Need help shopping for uke in Switzerland/Europe

[Cat M]

Hi all -- I want to buy a uke for my nephew's high school graduation. He lives in Geneva, Switzerland. So they are close to France, Italy, and Germany. I'm thinking, a baritone under US $300. He's a pretty good musician already, piano, bass. Any suggestions or tips appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Booksniffer]

In Germany: ukesupply.de or gute-ukulele.de

In Italy: mercatinodellukulele.it

All three of these are run by ukulele enthousiasts that sell great, set-up instruments.
They are also all very helpful and happy to answer questions, give advice etc.

 

[Rakelele]

Hi from Zürich, Switzerland. Shipping items worth more than 60$ from other countries into Switzerland will cost import duties and VAT upon reception that can easily add up to 30$ on you nephew's side. Therefore, I'd order either from a local Swiss store or from Thomann.de, who will ship into Switzerland directly, without adding taxes. Thomann will give you free shipping in this price range as well, which no other store does. As for any other international store, you will have to pay shipping and your nephew will have to pay the taxes mentioned. In this case, it doesn't matter if the store is in any neighboring country or not, so you might as well choose Southern Ukulele Store in the U.K. or The Ukulele Site in the U.S. Personally, I'd go with Thomann. They have a good selection in your price range and offer all of the benefits mentioned above. Sure, they won't set up the instruments they sell, but I'd rather go with that than what most stores claim to do.

 

[Cat M]

Thank you!

Hi from Zürich, Switzerland. Shipping items worth more than 60$ from other countries into Switzerland will cost import duties and VAT upon reception that can easily add up to 30$ on you nephew's side. Therefore, I'd order either from a local Swiss store or from Thomann.de, who will ship into Switzerland directly, without adding taxes. Thomann will give you free shipping in this price range as well, which no other store does. As for any other international store, you will have to pay shipping and your nephew will have to pay the taxes mentioned. In this case, it doesn't matter if the store is in any neighboring country or not, so you might as well choose Southern Ukulele Store in the U.K. or The Ukulele Site in the U.S. Personally, I'd go with Thomann. They have a good selection in your price range and offer all of the benefits mentioned above. Sure, they won't set up the instruments they sell, but I'd rather go with that than what most stores claim to do.

Thank you! Very interesting.

 

[Cat M]

In Germany: ukesupply.de or gute-ukulele.de

In Italy: mercatinodellukulele.it

All three of these are run by ukulele enthousiasts that sell great, set-up instruments.
They are also all very helpful and happy to answer questions, give advice etc.

Thank you

 

[Mattyukaholic]

Rico has a really great ukulele shop in Switzerland:

Ukulele, Ukulele Shop, Ukulele kaufen, Ukulele Ermatingen, buy Ukulele

Ukulele, Guitars, exclusive music instruments

www.ukulele-shop.ch

 

[Cat M]

Thank you!

 

[Dohle]

In Germany: ukesupply.de or gute-ukulele.de

In Italy: mercatinodellukulele.it

All three of these are run by ukulele enthousiasts that sell great, set-up instruments.
They are also all very helpful and happy to answer questions, give advice etc.

Just to clarify, Gute Ukulele certainly won't setup any ukes they sell. They always come with factory setup. It's my main criticism of the shop. Otherwise it's a really nice uke shop. Brilliant selection and Andreas, the shop owner, is a very nice guy.

I don't know if the other shops mentioned do setups but I personally haven't found any EU-based uke or music shop that does outside of a few local guitar shops to me. That's why I mostly order from UK shops even though I have to pay VAT and import costs. World of Ukes in the UK is great because they deal with import costs for you so there's no extra costs at all. I don't know if that applies to Switzerland so you might want to ask Matt, the shop owner. Really nice guy, and easily my favourite uke shop post Brexit.

 

[Cat M]

Thank you! Very good info.

 

[Olivia73]

If you don't mind, you can always check used ones. The difference in price is quite big and the product should be fine too. In general there aren't too many uke shops in the EU. The choice is much smaller than the US from what I can tell.

 

[UkingViking]

While Gute Ukulele has some nice ukuleles, and that Swiss ukulele shop from post #6 sure has some high end ukes, they are both the wrong place to go with a $300 budget.

I took a brief look at Thomanns Collection. They probably have something nice, but in that pricerange a lot of them are either Thomanns own brand, or from the Luna brand. I would in general try to start clear of those.

I would check out Southern Ukulele Store and World Of Ukes, and investugate whether the prepay import expenses to Switzerland like they to the EU in some ukes. If not, perhaps look at Thomanns.

 

[Cat M]

If you don't mind, you can always check used ones. The difference in price is quite big and the product should be fine too. In general there aren't too many uke shops in the EU. The choice is much smaller than the US from what I can tell.

Used isn't a bad idea. It can be tricky though trying to buy a used instrument in Switzerland when you live overseas.

 

[Cat M]

While Gute Ukulele has some nice ukuleles, and that Swiss ukulele shop from post #6 sure has some high end ukes, they are both the wrong place to go with a $300 budget.

I took a brief look at Thomanns Collection. They probably have something nice, but in that pricerange a lot of them are either Thomanns own brand, or from the Luna brand. I would in general try to start clear of those.

I would check out Southern Ukulele Store and World Of Ukes, and investugate whether the prepay import expenses to Switzerland like they to the EU in some ukes. If not, perhaps look at Thomanns.

Thanks for the tips. Yeah, I think it's going to be more like $400-ish for something like the cedar top Kala. That's ok.

 

[Rakelele]

Cedar top Kala would be my personal choice from Thomann in this price range. They also have some ukes from Pono sometimes, but I didn't see a Pono baritone there right now.

 

[Cat M]

Cedar top Kala would be my personal choice from Thomann in this price range. They also have some ukes from Pono sometimes, but I didn't see a Pono baritone there right noe.

I agree, thanks

 

[Cat M]

Thanks everyone. I will probably order the Kala Cedar-Acacia baritone with slotted headstock from Thomann, $400 delivered including VAT. I think it will be a hit for graduation.

Btw, I have a list on my website of all the baritone brands and builders I've found, with pics of headstocks. But not retailers of course. I need to put my site in my signature. Duh.

Cat M
BaritoneUkes.com
https://baritoneukes.com/baritone-uke-brands-and-builders-list/

 

[Rakelele]

Great choice, lucky nephew! I'm sure this will be a big hit. And great info on your website as well!

 

[Cat M]

Thanks! They live far away so I never buy them stuff. So, happy graduation!