Thinking of a UKE..

Groundy · November 09, 2016, 10:57:34 PM

Quote from: Kostiainen on November 06, 2016, 02:17:26 PMI have Lanikai LU11. Absolutely great (and very cheap) soprano uke.

Cheers I will check them out, I didn't realise there were so many until I started looking...

Alex

Tootler · November 13, 2016, 04:14:17 PM

Hook has pretty well got it covered.

Kala/Makala and Lanikai are both good brands to that I suggest you add Ohana.

UK Dealers to look at

Southern Ukulele Store in Bournmouth
Omega Music in Cumbria
Duke of Uke in London
Eagle Music in Huddersfield

All of these stock a good range of decent ukes at a range of prices from about £50 upwards. Cheaper ukes tend to be iffy on intonation but occasionally you can get a good one. I would suggest starting at about £100. My first reasonable instrument was £100 and it was OK.

The classic ukulele sound is the soprano but it's not to everyone's taste. I like my sopranos and use them fairly regularly. The three smaller sizes, soprano, concert and tenor are normally tuned GCEA with the G sting pitched high (re-entrant tuning) which is partly what gives the uke it's classic sound. I like to tune my tenors DGBE (d high - re-entrant again) but you need to hunt out strings for that.

Aquila Nylgut are widely available and good quality strings. They are a nylon based composition. The other common type of string are fluorocarbon strings. Fluorocarbon is denser than nylon so fluorocarbon strings tend to be a thinner than equivalent nylon ones. Their tone tends to be brighter which I prefer and I mostly have mine strung with fluorocarbon strings unless I've not yet changed the original strings. The most widely available brand of fluorocarbon strings is Worth. They seem more expensive than Aquila but they come as a double length so they're actually about the same price. Strings are not expensive, typically £6 - £8 a set so it can be worth experimenting a bit to find what suits you best.

Good hunting.

Groundy · November 15, 2016, 12:39:02 PM

Quote from: ODH on October 28, 2016, 12:03:40 AMHi Alex

I went through this last year, settled on a Mahalo les paul uke for sub 50 quid.

It's a lovely thing and I enjoy playing it, although I'm no expert, to be fair.

There was a lot of good advice from the community in the thread that lead to it. And a lot of distractions.

Hey Nick, is it a Concert Uke..
..Alex

Groundy · November 24, 2016, 10:45:46 PM

Got myself one of these......

An Epiphone Les Paul Concert Uke,That is...

will send some pix when it arrives...

Alex

ODH · November 24, 2016, 11:58:43 PM

That's a lovely looking - uh... Hang on, was there a uke there too?

Congratulations, Alex, I'm sure you'll have great fun. With the uke, I mean.

Groundy · November 25, 2016, 04:20:57 AM

Quote from: ODH on November 24, 2016, 11:58:43 PMThat's a lovely looking - uh... Hang on, was there a uke there too?

Congratulations, Alex, I'm sure you'll have great fun. With the uke, I mean.

What Uke...