Acoustic Guitar sales taking away from Ukulele sales?

As far as people who aren't ukers I meet go, I would say that the most common acknowledgement of famous players is probably still Iz. They don't always get his name right, but they do associate ukes and him.
 
I don't either. They're different instruments. Might as well worry about mandolin sales affecting uke sales or saxophone sales affecting flute sales.
It is something to talk about. That's all. If we don't talk about stuff, there isn't a forum.
 
I suspect a lot more ukuleles than guitars are bought as presents simply because they're deemed to be fashionable and consequently desirable. As an extension to this premise, there are probably a higher percentage of ukuleles lying about unplayed than there are guitars. Second-hand guitars with little or no mileage on the clock possibly turn up more often simply because, being bigger, they're more likely to get in the way. A ukulele can be lost in a cupboard or on a shelf or given away to a young neighbour without very much being said.

Just my tuppence worth ;)
 
From several peoples' posts it appears that some of the stores are not carrying as many ukes. Although there were a few posters who said that there were more ukes in some of the strores.

Are the stores carrying more ukes located in retirement areas?

Another good question in my mind, are people who have played a while upgrading to custom ukes now instead of purchasing factory made ukes?

From the past history on UU, it seems that the K brands were the next step up. Now it appears that the custom market has taken this niche market.

I've enjoyed reading everyones responses.
 
....Another good question in my mind, are people who have played a while upgrading to custom ukes now instead of purchasing factory made ukes?......

This was my pathway. I had two factory manufactures, the 2nd better than the 1st, and then purchased my first custom 2nd hand.

It wasn't that many dollars more (contextually, I could afford it) and was a revelation to discover how much better of an instrument it was. Making the financial commitment to a fine instrument was parallel to my growing commitment to improving my skills. I'm glad I did as I have been having a hell of a lot of fun playing the Uke.

PS. I thought that I should add: that to afford my custom Uke acquisitions over the past two years I sold a number of instruments that I rarely played. These included various guitars, martin mandolin, banjo, etc. So, I guess that I have exhibited the opposite behavour of buying more Ukes than guitars or other stringed instruments. The last 'roundup' saw me carrying my Boat Paddle, MM 4 and 6 string tenors back to Australia. I used to do the same buying trip with guitars in the past. How civilised are Ukes with their smaller sizes. None went in the hold, all were carry on's. QANTAS is very Uke friendly.
 
Last edited:
I live in the Chicago area, and the selection available at stores here is paltry, always has been. I've been to several GC's, Sam Ash, some big local guitar/music stores and many smaller stores. The big stores top-out at Lanikai and Kala U-basses. I know of one store that has some Flukes and Fleas. I don't know much about the high-end brands you guys talk about, because I've never seen them. I've seen many dozens of Gibson archtop guitars from the 1940's and 1950's. Probably 100's pre-CBS Fenders. Six figure pianos, new and used, Steinway, Bosendorfer, etc. A Selmer Mark VI for you saxophone players. But a good solid-top ukulele? Kinda rare. If anybody knows a good uke store in the area, let me know.
 
How many custom Ukes has anyone seen in any music store?

Also if music stores are only carrying very small inventories of factory built instruments, where do the broader population buy their factory built instruments from?

I've noticed, that in the Perth, Western Australia area, that the large music stores carry the smallest selection of Ukes and that the small, maybe family run music stores, have a much larger selection of factory built Ukes. I know of one who even carry some of the K brands.

Context: Perth is a city of about 1 million people.
 
Last edited:
But a good solid-top ukulele? Kinda rare. If anybody knows a good uke store in the area, let me know.

They are around, but maybe not that local to your area. I live in Southern California and there are a number of shops with a good selection of higher quality ukuleles. None of them are just around the corner but within an hour or two drive that will get me to a decent selection from about McCabes to The Blue Guitar. And then there is Island Bazaar and Hale Ukuleles. If I want to make a serious drive drive up to Northern California there is Sylvan and Gryphon. Fortunately, there are a lot of sources for ukuleles in California. I have to drive to them, but we don't have to fight the snow out here.

But, I have found a lot of higher quality ukuleles when I have been on vacation... and none of them have been at Guitar Center or Sam Ash. But even then I'll drive to check something out, such as going from Denver to Colorado Springs to Tejon Street Music where they have Palm Tree ukuleles, stopping here and there at any small stores along the way. Sometimes it's a bust and sometimes not. It is part of the adventure.

In your not so local area is Elderly Instruments. Maybe not a winter drive, but doable in good weather.

John
 
Some of us here, including myself come from a long affair with the guitar. I still enjoy the guitar, but I find the ukulele to be more fun. It is a little quirky, but that is part of it's charm. I also feel that more people want to play a guitar, but that most of them would have greater success with a ukulele. A steel string guitar is a lot to get used to. The ukulele can be as simple or as complex as you like and the nylon strings are easy on the fingers. I guess that my point is that the guitar may greatly outsell the ukulele and be more popular, but that means nothing unless you can learn to play and enjoy it. The numbers do not always tell the whole story. Given the choice, I usually pick up the ukulele these days.
 
