10 things to know before buying a Ukulele... 

Oh boy - totally agree with all of these (with special mention for the word on nut widths and blingy laminates!). The internet is flooded with best advice guides from some ropey stores and drop shippers, and i'd implore new buyers to watch this video instead. There's a reason I list SUS on my site as a specialist uke store. Shops like this KNOW the instrument and are not just bandwagonning.. Top vid Alex.

Tip No. 9 is so true. Every time I pass my ukulele, it's reminding me I need to practice.

I have a small advice, i think it’s always better to start with around $100 ukulele (meanwhile save money) and once you notice you really like it and want to continue with playing you should jump directly to the top quality ukuleles instead of wasting time and money on low quality ukuleles, because if you do that you might eventually find that u spent more money in total than if you bought a high quality ukulele to begin with plus it sounds so good so it will always attract you to play it , i hope it makes sense to some (worked for me)

I've found that traveling to a distant place to buy an instrument is the worst. Especially if you don't know the city, You're tired, maybe a little lost, more than a little distracted, and most of all you want to buy the thing, because otherwise the whole effort will be in vain and you don't want to get back home empty-handed. I did that twice, buying guitars, and in both cases I couldn't sell them fast enough. Thankfully it wasn't hard to find buyers. Now, with ukes, I just buy from you guys, the uke is delivered to my door and all is well :-)

Also, I've found that #9 in your video is absolutely make-or-break crucial. We moved to a new apartment recently and we decided to hang our ukes on the walls. Everywhere. It's not the healthiest option, they don't get nicely humidified and all that, but now we have a couple of ukes on the wall in (almost) every room at home. So for one thing, it makes the home look awesome! A small bit like the inside of the SUS :-) But more importantly, with a uke always within reach, I pick them up all the time, exactly like you say, waiting for water to boil, dozens of times a day. Instant gratification, and besides, these little breaks actually help me concentrate on work (also at home, because where else :-) ) Wouldn't have it any other way. If you don't want hangers or stands, keep a uke on your bed, it's going to be mostly safe there. But keep it in sight.

Great advice! I bought a concert ukulele off Amazon at the beginning of lockdown last year. I must admit I was lucky. Then my brother took me to a local music store and they let me try their ukuleles. I found a gorgeous wee Kala soprano, it’s a beauty! The music store had a look at my first ukulele and they changed the strings for me and it sounds even better. So now I have two great ukuleles. But it just goes to show you that shopping local is the best way to go. So for anyone watching this from Northern Ireland, go to Mattchets in Belfast.

I made most of these mistakes at the beginning! The trick is to just keep going with playing. Eventually, you’ll latch on to your perfect ukulele, and what a joy it will be.

Great advice! This applies to guitar buying as well. Don’t buy with your eyes is so important!

I've only got the gig bag. But I've made a point to keep it visible at all times lol.

Very informative and helpful advice that will help me choose my ukulele, fingers crossed.

Thanks, always educational!

Very helpful information. Thank you.

Great vid Alex, shared to our group!

Tip number 9 is the nugget of gold here. I've fallen into this trap with my guitar!!!

Thanks so much...very helpful.

Superb content! So glad I found your channel. I’m looking for my first uke and I really appreciate the great advice!

Great advice as usual.

Great info, a lot more to take on, so much research done but only the beginning and I seem to be a little way off yet. Thank you for this info and hope to see lots more.

Great stuff Alex. Lots of solid advice.

As always, excellent advice. Thanks for taking the time to share what you’ve learned through the years!

Great advice all around! My one tip that I have on my list is to look at custom makers. The idea that a custom, handmade instrument will be in the 1000s for cost every time isn't always true. There are great instrument makers out there with lots of price ranges.

Thanks, Alex. Always appreciate your advice. Best wishes from the San Francisco Bay area. - Tim

Absolutely fabulous advice, thank you Alex and good fun to listen to. I should have seen this at the start of my research journey a few days ago but happy to say, and we spoke earlier today, that I have managed to follow all the rules with the exception of the visit, a rule that I have applied on other products (e.g. skis) and which I would love to have done here but sadly not possible at the moment. Keep the great work up and Tina will be in touch tomorrow to order! Steve D, Devizes.

Very helpful. I’m traveling to a ukulele store next week. They have more of a selection there. Lot of good tips !!

Same here I totally agree with you a great video and some great advice on buying musical instruments and other great advice too, thanks again for experience and vast knowledge.

