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4Jesus

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after spending a week of searching and searching for the right entry level Ukulele I dumbfoundedly reached out and bought a Les Paul Acoustic-Electric Concert..I was hesitant to cancel my order but the better of me said
"Let me just try it out. Then the best idea of them all was that I come here and get some real man advice!
 
The Les Paul has differing opinions; what you will hear from most people is that it is an okay ukulele that sounds better plugged in, and people will suggest an immediate string change. Barry Maz (gotaukulele.com) didn't like it (see his review).

I think they look cool, and if I could find one for cheap, I would buy it just because it looks cool. I generally prefer fluorocarbon strings (Martin M600s are around a lot of places) so that is what i would immediately throw on it...although I am interested to see what Booli says about the new Aquila Carbon Black strings.
 
Hey 4Jesus, I believe you should quickly try it out and return bc it is in my estimation and many others (for sound) unsatisfactory, and you will be discouraged from playing it. Unless you are into amped sound.

I believe any beginner should always pick up a good quality well respected brand model. Kala 15s or its concert equivalent, a ohana (tons of great choices here even at the 100-150 dollar level you'll enjoy ) or even a Caramel.
If you want to 4Him best to go 4Quality.
 
I agree that the Les Paul looks cool, but it is not as good a uke as it's street price. A Kala concert is about the same price and a lot more Ukulele, though not with a pickup. A Caramel CC-100 Concert with a tuner/pickup is only about $55 and might take three weeks to get, but it will be a lot better than the Epiphone or anything you can get for $55 around here.
If you can afford $165 the Ohana CK-22 is a very nice spruce top mahogany laminate body concert. the CK-22Z is spruce and Zebrawood, which is what I wish I had bought. I'm a sucker for Zebrawood.

Check with Mim's Uke on E-Bay or call her and explain what you want and how much you can afford. She'll fit you out with a good uke at a price you can afford.
 
Welcome. The only time I played that Les Paul style was in Sam Ash off their display wall and played it unamplified, it had very little sustain or projection. I thought it was too expensive.
 
Hi Choirguy!

The Les Paul has differing opinions; what you will hear from most people is that it is an okay ukulele that sounds better plugged in, and people will suggest an immediate string change. Barry Maz (gotaukulele.com) didn't like it (see his review).

My friend has Les Paul ukulele and it is very nice and he loves it. I've read Barry Maz review. I think it is wrong. This type of acoustic-electric instruments with piezo pickup pick not only strings sound but also whole body sound. If it has big resonance, it may produce howling. Hence this type of instruments depress the resonance and optimize it's sound when plugged in. My Yamaha guitar too. Les Paul is very nice sound and no howling at all. I love this instruments too.
 
I have one. Looks cool, plays ok, but sound is SEVERELY lacking compared to nearly ANY OTHER uke you can buy for ~$60-130.

You will be very sad playing it.

I changed the pickup to a much better one, replaced the nut and saddle with bone and perfectly compensated both, and were I not a diehard Les Paul guitar player in a former life and like to look at it, I would have returned it. It sits unplayed for a long time now.

ETA: I tested nearly a dozen different string sets as well with little change, however like Choirguy said, the Martin M600 strings were likely the best out of the lot.


Sorry if this offends anyone, but folks that do like it seem easily pleased by the 'shiny OMG Les Paul' or have little experience with better ukes in this price range.

Please read and digest these:

http://www.gotaukulele.com/2015/08/epiphone-les-paul-ukulele-review.html

(these are 2 DIFFERENT videos, both worthy of viewing)

Initial review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37qX0k9a4Gw

Sound comparison to other ukes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMcsQnNh5kI

You are far better off getting something with a full setup and padded gig bag from MIM's Ukes or Uke Republic and they have nearly a dozen different models in this price range.

ETA2: there used to be a web site called 'Guitar Huggers' (no longer online) that sold damaged and broken guitars and ukes as 'fixer projects' and at one time over a 6 month period they were FLUSH with these Epi LP ukes that all had the bridge fly off.

Hundreds
of them newly added to their inventory, at a frequency of about every 2 weeks (yes I checked EVERY day).

Maybe the factory has improved since then, but no way to tell when it was made. So you have no idea if yours will be from the production runs with the poorly glued bridge (and ticking time bomb) or if/when they fixed this problem
 
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Yes, they are quiet. However when plugged into my Zoom pedal box, it is very cool. Fitted with low G reds, the neck is like butter. Excellent for those, up the neck, "Hotel California solo" moments
 
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