Top pedigree brands? Brand tiering?

So many custom and regular brands. How would everyone tier these? What brands are missing? Moore bettah , kamaka , kala, koaloha, kanile’a, petros, ko’olau, grimes, hive, blackbird, Mya-moe, howlett, etc...

I think the best you can do is create tiers that various instruments would fit into. Even then you'd have a hard time splitting hair of is this brand a Ultra Premium or a Super Premium? For instance, is Kala an entry level; mid level, upper level; premium level or all of the above? Arguably, they have models that fit into all of those niches.

Factory mass produced vs factory limited production. Luthier-made custom vs spec models.

Endless arguing and heated discussions.

All of those names you mention are generally considered to be top-tier builders. The specific grading at that level is based entirely on individual preference. Few will tell you any of those is bad, but everyone will have a different answer for which they like best. And those answers will certainly be biased to what people have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to play.

There are hundreds of other brands and builders in the world that you didn't mention. Some of those are also top-tier like the names in your list. It might be easier to point you in the right direction if you provided more information about what you are actually looking for. What is the purpose of this list?

That's almost impossible to do. First, you have listed a mix of individual builders and mass producers which is already apples and oranges. Next, there are brands like Kala that span many "tiers". And what's the point anyway? Many times a "low tier" instrument can meet a need as well or even better than a "top tier" instrument. You wanna take your $10K MB to the beach? OK, but most would rather take a Dolphin or Flea.

I think if you look at brands sold by http://ukulelefriend.com/ those would be top tier custom luthiers and “mass produced” quality builders.

I appreciate the “custom built” section of https://www.theukulelesite.com/shop-by/custom-builds.html which regularly has top tier builds. It’s fun to learn about these luthiers on Hawaii Music Supply podcast on YouTube.

MopMan said:

All of those names you mention are generally considered to be top-tier builders. The specific grading at that level is based entirely on individual preference.

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Yes, definitely. You're not going to buy one of those brands and get a bad instrument.

Wdh777 said:

So many custom and regular brands. How would everyone tier these? What brands are missing? Moore bettah , kamaka , kala, koaloha, kanile’a, petros, ko’olau, grimes, hive, blackbird, Mya-moe, howlett, etc...

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Beau Hannam, Les Stansell, Pepe Romero Custom, Ono, Pegasus, Martin, Ken Timms, Loprinzi.. many many more..
There is no meaningful tier, as even though they are building ukuleles, they are not really building the same uke except maybe Martin and Ken Timms (Ken makes Martin replicas predominantly and as some would say now Martin makes a Ken Timms replica..). Think abut this as cuisines and dishes made by chefs.. you cannot really compare a Thai Chef with an Italian Chef.. A Les Stansell Baritone is nothing like a Beau Hannam Baritone which is very different than an Kanilea Baritone, analogous to Noodles at Thai vs Pasta at Italian, they might be making long strings made up of wheat or rice but boy are they different even though their nutritional content is about the same. Those ukes produce the same notes but sound very different and feel very different when playing. Argubaly in a blind test one might be able to tell them apart as 2 different ukes (or maybe not, I could not differentiate between Martin and Ken Timms but I could differentiate Tinguitar from Martins), with my eyes open I sure can tell them apart..

kerneltime said:

.....I could not differentiate between Martin and Ken Timms but I could differentiate Tinguitar from Martins), with my eyes open I sure can tell them apart..

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ha ha, good one

kerneltime said:

Those ukes produce the same notes but sound very different and feel very different when playing. Argubaly in a blind test one might be able to tell them apart as 2 different ukes (or maybe not

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I think that sums it up.

How they feel and sound while playing is very important, (to me, at least.) And what works best for me might not be at all what someone else is wanting/needing, so it would be hard to say that one of the top tier is "better" than another in general, though that might be true for me. ("Better", in my case, might be how the neck feels for me, since all the top tier ukuleles are going to sound good, though I do have preferences for sound, too.)

Ukecaster said:

ha ha, good one

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Just to be clear there are no misunderstandings, I have very high regards for my TinGuitar soprano and super tenor. The soprano is certainly not a martin replica and has a modern sound vs a vintage one and that is why it was easy to tell them apart. Also, the frets are very different so when playing them they contrast easily.

Jim Hanks said:

That's almost impossible to do. First, you have listed a mix of individual builders and mass producers which is already apples and oranges. Next, there are brands like Kala that span many "tiers". And what's the point anyway? Many times a "low tier" instrument can meet a need as well or even better than a "top tier" instrument. You wanna take your $10K MB to the beach? OK, but most would rather take a Dolphin or Flea.

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Well said Jim!

Brand names are not useful for ranking. For me it counts WHO actually builds them, and I use three tiers. 1) Individual luthiers - where you know the actual person who made the uke. 2) Small family business - where you can call and talk to one of the owners, or do a factory tour and meet the group of people who build the uke. 3) Corporate mass production - where you have no idea who actually builds the ukes, as they are produced in large factory environments by unskilled anonymous labour, and different brand labels are glued to similar instruments.