It's a great and frequent asked question ,the answer can be complicated sometimes.
Let's try breaking it down a bit and make life easier.
Following are a lot of information that can be overwhelming, but most importantly it's always good to feel it in your hands before you make the final decision.
Price
For entry level ukulele you can buy a decent one for around $100 or higher that has good tuning peg, nice sound and lovely appearance. Although a wide variety of price range is also available due to different make, brand and style.
An intermediate level ukulele can be made of solid wood (versus laminated wood) and cost roughly $350~$600 or higher.
A high end or customized ukulele are sometimes only available by reservation and priced a few thousands dollar that's usually made by renowned brand or individual luthier with the highest grade tonewood or particular design style.
Size
Ukuleles are divided into 4 main size categories; soprano ( 21"), concert (23"), tenor (26"), baritone (30"), there are a few outliers but these are the most common sizes.
Generally you trade off portability with sound quality, bigger one simply sounds better, stage performers usually love a tenor size for the volume it produces, there are exceptions too, but just note that a baritone is tuned differently than the rest of 3 sizes.
A baritone is tuned DGBE whereas the other size are tuned GCEA.
Also a smaller size means shorter neck and fretboard, which a high note on it might not sound as good compare to the longer ones.
Sound and tone wood
Just like any musical instrument, materials are often critical to the sound quality, though other factors all contribute to the final result, a general rule can be found;
Hawaiian koa wood gives a warm mellow tone and is the most sought after wood by Hawaiians, while spruce wood gives a crispy tone.
There are many different tone wood, we encourage you to try it out and find the sound that most appealing to you.
A tone wood requires certain procedure before it can be used to make an instrument, also an all solid wood ukulele would actually sound better with unique character over time.
With that said, it doesn't mean the laminated or veneered wood ukuleles are necessarily much inferior in sound, modern ukulele manufacturers build very high quality veneered ukulele with consistent outcome. Some even cost more.
One thing to keep in mind is that a solid wood ukulele requires extra care, never leave it in a very dry climate for a long period of time cause the thin tone wood can crack, use a humidifier to keep it safe.
Also the factors that affect the sound the most are the way the strings are strummed, whether to use a pick or just pluck them with your finger, the top wood - the soundboard that has a sound hole, even a better pack of strings can easily improve the overall quality.
Brand
A dozen brands out there have all been into this business for a very long time, naturally one would want to get their hands on local Hawaiian brands where the Hawaii ukulele are originated, one of them is probably the famous Kamaka where it's history traces back to when it was adopted and derived by Hawaiians from a Portugal instrument called machete in early 19th century.
To this day, many Hawaiian brands like Ko'olau, KoAloha, Kanile'a are still offering best of class quality instrument that ranges from $900 to a couple thousand dollar.
It's a great experience to have owned one of those ukuleles that are loved by professional Hawaiian ukulele players. Personally I would say the best ukulele is the one you actually play and let it brings you joy that is worth the efforts.
Don't worry if you're not ready to spend that kind of money, there are still a lot of brands worth trying, some are the ukulele made by those famous brands but in lower cost Asia countries, be it China, Philippine or Indonesia, I even loved a brand called KIWAYA from Japan. In the end of the day, most Hawaiian brands have import line then assemble them in Hawaii to help save the cost.
Traditional guitar makers are as well offering some of the best quality ukuleles, try it out to reach your own conclusion.
Style
There are dozens of different style; pearl shell inlay, gloss and satin finish, inscribe art on the fingerboard etc that pertain to aesthetic feeling.
And there are designs that have practical use;
a long neck means better sound on the high note without getting too bulky in size.
a cut away can help ease of playing when you progression on higher chords.
a 5, 6 or 8 string means you get richer sounds, often an octave higher or lower note on the same string depending on where it is placed.
a plug-in and built-in EQ and tuner can be very handy.
a hollow out headstock to reduce the weight and help with balance
a curved back can help produce a better resonance of the sound
a low g string setup help with more bassy tone
You even see a double neck, a banjolele, a resonator, a guitarlele, a basslele, there are all kinds of different beasts out there. Just like what they do on guitar!
Does the shape matter? There are bell shape, pineapple shape, round shape and even triangle or rectagular shape, I'd leave that for you to decide. Just remember the space in the body could affect the overall projection of the sound.
Setup
For a good setup, look for low action string ( the distance between strings and frets ) that will make it smooth and easy to play. but not too low for the strings to cause buzz, a good example would be 0.3~0.4cm height on the 12th fret.
geared tuning pegs that's very simple to tune and stays in place, you may even put on UPT tuning pegs that has planetary gears inside while remaining classic looks.
Final words
Sometimes the difference and nuances are not so obvious and require time to truly find out what you like and what you don't, my best suggestion is to try with a budget one first, as you progress it would become clearer what's a good one to invest in for next!
Comments