Is this Kingston a decent uke?

ebssea · Oct 28, 2020

I bought a few guitars and a ukulele recently, planning on starting to learn. I'm curious if the ukulele is a decent quality one or more of a kids style (i.e. not good enough to use as a learning tool).

It's a Kingston ukulele that the previous owner pointed out is signed by Bill Tapia (I googled him to find out who he was). Is something like this decent? What's a reasonable price for something like this?

Thanks for any info anyone can provide.

clear · Oct 28, 2020

Wow, talk about diversification!

Jim Hanks · Oct 29, 2020

Im not familiar with the brand but probably worth $40-50 : https://reverb.com/item/6024369-kin...tobacco-burst-pro-set-up-right-or-left-handed

It's not "high end" by any means, but if the neck is straight, the zero fret gives it a good chance of decent action (string height) and should be an easy player. You can certainly use it as a learning tool but if it doesn't play well or sounds just horrible, there are better options

ebssea · Oct 29, 2020

I got the uke in a lot of a bunch of guitars - steel string lap guitar, beginner's acoustic, traveling guitar and the ukulele. $100 for all of them seemed like a steal, but I wasn't sure what quality was like. They don't seem top end, but all sound good IMO, so probably not a bad deal in the end.

ebssea · Oct 29, 2020

Thanks for that. I assumed it was cheap (i.e. low quality) since the fretboard and strings seem to be plastic, but I guess that may be standard in this level of ukulele?

Jim Hanks · Oct 29, 2020

Well, plastic fretboard is unusual but not unheard of. The Magic Fluke company has several models with plastic fretboards and they cost a lot more than this. I'd say you got a heck of deal to get four instruments for $100!

I would recommend some new strings. Martin M600s are cheap, readily available and should make this sound about as good as it can get.

ebssea · Oct 29, 2020

Thanks for that. I'll check the strings out. Maybe worth getting a new fretboard, or not going to make a difference at my (lacking) skill level?

I can't figure out what material the body is. At first I thought some kind of plastic, but seems like it could be bamboo or something like that.

jer · Oct 29, 2020

ebssea said:
Maybe worth getting a new fretboard, or not going to make a difference at my (lacking) skill level?

It'd cost way more than the uke is worth to have a wooden fretboard with metal frets installed on that. Just enjoy it as-is if it sounds okay to you. If you like uke enough, you'll want to get a higher quality one eventually. If it'll stay in tune and play well enough it's a decent start at least.

ebssea · Oct 29, 2020

Makes total sense.

Is this Kingston a decent uke?

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