volume or quality of sound

dancingflee said:

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR TIME AND VERY KIND OPINIONS.

I sought opinions because I am a beginner who doesn't know what performers and long time players prefer or look for when purchasing a new instrument. I personally like the mellow, dark tone which others may call "guitary" sound.

I really appreciate eveyone's opinion.

Coolkayaker1's request to end and close this thread is not cool at but thank you.

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Yep, I wanted a more bass a more guitary sound too.
For a stock instrument thought this sounded good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqREgZ812Lg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
As it was I settled on a Compass Rose that will be done by years end.
For me I am all about tone. It will be loud enough, but it will have a pickup if I ever need more volume with my tone.

For me it needs balance but tone definitely comes first. Surely it must?

Loudness and tone are not mutually exclusive.

Funny, in these threads on loudness, which come up every couple of months, everyone says " I'm into tone, who cares about loudness." Then, every other thread on UU and in the marketplace says, "And it's so loud! I love it!"

No one would say, " give me a loud, out of tone, uke any day." That'd be like saying, "i love a highly polished car, but hail stone damage all over it, doesn't matter to me"

But, to say loudness doesn't matter misses the popular mantra on UU.

An aside: The other place I see this is when there's a thread on scratched or "seconds" used uke for sale. When there's a thread, it's always, " I'm into sound. It's a player, who cares about looks". These are the same people who want to return a used uke because it has strum marks. Weird, but true.

In my experience good volume and good tone means expensive ukulele. My top end ukes have both of these qualities in spades. At the cheaper end I find one tends to be good at the sacrifice of the other.

A lot of cheap ukes have pickups for a reason, I've found.

I'm very shallow in respect to this topic, as I pick my ukes on looks. I love natural wood, so anything that catches my eye will usually end up in my hands, though after a lot of reading up and video-watching. It's only after a few months of playing it constantly that I'll decide if I actually like the sound or not.

bazmaz said:

In my experience good volume and good tone means expensive ukulele. My top end ukes have both of these qualities in spades. At the cheaper end I find one tends to be good at the sacrifice of the other.

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I agree,but it's not always the most expensive because you can pay a lot for extras [curl,binding, inlay etc], but as in other areas , quality[volume, tone, intonation, fit and finish]costs more. there are very few high end [expensive] ukes out there that don't have spot on intonation, good volume and tone,why would you pay big bucks for one that doesn't. you don't have to play a uke with good volume loud all the time, just like you don't have to drive a car with great acceleration fast, but it's nice to have when you need it. just my 2 cents.

I agree with these last three posts, they are well stated.

Ken Middleton has a term for it: dynamic range. A great player uses dynamic range, or variable volume, if you will, in each song to emphasize certain lines or themes (Jake is a master). Harder to do this when the uke is quieter to begin with. Less dynamic range.

I think Loudness can often be misunderstood in these discussions. Loudness does not always mean, "Let's see how loud this thing can get!" I look for instruments where the quietly played notes ring out with clarity and volume.

Also, context is important for any presentation. You probably wouldn't choose a postcard-sized painting, however nice, to hang above the Grand Mantle of the Great Room at The Lodge. So the Loudness-as-Size analogy isn't nonsense.