Favorite Cheap uke roll call

Dang. Uncle Rod and MutinousDoug really upped the game on this thread. Both stories are fantastic!

Yeah, The store marked it as a "toy Guitar" which they only missed by guitar/ukulele definition.
It mostly hangs on the wall in the bedroom unless I don't want to go "all-the-way" to the other end of the house to get the tuner or play my Makala or Magic Fluke.
 
Hi John, we are starting to produce a wider nut ukulele now, thanks!

Wow, that's great, thanks for listening, I can't wait to try one, it will really help me play more accurately. Please post here on UU when these are available, I'll be the 1st in line!

Not sure what exact specs you have in mind, but for tenor, a 38mm nut would be great. And even more importantly, a 29-30mm string spread at nut would be outstanding. A 38mm nut with only 27mm string spead is such a waste. As you may know, there are very few less expensive tenors being made with these specs, so I bet that model will sell very well.

I hope you'll offer a tenor with solid spruce top with the wider specs. I wanted to buy a spruce top tenor from Kmise, but held back because of the nut/spread specs, once I received my mahogany version.
 
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... we are starting to produce a wider nut ukulele now

There is an optimum nut width for adult hands and IMHO it is wider than the currently available ukuleles. You’d need to check the details with Timbuck but the early Martins got it right. I’m thinking 37mm nut and 30mm across strings, but of course they were made to nominal Imperial dimensions instead. Of course you could go wider than that but those early Martins likely were the optimum size.

For an adult player a wide nut and a larger body Soprano would make a lot of sense. I think that some of the better solid wood Regals had a 7” or larger lower boute, a bigger body has advantages hence Kala use 7”.
 
Thanks again, Ziret!
I truly enjoy the HPL Enya Soprano, especially with your modifications/improvements :)

if you will email me, I will reply with a link to a STRUM Zoom event for tonight,
Friday April 17th, from 6-7p. There may be up to a dozen on board, but it
is very informal so no worries. ( rohiguchi@gmail.com )

keep uke'in',

PS the STRUM Zoom meetups are currently scheduled for each Friday until
we can formally meet again at the Kona Kitchen Restaurant (85th and 5th NE,
Maple Leaf neighborhood, West of Lake City).
 
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I just posted about it on another thread, but Monoprice (mostly an electronics company) makes some instruments including their soprano Idyllwild. Normally $40 with a gig bag, but I think it's $30 right now, which is how much i got it for. It's decent quality and better than some others that cost more than double.

And another vote for Enya's X1M HPL, which was astounding for the price. I managed to get two for $25 each to give as kids' gifts.
 
None of my instruments are in the "pricey" range but my first was an Ohana PK10,a soprano mahogany laminate. I purchased this to help me teach our eldest grandson,then about 7 years old, play an instrument and I was having big problems holding and playing guitar after many years playing that instrument. The little pineapple still gets played and feels comfortable to play and sounds reasonable it cot about £50 UK. My current go to soprano,a Baton Rouge long neck still cost less than £100 UK but I have ideas of buying a luthier build instrument when this pandemic is over and I'm allowed out to play and visit sellers.
 
Makala Concert with a passive pickup. $70 used on the eBay. Great for gigging with my amp. I play sopranos 90% of the time but I don’t mind taking the Makala anywhere.
 
Won't it be nice when all our groups can meet in person again? I'll be interested to see how yours works online.

Thanks again, Ziret!
I truly enjoy the HPL Enya Soprano, especially with your modifications/improvements :)

if you will email me, I will reply with a link to a STRUM Zoom event for tonight,
Friday April 17th, from 6-7p. There may be up to a dozen on board, but it
is very informal so no worries. ( rohiguchi@gmail.com )

keep uke'in',

PS the STRUM Zoom meetups are currently scheduled for each Friday until
we can formally meet again at the Kona Kitchen Restaurant (85th and 5th NE,
Maple Leaf neighborhood, West of Lake City).
 
If I could only spend $100, I'd get an Ohana.

But if you can afford more, why would you limit your budget to $100? $300 to $400 is the sweet spot IMO, best bang for your buck. And for something that will last a lifetime if you care for it, that's not very much.
 
Flight TUS-35LB. Currently $62 from Amazon. Other colours running under 50.

It's the only sub-$100 uke that I have no regrets or reservations about, and it's the one that rescued sopranos in my mind. Played well out of the box (good thing, since standard setup bits weren't adjustable - I think they are on current one). I really like the sound, even if it's not woody. It lives on my desk at work, and I'm kind of missing it while I shelter at home. I have no qualms recommending this one to anybody who asks.


i totally agree - I have a TUS-35 in bright yellow and it is one of my favorites to play. I bought it because I wanted to see if this model would be good for my kids school. I wasn't really planning on keeping it, but mine came setup up perfectly with a crazy low action and no buzzing and I couldn't put it down. The school wound up buying 10 of them and I bought and donated the gig bags for the new ukes. The Flight is now my go to travel uke, and it is probably by far the best bang for the buck in a ukulele I've ever fun across. Plus it is loud, perhaps just a touch harsh and lacks note definition - perfect for when you want a fun, raucous sound. Note that my Blackbird Clara can do fun raucous sound as well as gorgeous refined stuff the Flight can't touch, but then I could buy 20+ Flight ukuleles for the cost of one Blackbird.
 
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