Am I the only one with just one ukulele?

RLM3121

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I saw a thread recently about the number of people that have multiple ukuleles. Am I the only one that has just one?

The reason I have only one is twofold. I am a retired baby boomer and we are thinking of down sizing. The second reason is that my wife believes that you can only play one at a time, so why would you need more than one?

My one uke is a really nice Kiwaya mahogany concert. So I’m happy. If
You only have one uke, what is it?
 
You aren't the only one. I very often only have one, but it can be a bit of a revolving door as to which uke the one is.

I was out of uke for a little while completely and playing around mostly with percussion, although I still had one guitar too. Then roughly a month ago I got a Flight TUS-35 soprano and really liked it. It really got me back into uke. I decided to re-home it this week (I think it'll be appreciated by its new owner), as I now have a new Enya EUC-X1M concert scale uke that I much prefer. That said, I stand by everything I said about the Flight in my review here, if anyone has seen or sees that.
I am more of a minimalist and find I don't worry as much over lower cost ukes so I end up enjoying them more. I wouldn't mind having two right now as I'm especially interested in the upcoming Enya Nova U. This one will serve me well for now and maybe a long time.
 
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Good for you. A lot of this UAS is bragging or neurotic obsession. But I have several I must say. One is a travel soprano and I do travel with it. It fits in a carry on. Another is a tenor with a low G. I have a Pono electric baritone for feeding into Garage Band for recording and because I enjoy feeding it through various amplification simulations. The last is a baritone with a high d because there is a need for me to have both high and low stringing in terms of my venture into picking. So, I do use them all.

Jake Shimabukuro, however, was famous for only having his Kamaka tenor. I think he has now ventured into the world of baritone.

There certainly is something to say for Zen like simplicity. Getting another uke doesn’t necessarily make your playing any better and I have heard some great players play on relatively inexpensive Kalas.
 
Re: your wife's logic. You can only wear one pair of shoes at a time so why have more than one pair? With few exceptions, you only wear one (insert any article of clothing here) at a time so why have more than one? This could go on and on. :cool: Sometimes variety is nice. Sometimes they serve a different sound or a different purpose. Sure, you only need one but more than one can be more fun!

I was only ever going to have one until I had two. (I wanted a solid upgrade.) I was fine having two until I had three. (etc.) I'm up to 5 now and they are all different in some respect so things haven't gotten too far out of hand for me and they are all getting played. I'm happy with 5 but I've had my eye on a 6th but just can't justify or rationalize that one yet. I told myself if I were to get another uke I'd sell off one of my current ukes but when I started thinking about which one I'd let go I couldn't pick one so I'm kinda stuck.
 
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I am like a person that wants to puke if I have too many things. Usually I just play with my Kala uke, but there is always that Flight plastic fingerboard ukulele, that is just there. It upsets me but rather than burn it, it is there if I brake a string on Kala.
 
I may have been misunderstood. I am not judging anyone about their number of ukes. I was just curious if many people had have more than one and what it is. Also, I’m good covering the electric bill.
 
There are those who own multiple units. There are those who spend $1000 or more to purchase a new ukulele every few months and sell and old one at a discount. There are those who ‘wall paper’ their walls with dozens of Tenors — same size, just different brands shapes and colors.
I have 5, and each sounds different: standard, low octave, 8 string, Banjolele,
Some people collect stamps, some collect coins, some collect ukuleles — easier than collecting guitars (or pianos)
 
Try telling her that you are thinking about selling the Uke and buying a Double Bass.

Bet she then changes her opinion.

As it is different instruments have different tones and some tones work better than others with songs, of the type and variation of music we play especially within a group of uke musicians it is not a one size fits all, well that is what I tell my Wife.

So maybe next time she buys a new handbag you suggest that one of her older ones gets donated to a worthwhile cause or it is sold off on eBay.
 
I saw a thread recently about the number of people that have multiple ukuleles. Am I the only one that has just one?

The reason I have only one is twofold. I am a retired baby boomer and we are thinking of down sizing. The second reason is that my wife believes that you can only play one at a time, so why would you need more than one?

My one uke is a really nice Kiwaya mahogany concert. So I’m happy. If
You only have one uke, what is it?

I just wanted to mention that I also have Kiwaya Concert- and if I had to have just one uke that may very well be the one I would keep. It's a true gem. Cheers
 
I consider myself a bit of a minimalist too.
However, it is still hard to consolidate down just to 1 ukulele.

