I purchased a Romero Tiny Tenor solid mahogany ukulele (from the Ukulele site) in November of last year as my first “serious” ukulele. I had been playing a much less expensive concert as a starter uke and fell in love with playing but was bothered by the poor intonation and sound of that instrument. When shopping for my new uke, I was not able to try out any of the ones I was interested in since no one in my area sells any of the instruments I was considering. After extensive research, I narrowed down my top candidates to the tiny tenor, Koaloha Opio acacia concert, or Pono. I thought I would like to play a tenor with a low G string, so I opted with the tiny tenor. Once I received the tiny tenor, I was wowed by the beauty of the instrument and the amazing tone it produced, but I was also dismayed by how much more challenging it was for me to play. I have small hands and hitchhiker thumbs (my thumb tends to bend very far backwards, especially with barre chords). I did further research and found many posts that said any scale instrument could be played by any size of person/hands so I figured I just needed to practice and build hand strength. Unfortunately, I have not found much improvement to my ability to reach distant frets, or accomplish barre chords. I took my instrument to a local luthier to check the action, and he said that it was very well set up.
At this point, I don’t know what to do. I have not been playing my uke much of late, because it is so depressing to have such a beautiful instrument that I can’t play. I’m sure if I sell it, I will take a significant loss (it cost $500+), and I can’t afford to buy a Koaloha, after having spent all of my budget on the tiny tenor. I have watched the marketplace, and more expensive versions of the tiny tenor have sold for $400 or less.
Are there ways I can make the most of the tiny tenor or do I need to just sell it at a significant loss and then purchase some other concert uke and kiss my dreams of the Opio goodbye?
At this point, I don’t know what to do. I have not been playing my uke much of late, because it is so depressing to have such a beautiful instrument that I can’t play. I’m sure if I sell it, I will take a significant loss (it cost $500+), and I can’t afford to buy a Koaloha, after having spent all of my budget on the tiny tenor. I have watched the marketplace, and more expensive versions of the tiny tenor have sold for $400 or less.
Are there ways I can make the most of the tiny tenor or do I need to just sell it at a significant loss and then purchase some other concert uke and kiss my dreams of the Opio goodbye?