Poll: Add them up! How much have you spent on your current ukes?

If I count the KLOS I just ordered, I have 12 ukuleles for a total of just under $5k.

I began playing in March 2007 with a KoAloha soprano from MGM but it is the only one I sold. I bought my first tenor in 2007 and it was my primary player for 10 years. Ironically it doesn't get used much anymore.

In March of 2015 I had 3 ukuleles... 2 tenors and a Fred Shields concert, which I got in 2010. So my UAS, and expenditures, have been a more recent adventure.

John

What about gifted ukuleles, where you know the retail value? I have to gifted ukuleles, of which I know the value of one and havent the foggiest about the other.
Counting the one I know, I have four ukes that costed approximately $ 200, 300, 500 and ???, making for $ 1000 total.

greenie44 said:

I would call you both serious and fun, Mike.

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Thanks Greenie, but fun comes before serious.

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8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 8 mini electric bass guitars

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I have a neighbor with a new bass boat and a 4x4 truck to tow it, probably $80,000 combined. Another guy has put in a pool, hot tub, new deck probably $50,000. Another neighbor is a car guy, loves to build hot rods, has a '64 Corvette, '57 Chevy, '35 Ford pick up......maybe $150,000 or more. Living in Canada they can use these things 6 months out of the year. I play my ukes every day. I own 16 ukes total cost more than $2000, less than $50,000. Makes me the under privileged neighbor

Agreed. Ukulele is relatively inexpensive past time even if you're buying the high end ones. So I don't think anybody on UU should feel guilty about splurging on a Uke :>

offtopic...But what you highlighted about your neighbors... begs the question how the heck do these people afford all this. Sunday night a dude crashed his blue Lambo (400K) car in Stouffville and killed his partner. This morning, the news reported this fellow filed for bankruptcy a few years ago, and the car lease was under the now deceased name, who didn't even have a job. On top of that he had a ton of driving convictions which would put him under high risk driver and insurance would of been through the roof. Moral of the story don't worry about keeping up with the Joneses because it could all be smoke and mirrors.

DownUpDave said:

I have a neighbor with a new bass boat and a 4x4 truck to tow it, probably $80,000 combined. Another guy has put in a pool, hot tub, new deck probably $50,000. Another neighbor is a car guy, loves to build hot rods, has a '64 Corvette, '57 Chevy, '35 Ford pick up......maybe $150,000 or more. Living in Canada they can use these things 6 months out of the year. I play my ukes every day. I own 16 ukes total cost more than $2000, less than $50,000. Makes me the under privileged neighbor

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sunshiNee said:

Agreed. Ukulele is relatively inexpensive past time even if you're buying the high end ones. So I don't think anybody on UU should feel guilty about splurging on a Uke :>

offtopic...But what you highlighted about your neighbors... begs the question how the heck do these people afford all this. Sunday night a dude crashed his blue Lambo (400K) car in Stouffville and killed his partner. This morning, the news reported this fellow filed for bankruptcy a few years ago, and the car lease was under the now deceased name, who didn't even have a job. On top of that he had a ton of driving convictions which would put him under high risk driver and insurance would of been through the roof. Moral of the story don't worry about keeping up with the Joneses because it could all be smoke and mirrors.

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Yea trying to keep up with others is a total waste of precious time and energy. I was just making the comparison that ukes are cheap compared to other hobbies. There are always those better off then you and those worse off then you. As the old saying goes happiness is wanting what you have. I am very lucky to have been married to the same women for 35 years we live in the same house we bought 32 years ago and have been mortgage free for 20 years so I have some spare cash to indulge in a hobby that has enriched my life.

I’ve spent about $5 per hour of playing time since I started in 2012. I hope and expect this figure will keep dropping over time.

good_uke_boy said:

I’ve spent about $5 per hour of playing time since I started in 2012. I hope and expect this figure will keep dropping over time.

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Love it!
I reckon about £2.50 an hour so far, in less than a year. My projection by the end of the year, well as I have ordered a handbuilt uke, I reckon it will increase slightly to about £2.75 an hour.
Small price to pay I reckon..

good_uke_boy said:

I’ve spent about $5 per hour of playing time since I started in 2012. I hope and expect this figure will keep dropping over time.

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That's a good one Kevin. I need to bring out my calculator to see your total.

good_uke_boy said:

I’ve spent about $5 per hour of playing time since I started in 2012. I hope and expect this figure will keep dropping over time.