Another good question in my mind, are people who have played a while upgrading to custom ukes now instead of purchasing factory made ukes?

Done that, been there, and - lesson learned, I'm sticking with factory ukes (specifically Kamaka at present but as always, subject to change!). I didn't really find the custom I once had made to be much of a step up from what I already had. It was really cool to have something made by an individual and to have been involved in the planning process, but in the end I liked my garden-variety factory Kamakas better.
 
When I started playing uke (about 13 years ago now) you couldn't buy a uke in a shop in the UK. You might spot a vintage banjo uke in a junk shop. I remember Ivor Mairants shop in London having a display of Ovation Applause ukes a year or so later (in loads of different colours, most no longer available), but that was your lot. Strings? Cases? Forget about it! Since then I've seen it go from that to pretty much every music shop having some in, and some shops selling some pretty high end stuff (that previously would have had to be imported, usually via Music Guy Mike).

I wonder how many mandolins or banjos pop up in music shops? They're certainly no more common than ukes in most UK shops, and the ones that you do find are, on the whole, budget, entry level models. I tend to lump ukes in with those, more than guitars. Guitars are iconic, they are the staple instrument of many, many popular music styles. The uke isn't, at least yet.

Guitars continue to outsell ukes by a pretty large margin, but to be honest it doesn't worry me in the slightest. I play guitar, uke, banjo, and I play them because I like the sound they make, not because one is easier/ harder/smaller/bigger. If ukes became unpopular again overnight, I'd still play one.
 
Done that, been there, and - lesson learned, I'm sticking with factory ukes (specifically Kamaka at present but as always, subject to change!). I didn't really find the custom I once had made to be much of a step up from what I already had. It was really cool to have something made by an individual and to have been involved in the planning process, but in the end I liked my garden-variety factory Kamakas better.

I agree. A custom isn't necessarily an upgrade. If upgrading means bling, I can get a plain custom uke and a fancy factory uke. If upgrading means sound, that depends on the quality of the factory uke, and the sound you like.
 
I live in the Chicago area, and the selection available at stores here is paltry, always has been. I've been to several GC's, Sam Ash, some big local guitar/music stores and many smaller stores. The big stores top-out at Lanikai and Kala U-basses. I know of one store that has some Flukes and Fleas. I don't know much about the high-end brands you guys talk about, because I've never seen them. I've seen many dozens of Gibson archtop guitars from the 1940's and 1950's. Probably 100's pre-CBS Fenders. Six figure pianos, new and used, Steinway, Bosendorfer, etc. A Selmer Mark VI for you saxophone players. But a good solid-top ukulele? Kinda rare. If anybody knows a good uke store in the area, let me know.

Check out Randee's, Hix Bros, and Wonderwall/Sitar Emporium.
 
ain't it the truth

Digging deeper: the 1.4M acoustic guitars represent about $600M in revenue, while the 900K ukes represent about $65M in revenue. Seems like acoustic guitars provide quite a bit more value to a shop.

Sad, but true. Guitar business is 1 Billion+ in North America, I'd be surprised if uke sales were even 25 million today.

My corner of MI had a few uke classes but even that petered out. My goal was to play in senior buildings and nursing homes for the fun of it. I do it as a group of one on occasion. I play along with utube videos, but that's really it.

The local school districts still teach recorder and mouth organ. I suggested the uke to a school principal but I've gotten nowhere even with the endorsement of a couple of local band teachers. I even offered to pay for a few dozen ukes, not like that's a lot of money. No dice. What to do?

Since the Sinatra Centenary is here, my fave Oh rite song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_zhVeZphwE
 
they say that 10% of beer drinkers buy 90% of the beer, and that may be true of ukes, too. If you get one and aren't serious, you play the one you got. If you get serious, you experiment and buy several. I bought several Ponos when I started out, to learn about the different sizes and find what I prefer. This was in lieu of being able to try them in a shop. Then I tried a couple other brands, and then got into ordering ukes of various woods. This was during the years 2008-2012, but I haven't bought a uke in three or four years. I did my experimentation and sold my extras, and still have a good number of ukes, and I play them more than anything else. But I'm no longer buying.

I've played other instruments and none leads you to multiple ownership like ukulele does. If a number of players got into uke in the early 2000's, that would explain a buying surge. Just don't expect a surge to continue unabated forever.
 
they say that 10% of beer drinkers buy 90% of the beer, and that may be true of ukes, too.

The first statement is directionally correct. The second is not. Most people who buy multiple ukes move up from <$100 instruments and, in terms of units, the uke market is mostly very inexpensive ukes. Using approximate numbers for 2013 from the NAMM report, the US market is roughly $65 million and 950K units. That's an average retail price of around $70.
 
Top Bottom