Buying Tips

Buying an ‘ukulele is quite a process. Your ‘ukulele will be your best friend and will drive you insane, that’s just how it is. But by using some common sense, you can find an ‘ukulele that fits you and your budget.

Mr. Byron Yasui was kind enough to let me use one of his great articles – What I look for in an ‘Ukulele. Lots of good info, be sure to check it out.

The first thing to consider when buying an ‘ukulele is how much money you are willing to spend. Prices increase with the quality of the ‘ukulele. Try and find the “range” that your future ‘ukulele is in on the list below, this will shorten your search in the long run.

• Bad – This is where the fifteen dollar ‘ukulele that you might buy at the ABC store fits in. Don’t ever buy one of these if you are serious about learning how to play.
• OK – An ‘ukulele that would be acceptable to start on (I started on one). This is probably a $40-$80 soprano or concert ‘ukulele made of laminated wood.
• Good – $100-$300 concert or tenor size ‘ukulele made of laminated wood, better build quality (this is Kala territory).
• Better – $300-$600. Solid wood, maybe a pickup or cut-away.
• Best – Handmade, solid wood, good quality tuning pegs, $700 and up. This is G-string, Kamaka, Koaloha, Ko’olau, and Moore Bettah Ukes land.
• Custom – These are made just for our heroes like Jake Shimabukuro, Herb Ohta Jr., and James Hill – start practicing. $3000+

List of the main ‘ukulele manufacturers.

Laminate vs. Solid Wood:

• Laminated wood is essentially plywood – a couple thin sheets of wood glued together to form a bigger piece. Almost all ‘ukuleles under $400 will be made of laminated wood – it’s cheaper for the builders to use. Laminated wood doesn’t sound nearly as good as solid wood, but it is more durable. I would take a laminated ‘ukulele to the beach, I wouldn’t take a solid wood one. You can tell if an ‘ukulele is made from laminated wood by checking a couple of things. 1. – Look at the rim of the soundhole – if it doesn’t have a rosette. You can usually see the different layers of wood. 2. – Look at the soundboard, you can usually see where the strips of wood are put together (running from the end block towards the fretboard). Keep in mind that even solid wood ‘ukuleles have bookmatched tops and a seam down the middle, but laminated instruments will have seams in more places on the top.
• Solid wood will cost you more, but it sounds much better than laminate. You do have to be more careful with a solid wood ‘ukulele because they ding easier. Bottom line: you are paying for a better sounding instrument. Plus, solid koa looks 100 times better than anything that is laminated.

Here are some tips from my experience:

Talk to the guys at the music store. Most of the time they have great advice and the experience to back it up.Tell them what you want and how much you want to spend. From there they can guide you to ukes that will work best for you. But don’t let them sell you something you don’t need.

Talk to your friends and other musicians, ‘ukulele players or not, most musicians know a bit about other instruments and they can give you advice.

Look down the neck to make sure it is straight and doesn’t twist one way or another.

Fret and play every note on each string all the way up the fretboard to make sure that none of the notes buzz.

Run your hand down the edges of the fret board to see if the frets are smooth. If they aren’t, they might cut your hand when playing.

Check intonation by playing the twelfth fret harmonic and then playing the note on the twelfth fret, do this for all the strings. If on one of the strings the two pitches differ radically, as you play up the neck, the pitch of the note will go sharp or flat. The intonation of an ‘ukulele is usually off by a little bit anyways because it does not have an adjustable bridge like an electric guitar.

Make sure that the nut and saddle are lined up over the neck. If they are not lined up, one of the outside strings (G or A) will be closer to the edge of the fretboard than the other. If this is the case, the string might slide off the edge of the fretboard when played carelessly.

Check for dings and scratches.

Play it! Be sure to check out the entire range of sounds the instrument can offer. It’s a music store – everyone in there loves music, they won’t have a problem with you playing loud for a while.

If you take only one piece of advice from this page, let it be this. When you are shopping for a higher end ‘ukulele, play every ‘ukulele – including ukes of the same model (if there are three Kamaka 4-string tenors on the rack and two in the back of the shop, ask to play them all) – that the shop has to offer. If none of them sing to you, walk away and go back to the shop in a week or two. I went crazy looking for my current ‘ukulele, I visited the music shop many times when I was shopping – it was on the other side of the island too, so I only could only go every couple of months. At  the same time, I was learning all kinds of things about the instruments. That gave me plenty of time to think. I encourage you to do the same. Do not buy until you find the one you love.

Just remember that it’s your money your spending.