Differences between "cheap" and "expensive" ukuleles

Matt Clara

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This both is and isn't a beginner's question. It is in so far that I don't have a clue as to what the real difference is, and it isn't in so far as this isn't a "what ukulele should I buy" thread. I have two, and they're fine. Ultimately, I may be questioning the value of an expensive ukulele when compared to the cheap alternatives. So, what do I mean by "cheap" and "expensive"?

For purposes of this thread, let's say cheap is somewhere between $100 and $400, inclusive. That covers most of the decent to very nice Kala's, Ohana's, and the like ($400's actually a little high). Also for purposes of this thread, let's say expensive is $500 on up. That seems to be where the inexpensive Kamakas, Koaloha, and the like, start (and $500 might be a little low). We all, of course, have our own definitions of cheap and expensive, depending on our personal budgets, but these two groups I've identified have some overlap in terms of what is offered for these amounts of money. For example, $180 will get you an all mahogany Ohana, where $1800 will get you an all mahogany Martin. That's an extreme example, but it illustrates the point.

The question, then, is, what does 10x the cost get me? I am a beginner, so I wouldn't necessarily know the difference, but I've been to Elderly Instruments several times and played around with some Martins (including 80 year old Martins, one of them absolutely beat to hell and back and still costing $500), and while I can hear a difference, I'm not convinced it's a difference worth the money.

Perhaps a little background to this question will help with the cogitation. As a beginner, I bought what I thought was a decent Ukulele at a reasonable price. The more I play it, the more I like it, the better I get, the more I think, someday I'll spring for a really nice one. Which brings me to the thought, what's so great about those really nice ones that I'd want to spend many times more for one?
 
You simply should not buy an expensive uke at this point unless you think you'll be playing for the rest of your life, you can afford to spend the money on something both useful and beautiful, and you want that extra refinement of tone that you'll get with a hand made instrument made with really fine woods.

Most people shouldn't buy original art, either, when cheap posters do just as good a job at hiding the cracks in the plaster, and a chair from Ikea will suit your bottom just as well as one from Thomas Moser or a custom furniture builder.

All too often, people get way too practical about this and then try to pit those who choose custom-made products of any kind (jewelry, art, furniture, pottery, fabrics, etc.) against those for whom a more Wall Mart approach to life is fine. There are those who choose to fill their homes with hand-made objects, and they pay what they have to in order to do so. Those hand made products of human labor are much less likely to wind up in land-fill, though, and being precious from the get go, their longevity may just make them the long term bargain.

I'd rather have a $1,000.00 uke for the rest of my life than five $200.00 ukes that don't inspire me and wind up in the rubbish heap.

Written from the perspective of someone who designs and makes high end ukes and guitars...
 
If it is within your budget and you are interested in playing the uke, I would entirely advise you to buy the nicest ukulele you can. This is for multiple reasons.

A) A high quality uke will go as far as you can go. As you learn the uke will sound better and better and there won't be instances where your instrument is holding you back from playing. By starting with a great instrument you can learn much easier and progress more quickly because you won't have to deal with many of the problems that occur with cheaper imports. (I.E. String buzzing, sharp frets, bad intonation, etc)

B) You won't be inclined to continually upgrade. By buying a 25 dollar uke, you will need to upgrade pretty quick. Than you buy a 100 dollar uke. Well, now it is a couple months later and you need yet another upgrade. Eventually you have 5 cheaper ukes that could have bought you 1 nice one.

c) Resale value. Imports don't increase in value. Hawaiian K's do. My Kamaka has gone up over 400 dollars in MSRP since I have bought it. If you decide the uke isn't for you, it is very easy to sell a nice uke for nearly the amount you payed. (Sometimes more!)
 
and it's not just resale value, but resalability period! I had a pretty nice solid top guitar that was 80-90% as good as the Gibson I replaced it with. I didn't even bother to sell it as other ones on Ebay were getting no bids, at a less than $100 price. Unless it's a good name you may not be able to sell it at all.

A good instrument with a recognizeable brand name will sell easily.
 
I'd rather have a $1,000.00 uke for the rest of my life than five $200.00 ukes that don't inspire me and wind up in the rubbish heap.


Same here.

Then again, I'd also rather have a $200 uke for the rest of my life than five $1000 ukes that don't inspire me and wind up in the rub... er, well, on eBay.

