A few tips on buying ukuleles

WHERE?

My choice shops in Melbourne would be the Guitar Gallery, on Johnston Street, Fitzroy.  In the city, there’s a lovely little music shop on Russell Street: Lewis Music Store, just around the corner from Bourke Street opposite the Forum Cinemas with plenty of ukes and knowledge.  South of the city you might try MelMusic in Elsternwick or The Acoustic Centre in South Melbourne: both of which I’ve heard of but never visited myself, being a northern suburbs type.  In any case, most music places stock a small range of ukes now.  You might find that the muso’s working in the shop are guitarists rather than ukers, so take their advice with a grain of salt.

WHAT?

Absolute beginners who might not be sure of whether they will commit to learning it past a few chords are best advised to buy a simple cheap Mahalo Soprano ukulele, or the like, for around the $30 mark.  I DO advise you to spend an extra $15 on Aquila strings and charm the nice person in the shop to restring the uke for you (“hmm… I like this one but the strings sound terrible.  A friend said get Aquilas on it.  I think they’re right.  Could you do that for me?  Hmm… maybe I should look elsewhere…”).  Aquilas triple the musical quality of a basic painted plywood ukes.  DO check that the nuts and tuning pegs are properly screwed in and not loose.  Also, try a few different apparently identical ukes.  Partly it’s about the feel, the gestalt of it.  You have to want to hear this particular uke or you won’t be motivated to make music on it.  Never buy a uke you feel half-hearted about.

If you’re keen and want to step up to the next level the principle, like all instruments is that you get what you pay for.  I suggest there are two things to think about.

  1. Size: the classic uke is ‘soprano’ You might instead consider buying a ‘concert’ size, about 2” bigger.  It’s easier on the fingers, especially if you have some guitar background, and a little louder.  The neck is sometimes a few frets longer, giving you access to higher ‘voicings’ of chords (yes, you can play the same chord in about 5 different places up the neck!).  I’d suggest either of these sizes.

You can also buy a tenor, 2” larger than the concert, but you’re sliding toward guitar territory and the strings are a little tenser and, personal bias, I think you’re losing the ukeness of the instrument.  But, if you’re coming from guitars, it’s a good compromise.  Baritone ukes are just guitars stripped of the 5th & 6th strings.  I used to thing “Bah!!”, but now I have one myself and love the mellow deep tone.  However, although the chord shapes that you play with your fretting hand are common with smaller ukuleles, they are actually four steps down the musical alphabet (so a ukulele ‘C’ chord becomes a  C > B > A > G chord).

  1. Wood: The cheapest ukes are just painted plywood.  Next step up into the $100-$300 range is usually laminates = plywood with a skin of (usually) mahogany.  Third level are solid woods.  Sometimes there are combos: a solid spruce top with laminate mahogany sides and back, etc etc.  Sometimes the whole uke will be one solid wood.  The key bit is the top as that’s the piece that vibrates the most and produces the characteristic sound & volume; next is the back.  The very best wood is ‘koa’, an acacia from Hawaii, with a very fine bright sound (but, of course, more $$$).  Mahogany gives a mellower sound.  Spruce can give you something in between but is quite soft.  There are other woods that offer beautiful appearance or varying tone to confuse you, in which case consider two last things:
  2. What is the ‘sustain’ of the uke. How long do the strings ring for? A cheapy will give you just a second or so.  As you pay more, you get more ring.  My soprano koa Kumaka from Hawaii – about $1200 in music shops here – gives me 5-7 beats of sound.  In the longer term, it affects the style and sorts of songs you’ll choose to play.  Quality of strings and size also affect sustain.  A uke is a percussive little thing, so short sustain isn’t really a problem.  Indeed, if you’re mad keen on classic 1920s Pop, you might even consider a banjolele that is all pop and volume and no sustain at all!!  and, finally:

IT’S THE VIBE OF THE THING

Buy what you feel right with.  You have to like an instrument to want to pick it up and play with it.  It’s an intriguing friend or it’s just another bit of furniture.  I’ve got an absurdly expensive uke that I love and an older beaten up $25 Mahalo (with decent strings) that I love very nearly as much.  Another $25 Mahalo I didn’t care to pick up at all and soon gave away.  Other ukes, concert and tenor sized, that I play have slipped in and out of favour.

You develop relationships with your instruments that aren’t rational so look for that heartfelt spark when you buy, whatever the price range you choose to work in.

 

A NOTE ON STRINGS

If you get a chance to stretch strings before the class, that’d be great.  It takes a few days of tuning and stretching for them to settle down and be reliable.  If you’re restringing a uke yourself, give the strings a good stretch before you put them on the uke and this will speed up the process.  The other tip is to buy a clip-on tuner that enables you to (re)tune up in well under a minute based on the vibrations up the neck.  Even with lots of noise right beside you, you can get the uke in tune.

The best App I’ve found to tune up, even with lots of noise around, is AccuTune which offers a ‘damping’ option (though ‘normal’ setting does the job well enough for me).

 

Hope all this helps.

Cheers

 

Harry Harrison