Just one Ukulele

I had every size uke in multiple wood combinations and several high end custom tenors by famous builders. I am down to one uke: Kiwaya KTS-7 soprano. It seems like full circle to the beginning but restarting with perfection.

I mainly play electric guitar now and mandolin for classical music. The smallness of the soprano and how it always seems to bring joy to anyone who sees and hears it is what drew me back to the ukulele. I am also inspired by what AJ Leonard is able to do with a soprano and his beautiful voice.
 
ripock said:
I got a long-neck tenor. I specifically designed a 19-fret instrument with a Florentine cutaway. I insisted on 19 frets because I primarily play in the key of E, so I wanted the highest note on the uke to be an E. That makes it easy to punctuate the phrases of my solos with a root note. Now perhaps you can infer why I love my uke; I actually conceived it. Sometimes "custom" doesn't actually mean very much. For example, if you pay $4500 for a custom Ko'olau, you basically get to choose the wood for your sound board. However, in my case, I gave a lot of input to my luthier and was personally involved in much of the uke. Perhaps that's why I can get away with this one instrument: it is really individual to me.
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It sounds as though you had the perfect ukulele made exactly how you wanted/needed one. Congratulations. I envy you finding it in many ways. I am still on my journey to learn the tenor uke and unlock its many mysteries. At least they are still mysterious to me. It is really cool that you have "the one." A meld between instrument and player.
 
NewKid. The Kiwayas seem to be highly revered and so I see why this might be a choice for "just one ukulele". I had a KTS-4 but sold it on the quest for a sound it didn't have. I realize now that it was a sound I didn't have! I am trying to end up with just one and the Kiwaya is back on the short list.
 
I've been through over a dozen ukes in the 3+ years I've been playing. Different sizes, brands, and styles. I've settled on concert as my "happy place," in terms of size, and I have 4 ukuleles that I love. They each have a unique personality, sound, and general purpose. I did give some thought lately to reducing my ukulele family, since I've primarily been playing my Cocobolo for the past 6 months. But then I play them all a bit, and change my mind. 4 ukes is a good number for me.

If I could only keep one, it would be a tight battle, and the Cocobolo would probably come out on top.
 
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I’ve had about 10 ukes over the past 10 years.The most I had at any one time was 4 or 5 (one or two in each size). It was a learning experience, finding out what size and features I like. Now I’m down to one LoPrinzi walnut soprano. It’s not fancy, it’s more understated. Simple rosette, ebony binding around top, back and neck, smooth-working friction tuners, satin finish. Sound is mellow like mahogany but it’s not muddy. I’ve had it for probably 7 years and it’s my last uke. If, God forbid, something happens to her. it would hard to replace since it’s not a model that they make generally. I’d have to custom order.
Disclaimer:
I’m not counting a baritone that I no longer play, but haven’t rehomed it yet. It’s unique and hand crafted by a passionate hobbyist. It’s not perfectly executed, so it will have very little monetary value, but sounds nice. I’ll hang onto it til I find the right person to pass it on to or it’ll just hang on the wall til the day that I perhaps have difficulty playing guitar.
 
JackLuis said:
I don't think I'd be happy without one of each size.
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That's how I started. Then I thought I should have a sopranino and a sopranissimo and a resonator and a Magic Fluke and a banjo uke. You see where I'm going with this?

It's like they tell people on a diet. If you have a variety of food and flavors, you'll eat more because there is variety.
 
glennerd said:
It's kind of a dream of mine, but hasn't happened yet. If I had one, it would be a Martin-style soprano. I like my Ohana SK-38 well enough to be my one and only, but there are a few songs I want to play that go past the 12th fret. I see my old SK-39 is up for sale again on CL (don't buy it back, don't buy it back, don't buy it back).
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My Martin 5K Soprano is all I need.

Expensive but worth it.
 
If some evil ukulele overlord said I could only have one, like my not-evil parents said about dolls once when we moved, I’d choose my Kiwaya KTS-6. Since that world hasn’t arrived, and likely never will, I’m happy to have its cousin, the KTC-2, and shirttail relatives the Kala Elite concert and tenor. Each has a place in my playing repertoire, but the soprano has the biggest place in my heart. In a fire, I’d have the dog under one arm and the uke under the other. She’s not a big dog, though, sort of concert sized, and could probably run out by herself; I better grab my phone and purse—I’ll need those credit cards—and well, this is getting silly.
NewKid said:
I had every size uke in multiple wood combinations and several high end custom tenors by famous builders. I am down to one uke: Kiwaya KTS-7 soprano. It seems like full circle to the beginning but restarting with perfection.

I mainly play electric guitar now and mandolin for classical music. The smallness of the soprano and how it always seems to bring joy to anyone who sees and hears it is what drew me back to the ukulele. I am also inspired by what AJ Leonard is able to do with a soprano and his beautiful voice.
Click to expand...
 