My reasons are mainly to do with tunings.

Most of the times I play in low-G (tenor), but sometimes I require high-G (concert).
But I also want a low-G soprano for portability. And also a beater uke for taking on camping and beaches.
And also a baritone for when I want a lower toned sound. And a guitalele for when I want to play an ukulele like a guitar.
And a bass ukulele for when I want to play bass... and also I require an electric ukulele for silent night time play and using effects/amps.

Oh dear.. and I haven't even mentioned my guitars, flutes, violins, harmonicas and ukuleles I require for collectability and tonewoods..
 
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I saw a thread recently about the number of people that have multiple ukuleles. Am I the only one that has just one?

The reason I have only one is twofold. I am a retired baby boomer and we are thinking of down sizing. The second reason is that my wife believes that you can only play one at a time, so why would you need more than one?

My one uke is a really nice Kiwaya mahogany concert. So I’m happy. If
You only have one uke, what is it?

You are a wise man, and your wife is even wiser. The most dumb ass thing I’ve ever done was to buy a second ukulele.
 
I've been playing for five years and for the last two I've only had my KoAloha tenor. I used to have five ukuleles, but I felt a bit anxious for not playing all of them enough. So I sold some and gave others away. For two years I have been really happy with playing just one ukulele.

But recently I decided to get a baritone just to experiment and also to stretch my fingers. Playing baritone makes playing tenor easier. I still intend to sell the baritone at some point, because even though it's nice instrument I'm still a fan of minimalism.
 
I currently own five, but the number fluctuates and has been much higher in the past! As has been said already, someimes a different 'voice' or 'feel' suits a different instrument. Your choice, no biggie; if you are happy with one, long may it continue to suit you.
 
I saw a thread recently about the number of people that have multiple ukuleles. Am I the only one that has just one?

The reason I have only one is twofold. I am a retired baby boomer and we are thinking of down sizing. The second reason is that my wife believes that you can only play one at a time, so why would you need more than one?

My one uke is a really nice Kiwaya mahogany concert. So I’m happy. If
You only have one uke, what is it?

Gosh! I am full of admiration for your (and your wife's) philosophy! I wish I could adhere to it! Instead, I am strangely tempted by, er ... ukuleles! I have them in every available size and configuration. It would obviously be far better to kerb this unhealthy obsession and concentrate on simply learning to play better those ukes that I already have. But, I have just yesterday, seen this luthier-made concert uke going for a ridiculously cheap price .... and, so it goes on!
 
As told I have only 2 ukuleles, but I have also a classical guitar (now working as a baritone), acoustic steel string one and then electric. A flute and 2 recorders. Might add sometimes a six hole whistle too, except my neighbours that get then bothered. A harmonica and also a keyboard that I am not so familiar with, but good for music theory anyways. Somewhere in the cellar also a cheap russian piano style accordeon, but it is so out of tune lol.
 
I really only came to musical instruments when I retired, started with a diatonic harmonica, then ukuleles, went back to harmonica, bought several more different ones, chromatics, tremolos, & some more diatonics in different keys. Then I bought a fipple flute or two, they are so cheap relative to other instruments, then a keyless piccolo, had to add keyless flutes.....

I blame it on the fact that I never had the time or the money to do it before, so I'm trying to catch up on a lifetime of doing without.......that's my excuse, & I'm sticking to it. :D

I'm really enjoying myself learning to play all these different instruments, but if you're happy with just the one, so be it, as long as you're enjoying it. :)
 
Yes Keith, I forgot to mention that I have besides the basic diatonic harmonica also a chromatic one, but that is one instrument I never could figure out, with the pushing thing.

Also a violin hanging on my wall, it is better kept there and looks nice to not upset mine or neighbours ears and looks beautiful.
 
I really only came to musical instruments when I retired, started with a diatonic harmonica, then ukuleles, went back to harmonica, bought several more different ones, chromatics, tremolos, & some more diatonics in different keys.

Yeah, I know what that's like. I've been accumulating harmonicas since I was a kid.
 
There are still a lots of musical instruments that I can't play because of the apartment housing living. Like sax or clarinet, Or trumpet family ones. Oboe sounds nice too, but my all time favorite is probably the clarinet.
I had a Casio DH-100 and with it I came closest to clarinet sound. Time might golden the memories, but it broke :(

It is not the same with playing a keyboard all these digitally made sounds it has, I need that blowing lower or harder control of volume and fingering contact of a horn.
 
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