I'm interested to hear from everyone but the reason for asking was just I was wondering whether the more experienced players move onwards and upwards and never go back to the entry-level ukes, or whether the basic models still offer any sort of charm or pleasure.
To answer my own question, I'm just starting out, and the Flight 310 Concert I picked up for GBP19 actually cost me less than the first ukulele I bought - a Makala Waterman I bought for our children - which got me interested in learning myself, which in turn brought me here...
I’ve been playing for several years now but whether that makes me experienced or good I wouldn’t like to say. How and what I play both give me pleasure and not everyone who has played for a while gets to be good.
My least expensive Uke is a second hand Mahalo U30 which cost me 12 pounds, a basic set-up and a pre-used set of Aquila Super Nylgut strings has given me a nice enough player that: I’ve used a lot, don’t fuss about leaving out and would be happy to take anywhere. I’ve no plans to let my U30 go but would lend it out to a pal or even consider gifting it to someone in need - spread the joy of Uke. If I lost or broke my U30 then I’d almost certainly buy another old one.
My most expensive Uke is a second hand all solid Mahogany Ohana CK35G and it’s nice - sounds even better when one of my able pals plays it too - I won’t be outgrowing it anytime soon / ever. It cost me circa 140 pounds secondhand and I had to invest quite a few hours of time in sorting it out to sound much better ... but now it’s a keeper and I use it a lot. To my ears it doesn’t sound ten times better than my Mahalo but the price versus performance graph for Ukes mostly has a very gentle slope.
I’ve a Kala KA-P that I must have had for five years now, I somehow got a super deal on it and it cost around fifty pounds. A set-up, bone nut and saddle, and decent strings has produced a favoured instrument that’s seen a lot of play. My Kala KA-S got a similar ‘sort out’ and if anything it sounds even better, but for illogical reasons my old KA-P is the one that gets picked up - it’s an old friend. One day I might sell my Kalas - you never know - but my current expectation is to keep and use then until I can no longer play.
Other Ukes have come and gone: not everything works for me, sometimes a reasonable enough instrument is sold to make space for something that should be better, sometimes - surprisingly often - expensive instruments don’t live up to expectations, and some of the cheapies that I’ve bought turned out to be either trash or not quite good enough to be worth me keeping.
So do old and cheaper instruments get forgotten? Well not in my case, play what makes you happy and forget about its price.
Edit. I would normally make a separate post rather than comment in this way but Chris’s post below hits the nail on the head and my (now rescued) original post got screwed up and delayed by ‘forum bugs’.
It was sixteen pounds including postage from Cash Converters. I have played ukes that cost 80 times as much which weren't as nice.
It's too easy to get hung up on the instrument you play. I think it can really hold you back if you aren't careful.
As in the video Chris plays really well and sounds great on a secondhand 16 pound / 20? dollar instrument - wish I could play and sound that well on anything. As indicated that particular instrument isn’t typical of its price point. I’ve certainly found that the relationship between price and sound is far from fixed: whilst the underlying trend is there ‘dearer’ does not always equal better or even as good as ‘cheaper’.
The comment about not getting hung up on price didn’t register with me at first, but it resonates with me now. Ignore the price and pretty much everything else - don’t let those details hold you back - it’s what the instrument sounds and plays like that matters.