What great yet simple advice! I’ve watched a few of your videos on the shop channel in order to buy one and enjoy it, and am learning so much from you. Thanks Alex!

What an excellent helpful video! Thank you 👍

Alex, thank you so much for this clear, practical information, free of any brand promotion. I sure wish SUS was here in the U.S. and close enough to visit. I'm about to buy my first uke, and I haven't yet found a reputable store, so this helps.

As someone who is looking at buying first Ukulele!! I’ve found this very informative 😎

Love the cake analogy!

Thank you!

Fabulous suggestions Alex!!! Looking for my second uke now after playing a beginner concert uke for 4 years, and your suggestions will be very helpful when I finally go to my specialty store to try them out. Thanks!!!

I had a soprano as a child (and no idea how to play it). Unfortunately that uke is lost. As an adult, I bought a concert uke about six years ago, which I play every day. And a month ago I bought a Snail S60T and I LOVE it. Love it.

Fantastic Video Alex! So many of the points you made there, I'm so guilty of and If I had this information sooner I feel I would have been better prepared to avoid the pitfalls, from buying with my eyes, buying for the Brand to getting hooked on one type of strings! Thank you so much for this - now you've helped me when I look for my next Ukulele (what can I say, I've got UAS! lol) Keep up the excellent knowledgeable videos - you're great!

Brilliant!

Thanks for the tips Alex, as someone who's new to the uke, this is very helpful to keep in mind!

Number 9 is sooooo right! I have my ukes sitting next to the sofa. It is a visual reminder to play them. I started playing in February of this year and have got so much better and more confident at playing just by doing a few minutes everyday.

As a beginner to Ukulele, I found this so informative and helpful. Honest, too. I've played guitar for many years, but Ukulele is so different. I didn't even know there were specialist Ukulele shops! I'm left handed, that will be really helpful when I buy my next one. For now, I've just tuned it left hand. 👏

#11 Ask Alex. ‘Nuff Said. I won’t get anything else anywhere without his opinion. :)

First class! Really helpful. Not close enough to visit a store in person, but Ive bought 2 Ukes from your store remotely... an Ohana TK10 as my starter followed by an Islander MST-4 for the wider nut... both great purchases and both still in use. Only a laminate and plain to look at, but in my opinion the Ohana still sounds much better than more expensive ukes.

Great vid. I live in Toronto where, for some reason, there is virtually nothing but bland factory ukes available. And with lockdown, of course, I can’t even get in to try those! I’ve been using SUS as my uke store with the understanding that they will answer my questions honestly and accurately. Still can’t try out instruments, but it comes down to the expertise more than anything. It’s worth the shipping costs.

Now this is one video every ukulele buyer should watch. excellent Alex😊🎶

This was excellent Alex, thank you. So many considered points that I've not seen covered in any other of these types of "things to think about before you purchase a uke" videos. Top class and very clever.

I bought the pretty one but thankfully had listened to one of your store videos and got one you recommended that also sounds nice and is the right size. Love my Ohana 350G.

I bought my Recording King concert banjolele because it looked so charming. Luckily it has turned out be be a great instrument to learn on. I now also have a tenor and a concert uke from Enya and a tenor banjolele from Outdoor Ukulele and I’m very happy with all of them. All of the instruments are “carbon fiber” except the Recording King. Just recently I’ve also acquired a Caramel guitarlele and the sound is just beautiful. I look forward to learning to play it.

I agree, do your homework! Visit the speciality store, spend time on multiple instruments and file away the hype and biases. I will close my eyes, ignore the 'look' or 'label' and let my hands and fingers 'speak' to me.

This was a very good video and really informative to even a well seasoned player!

Alex, I found your advice most helpful and one of these days I might make it to SUS and get my hands on some ukuleles! Another guy from Beds.

Thanks Alex, not sure how I missed this...but great advice. :) Thankfully my budget (or lack thereof) prevents me from buying every damn thing I see LOL...and I am super nerdy and research the crap out of everything (which is likely how I found SUS in the first place lol), but there are so many things to consider. For me as a relative beginner, I'd say learning from experts is key! :)

I very rarely even sign in to RU-vid as I hate the tracking and intrusion. This time I have. What a wonderful collection of advice and thoughts on the process! I haven't heard so much sound common sense talked about things like this for ages. Top man! Oh yes ... "buy a stand" ... excellent advice, I shall.

