Yes, Some Ukes are Very Expensive

Let me give a slightly different angle on this discussion.

I rarely if ever buy expensive items, sometimes I could spend quite a bit more than I do but controlling money outflow leaves funds still available for other stuff. The end result of being too mean can be that you end up with something not worth having - please don’t ask how I know this - so know what is a realistic minimum and then buy a little above that. After the purchase I have additional costs and those are of my own time and skill in physically improving the bought product by set-up and modification; there would be an additional charge involved if I hadn’t the time and ability to do the work and I’ve been very pleased by how much some instruments have improved for my (uncharged) efforts.

Yes, one way or another, some Ukes are expensive to buy (particularly new and fancy finish ones that are also worth playing to others). You can limit the financial outlay by freely adding your own working into the mix, but when resold no one will pay you appropriately for that time. Luther built instruments have genuine value to some people and perceived value to others, some Luthier built instruments retain a high percentage of their purchase price and others deprecate. My playing isn’t good enough to warrant the price of commercially made Luthier built instruments but plain and good factory built instruments do offer me both value and the opportunity to improve matters by using what craft skills I have. For what I pay depreciation costs are more an accepted annoyance that anything else, whereas you easily could loose a significant sum on reselling a Luthier built instrument.

Edit. An additional cost to nearly everything you buy is the pre-cost of the experience you gained to enable you to make a buying decision. Buying that first $50 Ukulele allowed you to understand how to play and gave insight into what sounds and what better sounds were possible, you moved onto better and better instruments (of a type that suited you) and sold earlier purchases at high percentage losses. You could say that the sum of those losses - or, worse still, money tied up in unsold and unused instruments - was the pre-cost of your next purchase.

See #17 and Santa’s quote about quality, it’s so true. Careful purchasing helps, but basically you rarely get what you don’t pay for.

I end up with more than what I pay for (or rather paid someone else for), but only because I do not bill myself for what work I do to Ukes that I set-up, etc. One way or another something worth having costs, but you might have some controls over the ways (routes).
 
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“Yes some ukes are very expensive”.........yes some ukes are very cheap.........yes some ukes are somewhere in the middle.

Just like every other type of product available to the customer today.
 
If you can afford a luthier build, without going short, & you fancy having one, go ahead, after all it's your money & nobody else's.

But, for me, I am happy with the quality factory builds that I own, I don't need a super special one, neither as a must have or as a player, but we are all different, & like different things. :)

:music:
 
If you can afford a luthier build, without going short, & you fancy having one, go ahead, after all it's your money & nobody else's.

:music:

I'd never have a custom uke made because I could never decide on the details - which is why I'll never get a tattoo. : )
 
I'd never have a custom uke made because I could never decide on the details - which is why I'll never get a tattoo. : )

This is very much my thinking - a custom uke would be very good, as would a tattoo, but I wouldn't be able to make the decisions necessary to take the plunge!
 
The construction of the instrument can only carry one so far. In my opinion what makes the difference is the performer. I have a professional musician friend who can play anything with strings and makes them sound like they are top of the line. He played my $160 ukulele and he sound as good as some of the top players we hear on you tube all the time. Even if I became professional, which is unlikely, I would never upgrade my ukulele. I love the way it sounds now.
 
The construction of the instrument can only carry one so far. In my opinion what makes the difference is the performer. I have a professional musician friend who can play anything with strings and makes them sound like they are top of the line. He played my $160 ukulele and he sound as good as some of the top players we hear on you tube all the time. Even if I became professional, which is unlikely, I would never upgrade my ukulele. I love the way it sounds now.

I CAN"T make anything with strings sound top of the line, so I prefer something that sounds good/ great regardless of my skill level.
 
In the new market, an expensive handmade ukulele is probably worth it; especially if a person has input on woods and features. On the second hand market, from the seller’s perspective it may or may not be. From a long term collector perspective, it really depends on the luthier. Fifty or seventy-five years from now that custom might sell for 10 cents on the dollar, unless it is one of the few highly sought after luthiers with a following. I would think that a K brand will retain value over most customs.

John
 
In the new market, an expensive handmade ukulele is probably worth it; especially if a person has input on woods and features. On the second hand market, from the seller’s perspective it may or may not be. From a long term collector perspective, it really depends on the luthier. Fifty or seventy-five years from now that custom might sell for 10 cents on the dollar, unless it is one of the few highly sought after luthiers with a following. I would think that a K brand will retain value over most customs.

John

Fifty or seventy five years from now resale value won't matter to most of us as we will probably be gone. Most of our possessions won't have held their value either.
 
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