looking to buy a good baritone uke

kjbllc · Jul 3, 2020

I want a good sounding baritone with built in pickup, for gigging. i have a luna uke htt koa and its ok, but the single point pickup amplifies the d string way above the g so not good for playing out.
500 to 1000 range , thanks for any help on this. kevin

fromthee2me · Jul 4, 2020

double U x3 dot theukulelesite dot com Click on size. Pono spruce or mango wud be my choice.

Dohle · Jul 4, 2020

At that price point I would recommend Pono as well. There actually aren't that many brands that do mid-range baritones. You could go for a Kala or Ohana as well but they are below your budget and imo not as good as Pono. Something like Mainland or Bonanza would be good choices as well.

I wouldn't worry about having a built-in pick up. Just choose a model you like and have the shop install a pick up on the uke.

Croaky Keith · Jul 4, 2020

Kala cedar top, & fit a pickup - check the sound in online videos.

bbkobabe · Jul 26, 2020

I'm borrowing my friend's Oscar Schmidt OU 53 right now and it's surprisingly good... and well within your price range. I don't understand why these OS/Washburn made uke's don't get more love... Solid wood, Grover tuners, nice finish... But, they seem to be regarded as the ugly stepchild in the ukulele world. I have a concert also, and it also sounds really good for the $$$. Are there ANY fans of this brand? I've yet to hear from one...

bellgamin · Jul 27, 2020

@ kjbllc -- I second the motion of those who have recommended a Pono barry. I heartily recommend Pono Baritone UL4N-10 with specs as follows:

Solid spruce top, solid acacia back, and sides
Ebony faceplate, fingerboard, and bridge
Wood rosette
Bone nut and saddle
Slotted headstock
Radius fretboard, nut, & saddle
Gloss finish body and faceplate, satin finish neck
Deluxe hardshell case

Overall length - 32.5"
Scale length - 21.4"
Lower bout - 11.25"
Upper bout - 7.75"
Depth LB - 3.8"
Depth UB - 3.1"
Nut width - 1 3/8"

It's slightly oversized for a baritone, so it has superb resonance. It has a spruce top -- that adds a bit of brightness so that this baritone sounds more like a deeper-voiced ukulele instead of a higher-voiced guitar. HMS offers several pick-up options including LR Baggs, which is the one I chose.

bbkobabe said:
I'm borrowing my friend's Oscar Schmidt OU 53 right now and it's surprisingly good... and well within your price range. I don't understand why these OS/Washburn made uke's don't get more love... Solid wood, Grover tuners, nice finish... But, they seem to be regarded as the ugly stepchild in the ukulele world. I have a concert also, and it also sounds really good for the $$$. Are there ANY fans of this brand? I've yet to hear from one...

I have a Willie K 5-string tenor by Schmidt. It's superb -- one of my MOST often loaned-out ukes for use in recitals, & in recording gigs (because it has an excellent pick-up & has altogether magnificant intonation and fast action.)

@

jisa · Jul 27, 2020

Did you take a look at the Mya-Moe that Jerry is selling? (https://forum.ukuleleunderground.co...-forced-to-sell-my-wonderful-Mya-Moe-Baritone )

He's listing it for $1,050. Find a nearby luthier to add a pickup for you, and you'll have one hell of a ukulele for gigging.

anthonyg · Jul 27, 2020

A good sounding instrument and a good sounding pickup system are two completely different issues and trying to get both at the same time at a specific price point is going to do your head in.

An out of balance sound is likely to do with how well (flat) the piezo element was fitted and if your current instrument sounds good yet its just the pickup that doesn't work properly then I would look at getting the pickup issue sorted first.

Ukecaster · Jul 27, 2020

bbkobabe said:
I'm borrowing my friend's Oscar Schmidt OU 53 right now and it's surprisingly good... and well within your price range. I don't understand why these OS/Washburn made uke's don't get more love... Solid wood, Grover tuners, nice finish... But, they seem to be regarded as the ugly stepchild in the ukulele world. I have a concert also, and it also sounds really good for the $$$. Are there ANY fans of this brand? I've yet to hear from one...

Yeah, you don't hear much about Oscar Schmidt ukes here, probably because they are so inexpensive, and most with totally laminate bodies, although your model seems to have a solid spruce top. A member here pabrizzer gets great sounds out of his bari, and did a review on it a while back.

https://youtu.be/SHJjhBnXfjE

Which concert model do you have?

bbkobabe · Jul 30, 2020

It's an older OU-13... Looks like the little sister of the OU 53... actually, the Baritone owner and I decided to swap for a while... He didn't like how much the Bari sounds like a guitar and wanted to play in the gcea tuning for a while. We'll see: The swap may become permanent!

I'm really having fun with this big guy... "Linger" by the Cranberries sound great as a baritone song but never excited me on the tenor. Some songs seem to improve and some diminish... I'm having a great time working through my favorite songs and seeing what happens as I switch back and forth!

Bill

Rakelele · Jul 30, 2020

Pono has a wide range of different baritone models with all kinds of interesting features, such as cutaway, slotted headstock, or radius fretboard. Their slightly bigger UL and Nui models are unique as well. Having owned all kinds of K brands and custom ukes, Pono would be the way to go for me (again and again).

looking to buy a good baritone uke

kjbllc

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fromthee2me

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Dohle

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Croaky Keith

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bbkobabe

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bellgamin

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jisa

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anthonyg

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Ukecaster

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bbkobabe

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Rakelele

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