Uke recommendations please

This may be typical of some of the issues that comes with lower price pink ukuleles!


What the ukes are made of is similar to guitars - Solid wood, laminate wood, mix thereof, or as it happens plastic. The latter can head towards being a toy, sound pretty awful and are likely not to hold their tuning.

Soprano size ukes can be a problem for adult sized hands and might be OK for an 8 year old - but it could mean an upgrade to a concert in the shorter term.

I have the impression for the various ukes my wife has had over the years that the price point at which brands like Kala and Lanikai kick in are needed to get a half decent instrument, but that Ohano have the edge over them. I tried a few out for her not too long ago and in general terms the price of each instrument was a pretty fair reflection of instrument sound and quality. I was rather impressed with Snail for quality v price. But the Pono she ended up with was very noticeably better than those others but that's getting much more expensive. I was surprised how close Snail was to the Pono quality.
Something like £60-70 might get something that would "do". But my wife reckons £100+ is best if a false economy is to be avoided with an upgrade being needed if the bug bites. The better instrument makes it more likely that the bug will bite too.

Kala also do a brand called Makala - much cheaper, and I notice including pink. No experience of one in this household.

You might find useful info on the Ukulele Undergound Forum. They have a Thread "Entry Level Ukuleles" with lots of links.
HERE.

Hope that helps Andy, and good luck!

Mark

I am even less of an expert than Riverman, who, I believe, is now actually a qualified uke teacher, but these people have designed and produced an instrument especially for beginners. Whether it's any good, I don't know but their heart seems to be in the right place.

Why?

Do you dislike her parents?!

Has the grand-daughter herself shown any interest? If not, get her some Premium Bonds instead!!!

The basic problem with most cheap ukes is the action. Out of the shop they are likely to put anyone of ukuleles and music altogether. The nut slots and saddle usually need a lot of attention to make playability reasonable and to get the intonation reasonably decent. Once this is done, then even very cheap ukes can be OK.

For an 8yr old a soprano or concert would probably be the best sizes, though some might manage a tenor. Sopranos are going to be cheaper though, and more likely to be available in pink. But pinkness tends to come with all the drawbacks that put people off ukes and playing in general.

My tenor was only £60. I needed to lower the nut slots a lot, and the saddle quite a bit, but after that it played easily and plays in tune. I have a concert by the same makers which is v similar - nice player and OK sound after a fair bit of work. Both are very not-pink, but very brown.

The sub £20 Mahalo cheapies that our village school has can even be made to play in tune with some, well a lot actually, of attention. Some of them even sound OK, though others sound totally lifeless.

Cheap friction tuners are a nightmare. Geared tuners are better, even the cheap ones hold pitch OK once the strings settle - most of the problems people attribute to the tuners ("it doesn't stay in tune...") are a result of the high nut action which results in eg it being possible to tune the uke so a C chord sounds OK, but then an F chord sounds dire. Once the action is sorted, the cheap tuners tend to work tolerably well.

Like the look and sound of the concert uke Baz reviewed in the vid linked to by R the F.

Keith

Thanks so much leoroberts , vikingblues , Riverman , R the F , ocarolan and lavaman . You guys are tremendous!

Lots of suggestions and advice there and I've weighed them all up carefully. To answer your question Keith, yes little Anna she has expressed an interest. I wouldn't inflict a ukulele on the poor wee thing had she not done so. That would amount to child abuse

It's a question of balance. It needs to be at a price where it's playable and tuneable, but there's no point in spending a fortune as she may lose enthusiasm or, for example, accidentally sit on it (when I was 15 I reduced my Watkins Rapier to its constituent parts by doing exactly that). Some of the models I've looked at were too cheap, others too expensive; then there were those that were too pink (sorry Iain, the flying vee was tempting, especially with the 75p price reduction , but I think it might have ruined her street cred). In fact, pinkness was quickly deleted from the checklist altogether!

In the end, based on matching criteria and the best reviews, I narrowed my choices down to the Moselele Bambookulele and the Kala KA-15S. Both get great reviews, both are around £60. Neither is pink. The Bambookulele is unavailable just now, so the vote goes to the Kala KA-S Soprano. Unless anyone comes back and says "No! They're crap!!"

Thanks again, it's really appreciated.

Makala Dolphin/Shark. Also their Waterman range (one glows in the dark)
Also look at Tanglewood Union series.

Oh c’mon Andy, what do you think guitar playing grandfathers are for?