Good loud acoustic busking ukulele

Booli said:

RISA sells Fluke and Flea ukes on their web shop:

https://www.ukulele.de/shop4/en/search?page=search&page_action=query&desc=on&sdesc=on&keywords=fluke

They are in Germany it seems:

RISA Musical Instruments GmbH
Pferdsbachstr. 31-33
64823 Groß-Umstadt
Fon: +49(0)6078-911183
Fax: +49(0)6078-911176
E-Mail: info@ukulele.de
Internet: www.ukulele.de

And AFAIK, they ship worldwide, and if you are local as in 'in-country', shipping is likely to be reasonable.

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I am aware, but if you want any upgrades, like pegheads, koa top or wooden fretboard, it is not likely to be in stock at a distributor.
Usually you would have to order directly from Magic Fluke to get that. That means paying for overseas shipping of a single instrument, which is more than for a bulk, and customs on the retail price and the shipping. If a distributor imports it to EU for you, they only pay costums on the factory price and the overseas shipping is cheaper when they order a large shipment.

Shipping within the EU is pretty cheap. I ended up paying almost the same for the instrument in EU as it would have cost from the factory to a consumer is the US.
I believe I paid like $550 total. Direct import would have been at least $800.

Thanks for all the input-- now aside from a resonator or a Fluke I'm also considering spruce or cedar tops and banjoleles. Must meditate on this.

I do play a Kala-TEM (which should be your "Kala exotic mahogany tenor") an a Baton-Rouge Sun 5-String Tenor, like you do.
These are the loudest Ukes I own.
Also bought a Ohana TK-70 (Solid Spruce Top, Koa-Laminate Back and Sides) a couple of weeks ago. This one isn't as loud as the upper two (but sounds very nice).

Very good projection comes from my Magic-Fluke (concert size), which is, talking about loudness, similar to the Kala or the Baton-Rouge but more crisp. This one should be the perfect busking-uke in my opinion.
It might add, that the Fluke ist something of the toughest uke one could play.

Greetings from the wild-south (of Germany)
Holger

I looked at resonator ukuleles when I was looking for something that would be loud enough to reach out without amplification, but they are kind of heavy. Same with banjoleles. For me, I sometimes have to carry all of my gear a ways to get to my pitch and I wanted to keep it light. That's why I don't always drag my battery powered amp along. Something to think about.

SoundSmith's resonator ukes are good & loud. Plus the unusual appearance of a resonator could draw the curious as well as those who like your playing.