After attending my first ukulele club meeting, I was hooked and wanted to buy a tenor in time for the next meeting. I mean, I could play three chords so I was ready! My wife suggested that I use a $200 gift card from Amazon I had. Great idea! I looked at endless listings, but the one that caught my eye was the Fender Nohea. It had a very cool looking Telecaster-shape head, and the wood looked beautiful. It said it was "all koa" and I had read that koa was the best wood for a ukulele. So I bought it for $250.
In case you missed it, I knew nothing about ukuleles, what was good or bad. And zero about setup, action or intonation.
The uke arrived in three days and I was stoked. I also bought a tuner and a gig bag. I tuned it up and strummed away using the beginners guide they handed out to all of the newbes. And I practiced. Not bad. I went to the next meeting, learned some more things. And I started to look online for information about how to play a uke. Holy smokes! It's endless. But I found Barry Maz's Got A Ukulele site that was squarely aimed at helping beginners. Eye opener. (I highly recommend the website and Barry's books for beginners.)
I quickly realized that my "all koa" uke was a laminate. And that the problems I was having trying to make barre chords was partially due to the lack of a proper setup. It practically took a c-clamp to make a first fret barre on the thing. It sounded nice. It wasn't very loud, so that was good. I could blend in with the other 50 people at the meetings and no one would get overly upset with all of the mistakes I was making.
Eventually, I took it to a music store that sold a few decent ukuleles and the owner was very patient explaining some things to me. He played the Fender a bit and said, and I quote, "Oh my! That is bad." When he tried a Bb and few other barres. I left it with him for a day and he lowered the nut and saddle by quite a lot. He also suggested putting fluorocarbon strings on it. And he explained that. I bought a set, but it would be a couple of months before I made the change.
The adjustments helped a lot. The fluoro strings helped more, but it is still a difficult ukulele to play. It has a somewhat restrained sound with very little sustain, but it's pleasent.
But, in all honesty I think it was a good ukulele to learn on. It built the strength in my fingers. Started conversations with other players who liked its looks. And is very durable. I took it on several short trips and could play it quietly in my hotel room at night. I still have it, but I'm thinking about donating it to a charity...
