What's your absolute "Deal-Breaker"?

ukantor said:
"What specific "feature" on a ukulele would make you wrinkle your nose and say "No, thanks!" more than anything else?"

I like a ukulele to look like a ukulele. Too many of today's products are wannabe guitars, but smaller.

John Colter.
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To entice guitar players. Traditional Ukish looks are folkish and not considered real instruments for some guitar elitists.
 
If the ukulele is a perfect 10 on playability, sound and size, then the deal breaker for me is if there is this “less than satin” satin finish. almost to the point of no finish.
 
I don't know that I'd call these absolute "deal breakers" but I'd prefer not to have .....

Very thick or very thin neck
Very flat, squared off neck shape
Less than 1 7/16 inch (36mm) nut size. 1 1/2 is ok, but 1 7/16 is my favorite
Gloss neck. Yuk. I don't like the feel. Some semi-gloss necks are ok, but I prefer satin neck. Body of the ukulele can be gloss though.
Friction tuners. I'm ok with rabbit-ear geared tuners if they are good quality. Gotoh UPTs are my favorites. All 4 of my ukes have them.
 
The one thing that would absolutely be a deal breaker for me is no side fretboard markers. Second would D shaped neck profile.
 
Someone here on UU wrote that "the ukulele picks the player". For me that is that the ukulele speaks to me. Regardless of size, build, woods, bling/finish, cost, etc., when I pick it up, form a chord and strum, it has "to speak to me". It's totally non-intuitive. Some do, most do not.
 
For me, how easy is it making Bb? For some reason, that chord shape defines a lot of the “feel” decision for me. If I can’t hit Bb consistently, the basically tells me it’s not for me.
 
bratsche said:
Still waiting for Jerryc41 to weigh in. I am curious to know if he even has any deal-breakers. :rofl:

bratsche
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On the next page. : )

If I like it, I like it. If it has too much "stuff" on it, I probably won't like it. I'm not particular about necks and bodies. Maybe when I become a great player, things like that will matter. : )
 
After seeing and reading through this thread, I have been struggling to think of what one thing would be my dealbreaker.

And then a Moore Bettah went up at auction on the HMS site, and I knew: inlays I didn’t choose.

Chuck is an amazing artist, and I’m wowed by the detail he gets, but the ukes he does with the pin-up styled ladies just don’t do it for me.

Didn’t mean to pick on Chuck there—as someone else said, I also hate the inlayed island chain, inlayed “honu” tattoo style...I’m sure there are other examples that escape me—but seeing that MB uke was the catalyst for coming to my answer! I loved everything about it except the headstock inlay, even from an incredibly talented artist and luthier. But hey, at least someone thinks it is $10k+ worthy, and that to me is part of what makes this such a great community: we’ve all got our own incredibly different tastes and opinions.

Great thread, bratsche, thanks for starting it!
 
Deal breaker - any signs of sloppy glueing. If there are any external signs of improper glueing (any amount is too much), it's a no-deal. The way I see it, if I can see glueing errors onthe outside, then what's inside is not going to be any better. There are plenty of decently made instruments in the marketplace, so acquiring one where the workmanship is suspect is illogical.
 
Glossy finish and a painted fretboard will make both stop my from buying a uke.
 
Great posts, lots of "things" that are not favorites. I play lots of ukes and maybe because of that I'm more flexible. But I do have an issue when the neck is way fat or way thin. And I have a problem with most friction tuners but only because I don't have much practice. Good thread!
 
If I don't like the tone...it can't be love. I f it can't be love, it can't be played.

I used to think Tenor size was a deal breaker til I met one I adore.
 
Joyful Uke said:
+1 on the excess inlay and bling. I do appreciate the skill involved in doing the inlay, but that would probably stop me from buying a ukulele, especially depending on what the inlay was. But, if someone wanted to give me a Moore Bettah concert ukulele, and it had naked ladies as inlay all over it, I'd figure out a way to deal with it. LOL.
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You'd get to in lay the naked ladies that were all under your strumming hand.
 
Reviving this thread because it's so interesting learning people's tastes!

I'm surprised people said rope binding- I like that it shouts out to the original Diaz, Nunes, and Santos ukes.
Aside from general poor build quality, my deal breakers are thick or wide necks (I have ridiculously tiny hands) and gloss finishes. I'm also not a fan of overly done inlays. That makes the uke too much of a wall-hanging art piece and not something I want to play. Tuners, dots, and such I can fix on my own.
 
My deal-breakers are friction tuners and radius fretboards. I don't care for either, but that's just me.
 
Just now discovered this thread and read through most of it – no one said strap buttons yet?

There are and were quite a few ukes at the marketplace that I might have been interested in – if only they weren‘t destroyed by strap buttons. Why people, why? :D Even on sopranos?
 
I like tons of ukes, but even if a dream ukulele was offered for free from a person that made it smell heavily of smoke, I’m out.
 
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