Howdy from San Diego! I have no idea what I'm doing here, with a Sunlite.

Ground Loop

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Hi All! I'm Ground Loop and I just bought a Ukulele. Happy New Year!

So far, I play nothing. The only musical part of my body is my eardrum, which appreciates music quite a bit.

Like many parents, I live vicariously through my kids, so my boy is beginning Guitar lessons young. I'm helping him with practice and such at home, so his younger brother (as 2-year olds do), had to have one as well.

This, right here, is where you'll recognize the story. My wife picked up a up a Mahalo U-30BR for less than $20, just to give him something to pluck while we practiced the real guitar. I figured it was a kids toy, and not a musical instrument. It sounded like a hammered rain spout full of mice, but I humored him and tried to tune it. To do that, I had to go look up Uke tuning, get it wrong twice, and finally stretch the fishing line about right. I tried to make some nonconvulsive noise with it, but failed, and didn't give it much more thought.

A couple months later, we were walking back from a seafood restaurant in Carlsbad and stumbled into Giacoletti Music just to gape at guitars and stuff.

They had a Sunlite Ukulele within child-height reach and I preemptively grabbed it. Hey! This one doesn't sound nearly as bad as the Mahalo. Kinda nice, even. For $50, I had to try it.

I wasn't even home before I realized I probably made an idiot impulse buy, and would soon find the Internet full of scolding admonitions not to touch these.

On the contrary.. I found... nothing at all! Apparently, nobody but me has one of these Sunlites. It's a "US-100" and I don't have any idea how it measures up to the Mahalo's and Dolphins and such. It looks just fine to me. I see it has geared tuning knobs, Aquila strings, Soprano size. I have many questions, but I haven't yet found anything I can blame the Sunlite for.

So here I am.. after midnight, watching Ukulele Mike on YouTube and reading my Got a Uke e-book.

Cheers!
 
Well welcome to UU. I am sure that you will enjoy learning all about the ukulele and this is definitely the place to do it.
I started uke same way living vicariously through my kids and their amazing musical talents. Me I am getting by and have definitely improved...
Good luck and see you around the forums!
 
Welcome! If you made it this far, you might be "hooked". Also check out Uncle Rod's Ukulele Boot Camp for a great chord learning method. Good luck.
 
Hey Ground Loop,

Great story. I came from the other direction (piano rebuilder, operatic singer), but my story is almost the same. I received a cheap ukulele out of the blue and haven't looked back. Who knew? Midnight with Ukulele Mike is a big part of my story, too. He'll take you a long way. Congratulations on your discovery, and welcome to the journey.

My only advise is this. Careful with the impulse buying. I may have finally settled on a few wonderful ukuleles but, there was a time my wife wanted to kill me.
 
They had a Sunlite Ukulele within child-height reach and I preemptively grabbed it. Hey! This one doesn't sound nearly as bad as the Mahalo. Kinda nice, even. For $50, I had to try it.

I wasn't even home before I realized I probably made an idiot impulse buy, and would soon find the Internet full of scolding admonitions not to touch these.

On the contrary.. I found... nothing at all! Apparently, nobody but me has one of these Sunlites. It's a "US-100" and I don't have any idea how it measures up to the Mahalo's and Dolphins and such. It looks just fine to me. I see it has geared tuning knobs, Aquila strings, Soprano size. I have many questions, but I haven't yet found anything I can blame the Sunlite for.


Cheers!

Welcome to UU Ground Loop. If it gives you any encouragement, I have seen Sunlite ukuleles in Westwood California in a nice music store. Glad to hear it is better than the Mahalo. It can be hit-or-miss with the lowest end entry-level ukes, so trying them out in person is very helpful. So glad you finally got a chance to play an instrument. It is great fun!

–Lori
 
Thanks y'all for the kind welcome!
I didn't know about Uncle Rod's.. next stop.
I found this link:
http://ukulele4kids.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/u4k-uncle-rods-ukulele-boot-camp-rev2011.pdf
which looks like the business.

SteveP: I know what you mean about the "more purchases" urge! I'm anxious to go hear a "reliably good' Uke like the Flea just to see if I'm missing anything (other than skill, talent, and practice). Any place to hear a Flea/Fluke in San Diego?

Lori: Aha! Another Sunlite, and in a reputable place. Good sign!

I did get a Peterson tuner and a Uke for Dummies book, so I should be done buying stuff for a few moments.

Fun stuff, and a friendly forum. I feel like I just fell into a hidden Mr Rogers Neighborhood on the Internet. :)
 
Welcome aboard! Tons of good educational material here if you haven't yet seen them: http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?15464-Ukulele-Resources-(Updated)

I'm anxious to go hear a "reliably good' Uke like the Flea just to see if I'm missing anything (other than skill, talent, and practice).
I know you probably want to hear the uke in person, but 2nd best are video sound samples: http://vimeo.com/user4573115/videos/search:islander/sort:newest

Here's an example of one possible upgrade. It's a slightly larger Concert size with a slightly wider fret board. Might make a difference if you find your fingers cramped forming certain chords.
 
So I took a drive around San Diego guitar stores today, to see what I might learn.

It's apparently a bad time of year to shop, as they are all cleaned out from Christmas and have not yet restocked.
I saw a LOT of Lanikai LU-21Cs.. at least a dozen at about $100. All the Sunlite's looked about the same as mine, so it must be standard for these.

A new one on me was the Fender Ukulele, with a guitar-style head on it (all pegs on one side). About $100.

A Lanikai LKP-C goes for $179.

Nothing really jumped out as awesome.
I need to learn more, shop less.
 
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