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That's an interesting way to think about it, good_uke_boy. Even at $2500 in about 9 months my cost/time comes to less than $10/hour. I can think of worse ways we could be spending our fun money.

Three ukuleles, $548 US.

An interesting point, not necessarily addressed, is the total cost to get to the current ukuleles owned. Buying a ukulele and selling it at 60-70 cents on the dollar can have quite an impact if a person goes through a lot of ukes. It is not necessarily bad based on the end result, but might be eye opening as the years and instruments roll by.

John

I'm in the second smallest spent category. My Kala KA-CEM ukulele, a clip-on tuner. A local community uke group study and then an online course too. Some strings ordering and welding torch tip cleaners for the nut action tuning. And one book too.

All costs added together I've spent about 300€ past 8 months.

I only come in under US$2K if you don't count cases... tuners... strings... straps... books... music stands... tablets and apps... not to mention beer money and cute hats.

Considering I bought my first uke in 1985, on a per annum basis I'm a cheapskate. So far I have never sold a uke. Given a couple away, but no sales. When I teach beginner workshops I need to bring loaners. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We are at or about $1000.
Ukuleles are a bargain compared to most other musical instruments, with the exceptions of tin whistles.
Eventually I'll spend a chunk of change on a Pono Baritone, but today is not that day.

70sSanO said:

An interesting point, not necessarily addressed, is the total cost to get to the current ukuleles owned........, but might be eye opening as the years and instruments roll by.

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Since starting I haven't sold any, but I have passed on 6 ukes & a tuner, probably about £200 - so, under £2 a week.

mikelz777 said:

The point is for curiosity's sake and for the pure fun of it. It isn't in any way meant to be a meaningful study so if you are taking multiple factors into account and having to weigh them then you are over thinking it.

I've already learned that the spending limitations I've set for myself are far exceeded by a lot of others here and that my poll options should have skewed much further to the high end. I just thought it would be fun to see where I stand in relation to others in spending and I thought that maybe others would too. It looks like my $1000 for 3 ukes (which is extravagant to me) is like a drop in the bucket for many people here.

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I was reluctant to respond to this poll. But it looks like I'm in roughly the same boat as you are. I also have just a hair over $1000 spent on three ukuleles (all of them purchased in pristine pre-owned condition).

I guess I just reluctantly "outed" myself. I was going to stick to just one baritone and one tenor. Now my second tenor was a very impulse purchase from a recent marketplace sighting. Once I saw it, I needed to get it, just to satisfy a years-long question in my head about a particular tonewood, one relatively scarcely seen on ukes. I don't regret it at all, but I do feel a bit guilty about it, and it won't happen again - or, if it does, another instrument will have to go beforehand, to make room. I have to stop clicking on marketplace ads. LOL

And I am a "serious" player - of music, that is, not only of ukes in particular. I could probably afford to buy more instruments than I currently have, but storage space is the limiting factor. Though I unfortunately tend to be a packrat with my stuff (and am convinced it's genetic, looking at my family history), I have no "collector" tendencies when it comes to my instruments, but own them strictly for making music. I aim to make each of them sound the best I possibly can, even if they might only ever get heard by myself and God.

It's a pain in the neck to get rid of instruments that sit unplayed, what with all the photographing and advertising, packing and shipping, but I have a couple that I probably should, as I've moved on from them and they're not likely to get much, if any, future play.

bratsche

I think I have 12 ukes from sopranino to bari. Only a couple were over $100.
I have 4 sopranos which I play the least. My little white soprano cost about $30 but has had thousands spent on postage as it was sent around the world to be played and signed by lots of UU members - now $priceless.
My favs are my inexpensive bari (under $100) and my Doug Frink tenor #31 - I sent him a small piece of huon pine (only grows in Tasmania) - he used it to make the top sound board and gifted it me - $priceless.
The little I have spent I consider a wise investment due to the many hours of joy they have given me.

I've got 2 top of the line concert Fleas (bought new), and a standard concert Fluke (used), just a tad under $1,000 and I'm happy. I'm really hard on things, I don't like having to be too careful. I'd always be nervous handling a $1000+ uke. Besides, my playing doesn't call for it, yet.

I'm around 5k and I'm done. I have a Kamaka for re-entrant purposes, a custom uke for linear, and to round out my four-string fetish I have a tenor guitar, a baritone ukulele, and a cigar box guitar. I do not suffer from UAS because I am very monogamous and if I had two linear ukuleles it would be a waste because I would only play the one I bonded with. So, unless one the ukuleles breaks, I am set for life.