Excellent tutorial from a man who really knows his subject. Really helpful and comprehensive in what to look for and do in purchasing a ukulele. I would feel very comfortable buying from Alex. Unfortunately, he is in Great Britain, and I am in Australia.

I must say I liked this however #10 is me. I very much like and prefer Worth brown strings and have them on 4 out of 5 ukuleles I own. My ear isn’t as good as many being 78 yrs old but I recently bought a super tenor and immediately changed to Worth and love the warm low G on the Islander. I even have Worth on an inexpensive Kala Bamboo that is fun. But, I think you are probably very correct on all 10 points you make. A kanalea Silk KOA also has Worth Brown Fluorocarbons

Got my first ukulele, the Martin 1T IZ.

Already bought a uke from SUS (tenor Snail, just changed to a low G which I ordered with it, love it even more + it feels like I have a completely new uke) and absolutely love. Whenever I´ll be ready to buy my ultimate "dream"uke ( another year or two, have only been playing for a year), it will be at SUS personally (travel permitted hopefully by then) and I´ll have my answers to your questions ready (size, sound, ......). I´ll bring Sachertorte from Austria and it will be a great day (will choose a sunshine day and promise to have had breakfast). Your vids are soo appreciated . Thankx!

Not sure how I managed to miss this excellent vid, Alex! All great advice that I wish I’d had when I was starting out, and could still do with following… As someone who’s been know to be swayed by pretty woodgrains, I’d add the suggestion Phil gave me a while back, which was (when in the shop, obviously) to turn my back and listen, really listen, to the sound of each uke I’m trying to decide between as you guys play them.

Thanks. 👍🏻

Great advice! I’m a bit worried about that red car I bought now though 😂

! I've got short unbending fingers middle finger is 3 1/2 inches and struggle to hit g and g7 chords on a concert ukulele but it is definitely easier than a soprano

Great video! Number 10 is a sad and painful truth 😢

I went to an antique dealer after choosing a ukulele with my eyes on a photograph. I found it enchanting and still didn't know how precious my 20's Kumalae was. The nut is very thin, but love can do everything.

For me the entire reason I chose ukulele over guitar was to have an instrument I can travel with and so Soprano was the obvious choice for me. At home a concert is probably preferred but I love being able to go out skating for a day and bring my uke with me without any real effort

These tips apply to mandolin buying, too - for me.

11:07 BTW, I am off the mind (in general) that I should spend a little more money in the front-end, so get something decent - something with some quality - which isn't cheap - so that down the road, I don't regret not getting the next model up, etc... Or in the case of a musical instrument - something which I am going to enjoy, which inspires me to play it - and that that extra cash spent can future-proof me, so that the instrument lives a long time (add opposed to buying the cheapest instrument and having it break a few years down the road). This would hopefully reduce the amount I need to spend on maintenance. This is, until I have cravings for buying something a little different - and then I go out and research and looking for whatever that is.

Perfect

Fab video will be sharing, also number five definitely feel like that could have been fended there... 😂 Maybe I’m guessing wrong though😂

Great video Alex. Only thing I'd say regarding strings is that Kanile'a use supernylgut as factory strings, and I'm not at all sure that they bring the best out of those instruments at all :)

I started playing the ukulele only little more than a month ago but I already have three different ukes! 😅 Even though I had quite a successful journey I always missed [6] going to a store and trying some ukuleles myself. But it didn't seem possible. So I had to use the internet instead. I started with some research on amazon and youtube and found out I needed a [1] concert sized uke and [3] I went by sound and text reviews and by looks to find out which ones to order. Since my [4] budget was around 50€. I ordered three ukuleles on amazon [6]: 1.) enya oms-04 koa laminate 2.) aklot solid mahogany and 3.) xalani (some unknown German brand with only one ukulele) solid mahogany soprano The latter I ordered because I loved how it looked (plus reviews) and I wasn't disappointed by the quality at all!! I ended up keeping both the enya oms and the Xalani. I just couldn't like the Aklot even though people tend to love it. Everything bigger than a soprano mustn't be mahogany in my ears, I guess. So I went by sound in the end [3]. During the last month I played every day and did some more research which led me to buying a Kai KTI-5000 all solid acacia tenor ukulele - the best awesome uke with the right looks for as little money as possible (229€ at a big music supply in Germany [6] since uke shops didn't have it anymore) - putting Aquila Red low G strings on. I also changed the custom standard Aquila strings on the xalani uke to clear Worth strings since the aquila sounded a bit too bouncy for my taste. I didn't need to change the strings on the enya though. [7] I don't regret buying any of the ukuleles. I have two awesome cheap ukuleles and an awesome more expensive one - each with its special purpose: *Xalani soprano mahogany: nursery rhymes *enya oms-04 koa laminate: worship songs *Kai KTI-5000 : worship with and without songs My ultimate dream ukulele would probably be an all solid koa tenor. But what I have now is awesome enough! Edit: and I have one stand... but I think you mustn't put the KTI-5000 on it because of the finish? 🤔

