LorenFL
Well-known member
All the recent threads here about "do you actually PLAY your expensive ukes?" and "is an expensive uke really worth it?" and so on got me to thinking. And shopping.
It seems that a lot of the experienced players tend to think of somewhere around $5-600 as being the "entry level" for a good ukulele. Not that anything less expensive is junk, but... that seems to be the thinking. $1,000-1,200 is more what seems to be "common" for a really good uke.
Yeah, I'm not ready for that. I'm graduating from $50-60 laminate ukes. Gonna have to take a little more of a baby step here.
I did try an Oscar Schmidt Mango Tenor more than a few years back. That was my first "plunge". I think I paid $230 for it. Very nice instrument, very easy to play, and I learned from it. Unfortunately, what I learned was that I hated it! It was far too heavy, a bit too plinky (traditional uke sounding... not what I'm after), and sounded like crap with a Low G. It sat in the closet for 7 years until I gave it to my sister.
So, now I've done more research, and I've accepted that I'll spend something close to $300.
Given that I tend to play softly, and I aim for styles like blues and jazz, and I'm universally a Low G player... I set my initial requirements as a solid cedar top. The rest is negotiable. And I've found that I prefer the concert scale instruments.
My research led me to the Mainland Cedar/Rosewood Concert. Seems to be a universally loved instrument with plenty of sound samples available. I was just about ready to pull the trigger on it, but I couldn't get over the obnoxious rope binding.
Decided to send an email to Mim asking for opinions. Given her reputation, I wouldn't mind buying from her. (and she doesn't sell the Mainland) She came back with the Ohana CK-50G, which is also Cedar/Rosewood. Seems to be similar quality and slightly cheaper.
As much as I'd love an unadorned instrument, all of these have either rope binding or pearl/abalone accents. I'm not really buying it to look at, I'll get over it as long as it plays nice.
So, I've almost decided on the Ohana CK-50G from Mim. I'm sure I could do a lot worse for around $300.
But, then I saw... the Ohana CK-42 "Sinker Redwood" top. It's listed at $409, I don't want to pay that much. I know Redwood is pretty much on par with Cedar as a tone wood, maybe slightly better in some ways. But, I was scrolling past it due to the price... and then I said... "what the heck IS "Sinker Redwood", anyway?
Now, as I hinted at, I'm not buying an instrument because it's "pretty". I want something that's going to make me happy when I play it. The thought of owning a redwood instrument makes me feel guilty at first, because redwood trees are special. I visited that part of the country a couple years ago, it really makes you feel small to stand next to a tree that's been alive for 1500 years and is so tall that you can't see the top of it. But, it would also be kinda cool to own that instrument... because the trees are special.
"Sinker Redwood" comes from logs that were cut in the late 1880's, floated down a river to a sawmill... and some of them "sank". Where they sat for over 100 years in the silt of a riverbed absorbing minerals. And now they're dredging parts of the riverbed and bringing up this old wood. Okay, THAT intrigues me!
To own an instrument made from the wood of a 1,000 year old tree that sat at the bottom of a river for 100 years... okay, it's instantly got a "story", and I like that. PLUS, being redwood, it should sound really good!
Now I'm torn between the CK-50 (Cedar top) and the CK-42 (Sinker Redwood top). I explained all this to my wife... and, surprisingly, she gets it.
Thinking seriously about buying that Sinker Redwood uke.
It seems that a lot of the experienced players tend to think of somewhere around $5-600 as being the "entry level" for a good ukulele. Not that anything less expensive is junk, but... that seems to be the thinking. $1,000-1,200 is more what seems to be "common" for a really good uke.
Yeah, I'm not ready for that. I'm graduating from $50-60 laminate ukes. Gonna have to take a little more of a baby step here.
I did try an Oscar Schmidt Mango Tenor more than a few years back. That was my first "plunge". I think I paid $230 for it. Very nice instrument, very easy to play, and I learned from it. Unfortunately, what I learned was that I hated it! It was far too heavy, a bit too plinky (traditional uke sounding... not what I'm after), and sounded like crap with a Low G. It sat in the closet for 7 years until I gave it to my sister.
So, now I've done more research, and I've accepted that I'll spend something close to $300.
Given that I tend to play softly, and I aim for styles like blues and jazz, and I'm universally a Low G player... I set my initial requirements as a solid cedar top. The rest is negotiable. And I've found that I prefer the concert scale instruments.
My research led me to the Mainland Cedar/Rosewood Concert. Seems to be a universally loved instrument with plenty of sound samples available. I was just about ready to pull the trigger on it, but I couldn't get over the obnoxious rope binding.
Decided to send an email to Mim asking for opinions. Given her reputation, I wouldn't mind buying from her. (and she doesn't sell the Mainland) She came back with the Ohana CK-50G, which is also Cedar/Rosewood. Seems to be similar quality and slightly cheaper.
As much as I'd love an unadorned instrument, all of these have either rope binding or pearl/abalone accents. I'm not really buying it to look at, I'll get over it as long as it plays nice.
So, I've almost decided on the Ohana CK-50G from Mim. I'm sure I could do a lot worse for around $300.
But, then I saw... the Ohana CK-42 "Sinker Redwood" top. It's listed at $409, I don't want to pay that much. I know Redwood is pretty much on par with Cedar as a tone wood, maybe slightly better in some ways. But, I was scrolling past it due to the price... and then I said... "what the heck IS "Sinker Redwood", anyway?
Now, as I hinted at, I'm not buying an instrument because it's "pretty". I want something that's going to make me happy when I play it. The thought of owning a redwood instrument makes me feel guilty at first, because redwood trees are special. I visited that part of the country a couple years ago, it really makes you feel small to stand next to a tree that's been alive for 1500 years and is so tall that you can't see the top of it. But, it would also be kinda cool to own that instrument... because the trees are special.
"Sinker Redwood" comes from logs that were cut in the late 1880's, floated down a river to a sawmill... and some of them "sank". Where they sat for over 100 years in the silt of a riverbed absorbing minerals. And now they're dredging parts of the riverbed and bringing up this old wood. Okay, THAT intrigues me!
To own an instrument made from the wood of a 1,000 year old tree that sat at the bottom of a river for 100 years... okay, it's instantly got a "story", and I like that. PLUS, being redwood, it should sound really good!
Now I'm torn between the CK-50 (Cedar top) and the CK-42 (Sinker Redwood top). I explained all this to my wife... and, surprisingly, she gets it.
Thinking seriously about buying that Sinker Redwood uke.