Good Ukulele Dealers

Jerryc41

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I've bought lots of ukuleles from an assortment of sellers, and I've never had a bad experience. Many claim to do a setup, and I have to take their word for it. Hawaii Music Supply and Mim have a reputation for doing excellent setups. Below are sellers I've used. I've also bought from eBay, here, and Fleamarket Music.

Amazon
Elderly
Guitar Center
Hawaii Music Supply
Magic Fluke
Mim
Music Emporium
Pennylane Emporium
Tejon Street Music
Thoman (Germany)
Uke-Fan
Ukulele Friend
 
I've bought from some of the vendors you listed, all with no issues, and I've also bought from Uke Republic and Gryphon Strings, both do setups, and each experience was smooth, courteous, and went as expected.

There is a list of recommended vendors in the Buying Tips section of UU, that is a sticky post.

You may want to have a look at that too.
 
I've bought from some of the vendors you listed, all with no issues, and I've also bought from Uke Republic and Gryphon Strings, both do setups, and each experience was smooth, courteous, and went as expected.

There is a list of recommended vendors in the Buying Tips section of UU, that is a sticky post.

You may want to have a look at that too.

I bought from Vic Schmeltz, too.

Ah, I missed the sticky.
 
I haven’t purchased anything from HMS, but had good experiences with Uke Republic and Mim. Having a custom uke built by Loprinzi was also a good experience...... good communication with Donna throughout the process. The folks at Elderly and Pennylane have answered questions in a timely manner. I recently bought a basically brand new Imua uke ( sold as mint condition used) via Reverb and that transaction was good.
 
In the UK;

Southern Ukulele Store
World of Ukes
Duke of Uke
Eagle Music

I have not bought from the others myself, but I have bought several sets of uke tuning machines from Eagle Music in the UK, and received to my door in 9 days in NJ, USA with only $7 shipping cost, and was very impressed with this transaction.

Prior to buying from them, I had asked several other UU members from the UK about Eagle Music, and they all told me that this shop is highly regarded, and I can definitely see why. :)

I regularly see good things said by other folks in the UK about Southern Ukulele Store (SUS) and Omega Music too. but have not bought from them as most times those same items are available here, across the pond.
 
In the UK;

Southern Ukulele Store
World of Ukes
Duke of Uke
Eagle Music

As ever YMMV. I won’t name the shop directly but have bought at least two Ukes from a famous shop on our South coast. I’m sad to say that my experience did not live up to their reputation in that I had to set-up those instruments up myself. When I started to play I didn’t understand how a well set-up Uke should play and the Ukes were cheap ones bought at a good price - anyway, is it really practical and fair to expect a set-up on sub £60 laminates? My last purchase from them was of a (£150) Uke that only they (in the U.K.) sell and in hindsight I should have complained loudly and sent it back to be worked on - the delivered item certainly didn’t match the salesman’s words. However, as above, YMMV.
 
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No worries.

It's not been updated in a while and it seems and the thread is locked, but there's lots of vendors listed.

See here: https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?16519-Ukulele-Stores-USA

Barry Maz also has a list of sellers. Lists like that are often just lists, though. They're not necessarily recommended dealers.

Another consideration: One bad experience should not be a reason to condemn a dealer online. I've had dealers of all kinds mess up once or twice, but I keep going back. It's the "shady" dealers that you have to avoid - the ones that intentionally try to cheat us. I haven't seen that with uke sellers, but with electronics, it's a different story.
 
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Southern Ukulele Store
World of Ukes

I can also vouch for both of these, and have bought instrument from them. They were also happy to answer questions and give candid advice on instruments and makers. I value both places.
 
Here's my big four, in alphabetical order:

Mainland Ukes
Mim's Ukes
The Ukulele Site (aka Hawaii Music Supply)
Uke Republic

I have purchased from all four, so I know all four do great setups, all four will treat you right, and you can't wrong with any one of them!

In fact, I have another Baritone uke on order with The Ukulele Site, even as I'm typing this! (Hurry up, Joel!) :)
 
I find it peculiar that Amazon is mentioned in the original post.
It is my impression that Amazon is Store front for a lot of vendors. So buying through Amazon, you can probably both get something shipped from a good dealer and something from a bad one.

The online shops I have ordered from are:
Southern Ukulele Store: I share the good experiences of other reviews.
Thomann: Good service, but the Luna ukulele I bougth there dissapointed me. It is probably not Thomanns fault, but I dont think that they do setups. For buying strings, tuners etc. I only have good experiences.
JusteCordes.fr: Good service, cheaper strings than the other two shops, and they imported a "custom" Fluke for me and saved me the US to EU customs hazzle.
 
I've bought most of my ukes off ebay and been lucky so far (not for the faint-hearted and not recommended).
However, I recently bought a tenor uke on a trip to China from a store called 4uke in Hangzhou.
They've been open a couple of years and it's quite a nice set up. Check their website. They actually have a workbench in the shop and I could watch while quality checks and setups were performed on ukuleles. There's obviously a bit of a language barrier, but a girl working there spoke quite good English. I'm pretty sure they would do shipping worldwide if required, and you save quite a bit of money too. They sell quite a few domestic Chinese brands that are unfamiliar, but they allso sell Romero Creations, Big Island, and AnueNue to name but a few more popular brands. Well worth a look.
www.4uke.com
 
Thomann: Good service, but the Luna ukulele I bougth there dissapointed me. It is probably not Thomanns fault, but I dont think that they do setups. For buying strings, tuners etc. I only have good experiences.

Yep, they don't do any setups and probably don't look at what they sell. I bought a banjo there and the manufacturer's box had not even been opened (the customs seal was still intact). But they do have good prices and good services, with a great money back guarantee that exceeds the 14-day return right of the EU. For strings, picks, and any kind of other things that aren't string instruments, they are a great choice. They are also accommodating if something goes wrong (they refunded some broken strings) and sometimes match prices if something is cheaper elsewhere in Europe.
 
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