Ziret said:
If some evil ukulele overlord said I could only have one, like my not-evil parents said about dolls once when we moved, I’d choose my Kiwaya KTS-6. Since that world hasn’t arrived, and likely never will, I’m happy to have its cousin, the KTC-2, and shirttail relatives the Kala Elite concert and tenor. Each has a place in my playing repertoire, but the soprano has the biggest place in my heart. In a fire, I’d have the dog under one arm and the uke under the other. She’s not a big dog, though, sort of concert sized, and could probably run out by herself; I better grab my phone and purse—I’ll need those credit cards—and well, this is getting silly.
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Shirttail relatives...ha ha, I like that. If the Elite tenor bugs you, send it my way! :D
 
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As noted in several posts, I think it’s important to go through them all so one knows (if only one could be had) which that one instrument would be. I’ve always been a one instrument kind of person. I play several different instruments so I have several - just not duplicates of the same. Because I am still relatively new to ukulele, I am still searching for that one. However, I do know that soprano is the size for me. I have three now (soprano), but don’t think I’ve found the one just yet...
 
That's like saying if you could only have one pair of shoes. But wait I need sandals, and Tennis Shoes, and a good pair for the rain.

I have probably tried about a dozen. The most I ever had at one time was 8 and that was by accident. I quickly reduce that to 5. For soprano I would keep my Blue Frog made by UU craftsman Vic Jones and purchased here directly from him. For concert I would keep my Koalana, recommended by Music Guy Mike (RIP),and other members of this forum. I have been on a ukulele diet and have stopped flirting with ukes. But they do have a tendency to breed. Like I was walking down my street, and someone had a free sign for a plastic 50s or 60s Carnival ukulele. What was I going to do - walk past it? It's adorable. So now I have a six pack. I promised to give a Ukadelic to a friend who I haven't seen since covid. I'm comfortable with the four I have in my signature. It's good to have a beater, and a jam ukulele that stays in the gig bag 4 easy grab-and-go. But I could let them go.

If I could only keep one, I would probably keep a concert size with extra frets, even though soprano is my happy place. So NO, one is not tenable. But two is doable. I didn't know that until now:)
 
Personally, I don't see the need to reduce the amount of ukes I have to one just for the sake of it. Most of my ukes are different enough to each other that I think they quite easily justify themselves being in my collection. There's relatively little overlap between them in how similar they are to each other, and the little overlap there is mostly comes from a few Martin style sopranos, including an actual Martin. I'm up to nine ukes so I do realise that that's quite a large amount (although not so much when compared to some other UU members :D ) and it's not easy to rotate all of them so I suppose I could fairly easily reduce the number to three or four without sacrificing too much variety... assuming someone was holding a gun against my head, that is. If they also threatened to pull the trigger, I guess I would have to go with my all-rounder uke, the Kiwaya KTS-7, similarly to another UU member a few pages back.
 
rubykey said:
That's like saying if you could only have one pair of shoes. But wait I need sandals, and Tennis Shoes, and a good pair for the rain.
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You get a good pair of sandals and a pair of black socks. If it's raining, slip your feet into plastic bags before putting on your sandals. Easy peasy. :p
 
Jerryc41 said:
You get a good pair of sandals and a pair of black socks. If it's raining, slip your feet into plastic bags before putting on your sandals. Easy peasy. :p
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and make sure the sandals are black too... for the occasional formal events.
 
I only have 1, so far. I'm new to the instrument (as well as any instrument). I'm being given a soprano next month (nothing fancy) and I'd love to purchase a Bonanza Oreo travel tenor in time (made in my resident state of MN). But I love my one and only uke at the moment, a Kala KA-SMHCE-C (concert). It was a gift from my son. Say what you want about Kala but the sound of mine reminds me of my boy. So for better or worse, I love it.
 
I just sold (locally) a solid mahogany Kala tenor. The new owner had been using a cheap soprano. If he’s anything like me, he won’t be selling the soprano for a while, but I doubt he’ll play it much after having heard his new tenor.
 
I reduced my "quiver" of 'ukuleles down from a high of 20 all the way down to a scant 10, 9 of which are pineapples my favorite fruit with the exception of one Fluke (my wife loves that Fluke) I can't imagine reducing any thinner. In fact after a dead period of some 10 years I bought 2 new pineapples 2 weeks ago a Ohana Sopranissimo, and a ABS Kalena (my emergency paddle). Yesterday I got a Strumstick in the mail from Etsy. Quite a bargain at $79 for a handmade quality instrument. I think I'm done for another 10 years or risk divorce. Now if you said which one 'ukulele would you grab from your burning house that would be a different matter all together. I'd grab my Emil Bader super soprano milo wood pineapple.
 
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