It's the "inspire" part that's the key, not the cost. They're not necessarily directly correlated. Speaking just for myself, I find that I can enjoy the heck out of some pretty cheap ukes. :p

JJ
 
I find that with just about everything in life, not just ukuleles, the cost goes up exponentially with quality. Most people seem to expect that the cost goes up proportionally with quality, but that's just not the case with most things. Is the Martin really 10x better than the Ohana? Most likely not. And you can't even quantify that difference anyway. But is the Martin better? By most measures that's probably the case. So you're paying 10x for "better", but not "10x better". Same thing goes for something like cars. Is a BMW 3-series 2-3 times as good as a Honda Civic? I'm not sure how you can quantify that, but by most measures the BMW is definitely "better". I think if we all just want the "best bang for the buck" ukulele, we'd all be playing Kala or Ohana ukes because you can't realistically argue that the more expensive ukes are 2-10 or more times better.

For me, I'm willing to pay the exponential climb in price if I believe I'm getting something of higher quality and it is something that I have a real desire for. So my answer for the OP's question would simply be that for 10x the price, I'm getting something "better". Whether or not you're willing to pay for "better" is entirely up to you.
 
Same here.

Then again, I'd also rather have a $200 uke for the rest of my life than five $1000 ukes that don't inspire me and wind up in the rub... er, well, on eBay.

It's the "inspire" part that's the key, not the cost. They're not necessarily directly correlated. Speaking just for myself, I find that I can enjoy the heck out of some pretty cheap ukes. :p

JJ

Good post. +1 to what he just said. :p
 
I guess this makes my KoAloha Soprano a cheap uke? It was less than 500$.

I think there are 2 ways of looking at this.
The Ukulele as a piece of art/workmanship.
The Ukulele as a way to make music.

Do I have as much fun playing my Cheep Kala Laminate Soprano as I do my Cheap KoAloha ? You bet I do.
Is the KoAloha prettier and does it sound better? Yes by along shot.
Would I carry around my KoAloha in my backpack? Never!!!
 
There's a gun and knife reviewer on Youtube, Nutnfancy (really good reviewer), who classifies things with the "two types of cool."

The first type of cool is practicality and usefulness. Translating that to ukes, that would be factors like sound, action, build quality, etc. And when you get a lower end uke like say a sub $200 kala with a setup and strung w/Aquilas, you will be getting most of those factors. The offshore ukes are becoming better and better in build quality, and sound wise, Aquilas are basically the great leveler, as demonstrated by MGM's recent blind test contest.

The second type of cool is just how much you dig the gun/knife. As a knife guy, that would mean cool colorations on the handles, carbon fiber scales, high end steels like S30V or D2, cool blade shapes, rarity, etc. And translating that over to ukes, you're looking at solid woods, highly figured woods, rare and exotic woods, cool body shapes, custom one offs, a unique sound, made in Hawaii, slotted headstocks, carbon fiber, and if you're GX9901, you might be turned on by Gilbert tuners. It's just whatever makes you excited about the instrument.

And really, spending more money just gives you more of both types of cool, especially the second type of cool, which, IMO, most cheaper ukes lack.
 
There does exist, I suppose a point of diminishing returns with regards to what your extra cash gets you besides bling and bragging rights about the exorbitant amount you spent on an instrument. It would seem that a lot of what drives up the price of most customs is the eye candy unrelated to sound. People pay for what want.

There will however be great differences between a $125 Kala and something like a Koaloha or one of the K's (which fall into sort of the middle price range before you start hitting customs.) The quality of the wood and intonation is going to be better. There's going to be a lot more attention to details that will come from being handmade in a smaller shop rather than a large factory type setting. Customer service should also be more personal when dealing with people rather than giant corporation. If you're sure you're going to continue playing for the long haul I think this is a good investment. Besides resale, you're just going to be much more likely to play and enjoy an instrument that plays and sounds good than one of lesser quality. (It's like after I got my first tube amp and realized that the reason my guitar playing had always sounded so truly awful up to that point wasn't totally me. It was mostly Peavey's fault) You'll also keep it longer and take much longer to outgrow what it's capable of offering, if ever.

With customs you're paying a premium for a) getting one built for you and made to your specs. b) the talent, ability and design know how that comes with experience and physically working with wood that you can't get from reading a book. c) a level of personal connection and collaboration in the process with the artisan that creates it for you. d) an individual and unique work of the luthier's art. One of a kind is not and shouldn't be cheap. The really good individual makers have earned their reputation and price point with skill and sweat.

