I have been told that this is an actual thing: Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome (or UAS). Apparently I have been infected with it over the last few months. I started this whole journey last year when on a whim at 5am (I woke up super early for whatever reason) I bought a ukulele on Google Shopping Express. That one was a Mitchell MU70 concert at a (I thought) reasonably priced $99.
It arrived. I tinkered with it a bit, but it sounded like dinky, tinny shit. Basically, it sounded like what one thinks a ukulele should sound like. I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. The build quality was fine. The stock strings were garbage. And, again, sound was BAD.
Moving along. For Christmas my mom bought a Komoa Tenor as my gift. She had recently taken up ukulele and after a trip to Kauai she was in love with these little tenors. The Komoa is a great little uke. The sound is loud and crisp. The build quality is nice. It is a pretty little instrument.
Komoa Tenor
I would say that for a beginner uke I would definitely recommend this guy. I recently had a Mi-si pickup installed so I could do some recordings. Shout out to Bruddah Edgar over at Aloha Warehouse for installing that quickly.
Next up. I started to obsess over a koa wood ukulele. I spent hours pouring over different options and reading forums, but my teacher really insisted that I should go and try out a bunch of options at Aloha Warehouse to see what I really wanted as opposed to doing my regular purchase online. I’m really glad that I took that advice (or really regret it because I spent so much money) because I found my true love.
Kanile’a Super Tenor Premium Gloss from Hawaii Music Supply on Vimeo.
The Kanilea Super Tenor. Mmmn. I’m telling you that she sings to me. I tried a bunch of other options, but the sound of this one kept pulling me back in. I had to have her. The super tenor is interesting in the ukulele world. It is a baritone body on a tenor neck which gives it a bit more resonance and sustain. Some people think that it is ugly because the body is off proportion with what resembles a giant ass. It has been referred to as the Nicki Minaj of the uke world. I think it is beautiful. The wood so silky. Definitely a keeper for all ages. I replaced the string with some flurocarbon Worth’s which I absolutely love.
I acquired my next uke because I was travelling to Europe for some business and was worried that I would slip up on my practice so I started looking for something slightly more portable to take with me. Yes, I know, a uke is pretty portable to begin with, but I didn’t feel like lugging a hardcase with me and since I have trouble walking distances I thought it would be best to keep my load as light as possible. This is how I came across the Kala concert travel uke.
I love this little uke. It is so incredibly thin and lightweight that it slides right into my bag. It is really cute with a spruce top. And the sound is surprisingly full and loud for such a tiny instrument. After playing the tenors it is always fun to play the concert because of the thinner neck. It makes bar chords so much easier that I feel pro.
Last up (for now) is the Les Paul epiphone concert.
This one is pretty much a toy that looks good. Some people are big fans. I bought it because I wanted an electric uke and I thought it was cute. I changed out the strings for some Aquila’s because the stock ones were complete garbage. I also had to file the bridge a bit to get the low G to even fit. I still don’t like the sound of this one and since I got the pickup installed in the Komoa I don’t use this for recording either. But it looks really good hanging on the living room wall and was reasonably priced at $99 from Amazon so why not.
That about covers it for now. I ended up giving the Mitchell away to my nephew because I simply couldn’t stand the sound. That has left me with four ukes in the house. I think I’m good for now although I have been eyeing a banjolele!
