• Sounds and Looks Rich, like a million bucks!

  
  As reviewed by Rippie Dave on 12/14/2010

  I'm sure there are finer sounding super high end Ukes with bigger richer sound made of unobtainium wood grown behind one house in far northern Iceland, harvestable only in leap years, and I sure wasn't expecting to spend even this for a first uke, but it just seemed time to get one, and as a bass player, I could never even think of a regular concert uke. After looking at what you can get for about $100, I realized that, as with all things, you get what you pay for, and fit and finish matters. Compared to the Baritone Ukes in that $100 dollarish range, there was no comparison, not in construction, not in the beauty of the Koa wood, and most definity not in sound. You can get nearly the same thing in Mahogany if you want to save money, and you won't be disappointed. I'm a bass player for decades. I simply wanted a tiny fun axe, small, loud enough and easy to just grab and take to someone's house for fun. Instead of standard tuning, I went with fifths, which I'm obviously familiar with playing. The projection is pretty good, the tone is full and sweet, not tinkly at all, and it's whisper light. The D'Addario nylons I put on it sound good, though I may play with converted guitar strings at some point to see what I can do with the sound. I'll say this: it could EASILY substitute for the acoustic rhythm guitar in many songs on stage for a little different novelty when playing out, so long as you have a real mic. This is not electrified. The machines are closed (phew!) smooth and seem to stay in tune. The entire instrument is bookend split, with nice two-tone wood binding. The finish is a satin natural finish because hey... it's Koa... it's all about the wood, and it doesn't get more Hawaiian than Koa wood. So, sounds rich and big (for a uke), looks beautiful (what girl can resist a cute beautiful instrument guys... am I right?) and is made well by a Hawaiian company of Hawaiian wood (in China, alas, like all the other Ukes). There is just something inherently fun about a relatively weensy instrument that actually is a legitimate musical instrument that you can actually enjoy playing, right away, and it sounds nice! If you can't swing this one in Koa, get the Mahogany version for $100 less, I think. I'm sick... I just love Koa wood. If you can afford it, for the price of an low end guitar, you can have a fairly high end Uke you'll be proud to whip out, anywhere, anytime, and it won't let you down. OH, and if you didn't figure it out by now, I like it. Heh. :)

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• Great Bari Uke

  
  As reviewed by Tommy Jordan on 6/27/2011

  This is a fine instrument for the money. Really pretty wood and well set up out of the box. The price point is a bit higher than the ceaper ones but I think solid wood instead of plywood is definitely worth the small extra cost. Doesn't come with a case, so get one (Musician's Gear Featherweight Baritone Ukulele Case. Also get a set of standard baritone uke strings. The ones that ship with the intrument sound fine but are a bit heavier that standard and cannot be raised to the normal tuning for bari's. I broke a string tuning it up to pitch. So I put on a set of Martin Baritone Uke Strings and everything worked great. The nice thing about a baritone uke is that it is tuned exactly like the top 4 strings of a guitar. Makes teaching much easier because any guitar book now works for uke. Fine instrument. Has made me change mind opinions of ukeleles not being real musical instruments.

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