Playing an instrument though is such an odd extension of yourself that in a sense a player will bond with their instrument. Some people aren't going to be satisfied until they've got a Pete Howlett or William King, or Chuck Moore work of art specially ordered and for others a Flea will suit their needs for as long as they live.
 
There is a difference in price that reflects quality: the materials used, the workmanship, the design.

There is a difference in price that reflects region: where the materials come from contra where they were made into a ukulele, where the workmanship resides, and so on.

There is a difference in price that reflects retail structure: how many middlemen, etc.

There is a difference in price that reflects the market demand: one ukulele among fifteen buyers will be more valuable than fifteen ukuleles that one person can choose between.

There is a difference in price that reflects marketing: hiking the price creates an illusion of greater quality.

Take some, or all of these things together, and you get ukuleles on the market for upwards of £3000.

I won't be buying one -- I have other priorities in life.
 
By the way, I'm not sure I agree with the expensive ukes having better re-sale value. From what I've seen, it's a lot easier to sell an inexpensive uke (Flukes, Kala, etc) for close to its "new" price than an expensive (Hawaiian K's or above) uke. And customs have terrible re-sale value for the most part.
 
By the way, I'm not sure I agree with the expensive ukes having better re-sale value. From what I've seen, it's a lot easier to sell an inexpensive uke (Flukes, Kala, etc) for close to its "new" price than an expensive (Hawaiian K's or above) uke. And customs have terrible re-sale value for the most part.

I almost bought a used Flea for close to retail price. They seem to hold their value well, among others.
 
I am of the opinion that one's first car should not be a Porsche or Ferrari. You need to learn to drive before you can really appreciate the handling and performance of a luxury automobile and know which one is right for you.

For a beginner, I'd say it's important to have a decent instrument, one that plays well and has good intonation. It doesn't have to have a solid top, and things like gold-plated tuners or fancy abilone inlays are really just eye candy.

Considerations:

Will you stick with it? A lot of people spend more than they need to starting out, don't stick with it, then end up selling it (often at a loss) or it just takes up room in the closet.

You won't know what really suits you until you've got some playing experience under your belt and can try out various instruments for yourself. Soprano, concert or tenor? Mahogany, koa, mango, etc.

Once you are confident enough in your playing ability to be able to make an informed choice, by all means, go for something better if that's what you want and can afford.

There's also a nebulous factor that can't be quantified based solely on price. A lower-priced instrument might just "speak" to you more than a higher-priced one.

I think most of us would agree that having a back-up instrument as a "beater" that you're not afraid to take to a party and let others play is a good thing, so starting with a decent but not overly expensive instrument is what I'd recommend.

Then when the time comes, it feels like a reward and you can more fully appreciate your new instrument.
 
Make sure your first ukulele is one that you are attracted to. It could be a beautiful metallic blue Kala Dolphin bridge (around $45) or something more expensive, but the key here is that you need to be excited about having this new thing to play with. Don't just choose one because it's cheap. You will play it more if you like the sound and like how it looks. If you are not motivated to play it, you will never move to the next level.

–Lori
 
Thanks for the Replies: + relative value of cheap chinese ukuleles

Does anyone ever wonder if these Chinese made ukes are better than their low prices suggest? I'm reminded of the wine industry, which I've done some work for over the years. I've heard it said by more than one wine expert that pricing has a lot to do with the overall value of a wine. The quote I've heard repeated is (to paraphrase), a wine could be the best in the world, but if it's sold for $10 a bottle, then it will be identified as nothing more than a really good $10 bottle of wine.

Another comparison to the wine industry has to do with what is "best". A double blind wine comparison study reveals that while experts can tell the difference between two similar wines, they can't say which one is the more expensive or "better" wine. Unfortunately, I can't find a link to that study right now.

Yes, I am a trouble maker... :D
 
Does anyone ever wonder if these Chinese made ukes are better than their low prices suggest?

I'd agree with that. Some of the import ukes are really nice and makes me wonder how they do it at such a low price. I mean, I think even some thousand dollar custom ukes are underpriced if you think about what goes into making one, so the nicely finished solid wood imports really are a good value.
 
Cheap and expensive

In looking at computers, there is such a thing as the "sweet spot": a place where the models give you high quality, extra capacity/speed/refinements, at a price that is not the highest but is certainly not at the low end either.

If you put the elements in place from this thread, you will discover that there is a "sweet spot" for you and how much you are willing to pay to get a level service, quality and workmanship.

I don't think you'll regret purchasing and playing a uke that excites you and satisfies your senses. That is worth what you are willing to pay for it.

Best,
Craig
 
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