My Kamaka (made in year 2020) has a 35.5mm nut width

Really enjoyed this one Alex. I've bought and sold many ukes and have fallen into pretty much all the traps you described at one point or another! 😂 Even though I've definitely lost money I still wouldn't change anything. It's been a fun and rewarding journey learning everything you said 'the hard way' 😀

I'm a 6'3" man with catchers mitts instead of hands. So the tenor seemed obvious

nice ukalele review....

I just bought a soprano Koa wood uke for its sound I thought I would like..also realizing soprano size is too small for me....(their concert size are sold out) have you ever heard of or reviewed Bondi Ukuleles?

Paintwork on red cars need to be waxed with a good carnauba wax regularly to keep the paint looking good, and please don’t use washing up liquid folks instead of a reputable car shampoo e.g. Meguiars or Bilt Hamber. Oops, sorry this isn’t a car detailing channel. Love both your ukulele channels Alex.

I only buy Custom Shop Guitars, Ukuleles, Instruments. I buy once and never regret it. ❤❤❤

Uke sellers do seem to push Aquilla strings. I think they are completely unsuitable for beginners. I found them too brittle and hard. After much trial and error, I discovered that D'ddario Titanium strings were perfect for me (now past beginner's stage!). I would recommend D'ddarios for beginners. What do you think?

4:50 How did you actually know I was smiling lol

Hi Alex, great video. I'm curious about the different tonewoods used in making ukeleles. I was looking at the Bruko site and they use mahogany but they also use lots of other types as well like cherry, walnut/black walnut, ash and zebrawood(?). Do you know what kind of sound comes from these less common woods?

all good topic relevance....just would have been good to see some examples.

11:28 is the opposite true, too? For example, if you see a brand which you don't think makes good instruments/a particular instrument (as some companies make both guitars and mandolins, as an example) - does that mean that you shouldn't necessarily steer away from that brand, then? (Of course, I am still doing brand-thinking, so I am a hypocrite, I guess (?))

You talked about keeping your uke on a stand. What can you do about humidity issues and leave a uke out on a stand?

5:42 But I thought you said in one of your other videos - 10 Things to Ignore About Ukuleles, that laminates aren't necessarily bad!... Which is it?! 😉

I played several instruments, from piano, trumpet, guitar, harmonica, and low-D tin whistle. I don't play any of them well, but I enjoyed playing with them. Currently, I'm down to only the keyboard. And now, at 79 this coming June (2023), I decided to get a Ukulele. I'm a widower, and money isn't a problem. At the same time, I will be putting in an order that I built for $3,840, which includes tax. It will take 14 weeks to make or thereabouts. My question is: if you were in my shoes, would you spend this money?

So is the Kala tenor bamboo a bad chose for a first ukulele if I want the traditional island sound ? I as this on the store site but I would like to hear your opinion on it. I have a 200 dollar budget

Is there much difference with the nut width of a soprano, concert and tenor. I've smallish hands (no jokes please ☺️) regards AB

Is there an online ukulele store you would recommend for Americans? Many of the online sellers in the U.S. are focused on guitars, basses and other instruments. Thanks,

Alex, I am a singer with decades of experience gigging with a guitar. I also play baritone uke and want to use one to accompany myself singing Early and Traditional (mostly English and Scottish) I am after a classical guitar sound for that, not a Hawaiian sound. Is there a baritone uke you would recommend? I am willing to spend up to $2,000….

To add to Nº 9, "buy a stand for easy access": Or... just don't get a partner and use that empty side of the (double) bed for your ukulele. Now that's commitment!

Is buying by sound just a given? And strings do make a big difference!!

"Don't buy into the brand"......looks sheepishly at his collection 🥺