to almost all suggestions, and the four I'm presently looking at are as follows
dolphin, mentioned previously.

Kala KA-15S

Makala MK-S

and Kala KA-MK-C

EDIT;
Sorry, thought it needed to be specified. I am beginning, and I'd LIKE something bigger than a traditional, so a concert would be nice, as linked previously, but would a concert size, specifically the one I found be be recommended?
 
Every uke player must buy at least one $30 instrument in their life. It is a law of nature.
 
Last edited:
Doug W said:
Every uke player must buy at least one $30 instrument in their life. It is a law of nature.
Click to expand...
As each must, too, own a $3000 uke, if for no other reason to see that there's little difference between it and the cheap one.
 
Alright, I bought the Makala MK-S in the end, and I will be outfitting it with some Aquila strings and most likely doing a home setup. Hopefully this isn't too bad for beginning?
 
MopedDork said:
First off, hello! My name is Adam and I'll be buying my first ukulele pretty soon. I've taken my friends' ukes and I learned to play relatively well, and I know for a fact I already have quite a passion for it, as I have fallen flat on my face already learning guitar and piano(cursed giant's hands), therefore the uke has proven to be the instrument for me!

Problem is; I'm on a budget. A tiny one. As it stands, I can only afford about $25-35 for a uke right now, In the future I can afford upgrades, but I'll be moving soon (I live in Europe, and I'll be heading to Oregon for university this coming summer). This presents me with a few options, but I'm not sure which is the best bet for right now.

OPTION 1(ONE)
The Diamond head cheap thing
initially, then some time down the road I would purchase some nice strings for it, as I bought some Aquila strings for my friend's uke, and straightened that cheap POS up.

and the obvious
OPTION 2(TWO)
I could buy a proper beginner ukulele in a few months, in the $50 price range such as this or this

Please, please help me out, do you guys know of any ukes in this price range which you swear by?
Do you know of strings that can revitalize any uke?
Tips to make a cheap uke play like a pro?
Maybe even a used ukulele?

Anything helps!
Click to expand...
Option 3. Keep borrowing your friends uke and save up for a nice starter uke.
 
I ended up doing just that basically, found a makala mk-s for dirt cheap, doing a home setup and restring with aquila nylgut, gonna keep up with that as I save up for a decent lankai or something(any idea what to get next?). Thank you for all your guys' help.
 
If you find you can't deal with the makala I have an Ohana Zebrawood that I could send you for free. I have an APO address so the shipping wouldn't cost me anything. I have TONS of ukes and this one doesn't get played. It is pretty nice however.

Let me know
 
MopedDork said:
First off, hello! My name is Adam and I'll be buying my first ukulele pretty soon. I've taken my friends' ukes and I learned to play relatively well, and I know for a fact I already have quite a passion for it, as I have fallen flat on my face already learning guitar and piano(cursed giant's hands), therefore the uke has proven to be the instrument for me!

Problem is; I'm on a budget. A tiny one. As it stands, I can only afford about $25-35 for a uke right now, In the future I can afford upgrades, but I'll be moving soon (I live in Europe, and I'll be heading to Oregon for university this coming summer). This presents me with a few options, but I'm not sure which is the best bet for right now.

OPTION 1(ONE)
The Diamond head cheap thing
initially, then some time down the road I would purchase some nice strings for it, as I bought some Aquila strings for my friend's uke, and straightened that cheap POS up.

and the obvious
OPTION 2(TWO)
I could buy a proper beginner ukulele in a few months, in the $50 price range such as this or this

Please, please help me out, do you guys know of any ukes in this price range which you swear by?
Do you know of strings that can revitalize any uke?
Tips to make a cheap uke play like a pro?
Maybe even a used ukulele?

Anything helps!
Click to expand...

I have a diamond head soprano let me tell you its a real beater it sounds ok (it actually is brighter and better in D6).
I owned many ukes and sold them through out the 11 years I have been playing, in rough times. I sold 2 ukes recently
in a pinch. The best uke I ever owed as a martin soprano uke which i sadly sold when i was short on rent a few years ago.

The diamond head soprano will hold you over until you can afford something better, its not the greatest in terms of tonal
depth but it handles ok, lasts and with better strings really is a decent uke for how cheap it is.

Same with the rogue brand baritone uke, very rugged, has a nice deep tone and good intonation for the 40 bucks.
Some of these cheaper ukes sound actually very good, the one thing you won't get with most of these is a nice look
but to me sound is more important than looks, i would like something that looks nice, but my budget like you is very small.

For now go with the diamond head its really not that bad, its better to have a 30 dollar soprano uke when your broke than no uke at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Ukulele Advice Needed
2
Replies
30
Views
2K
Jrconwey
J
O
Advice needed on vintage Luna Ukulele
Replies
3
Views
501
bbkobabe
bbkobabe
K
[Sound Samples for Ohana, Kamoa] + Advice needed for a 3rd Ukulele
Replies
2
Views
658
bonesoup
bonesoup
J
New Ukulele Purchase Advice Needed (No STARTER models)
2
Replies
38
Views
3K
Kamanaaloha
Kamanaaloha
B
Advice needed on ukulele purchase
Replies
16
Views
1K
kwall
kwall
Top Bottom