how to pick a ukuleleI’ve been receiving emails every few days from new ukulele enthusiasts, even some who don’t yet own a uke but are excited about coming to our festival. Several have asked for help in purchasing their first ukulele. So I’m going to offer my personal opinion on the matter, with something I like to call, Doug’s Official But Subjective Ukulele Buyer’s Guide for Choosing Your First Uke. Being that I’ve given many lessons to beginners, I have experienced their trials and triumphs and I think I have a pretty good handle on what to suggest.

What size to buy: You often hear that there are four sizes of ukulele, (not counting sopraninos or ‘pocket’ ukuleles). But for first time players I’m going to say that there are six: Soprano, Super-Soprano, Concert, Super-Concert, Tenor, and Baritone. The term “Super” means the instrument has the neck length of the next size up. So a Super Soprano has a soprano sized body and a concert length neck, or “scale.” You might also hear it called a “Longneck Soprano.” For your first instrument, unless you have lots of money to spend and very tiny hands, I would recommend avoiding a true soprano and starting at least at the Super/Longneck models. There are two reasons: The frets on a soprano neck are smaller and require more difficult contortions of the hand, and they tend to go out of tune the easiest.

Because the length of the strings (or scale) is short on all ukes anyway, and the tension of the strings is low, all ukuleles are difficult to keep in tune until the strings have become well worn in. If you are trying to learn the instrument, you won’t be able to hear the proper notes and it will just make things that much harder. So the bigger the uke*, the easier it will be to play.

* However: Unless you will never play uke with others or join a ukulele social group, (of which there are many and they are growing), I would also avoid buying a baritone ukulele for these reasons: 1) They are tuned differently and you will not be able to use the music or follow along very well in a group of other uke players. 2) It is harder to find music for baritones. 3) They sound more like a small guitar than a ukulele. Again, this advice pertains to buying your first ukulele. Bari’s have a lot going for them and are just as fun, it would just unnecessarily complicate things for you as a beginner.

How much to spend: Ukuleles start at about $15 and can run as high as $15,000. Really! You can ignore both ends of the spectrum. As a beginner I will assume you won’t be choosing between a collector’s uke and a car, and if you try to learn on a really a cheap uke, you will most likely get discouraged quickly and give it up. You can stumble across a decent player for under $100, but I would say that you should consider $150 – $200 as your starting point. $300 would be even better but is not necessary. The bottom line is, if you are dealing with a reputable seller, the more it costs, the more attention it was probably given during construction.

Necks and Frets: The two biggest considerations. We all want our ukulele to sound nice, but there are two even more critical factors than sound to consider: 1) The neck. 2) The fret wires on the neck. If the neck is not properly aligned you will never be able to play proper notes beyond the first 3-5 frets, and if the fret job is poor you will have buzzing notes and it will be uncomfortable to play.

So, armed with no more knowledge than that, you want to ask the buyer to demonstrate the “intonation” of the uke. There are many factors but the most common thing you will see/hear is that the seller will lightly touch above the 12th fret of each string and pick it, then pick the same string pushing down on the string at the 12th fret, then pick the string again without touching the frets at all. The notes of those three sounds of each string should sound virtually identical, although the last will be an octave lower. For a first, low price, learn-on uke, that test should be adequate to get you by. There are other spot tests that can be made but don’t worry about that for now.

Next, run your hand up and down the sides of the neck. There should be no sharp edges where fret wires are sticking out. If there are, you will not have fun playing that uke! There are two reasons for the fret wire sticking out:

1) It’s a bad fret job, (poor quality craftsmanship from the maker).
2) You live in a very dry climate and the ukulele was made in a humid climate. If your uke was made in Asia or Hawaii or another humid zone, and you live in a place like I do, (Nevada), the dryness of your climate will literally suck the moisture out of the wood that it absorbed where it was born. The neck wood will shrink, but the fret wires will not shrink and they will start sticking out the sides.

What to do?
Play Uke, LLC is a Kala dealer and one of the biggest reasons we like the Kala brand is that they seat the fret wires inside the wood of the necks rather than cut an open slot exposing the wire. This prevents much of the problem of wires sticking out the sides. Other makers do this too, so it’s a good feature to look for. Just look at the sides of the neck, you don’t see the edges of the fret wires at all.

If your fret wires are nice and smooth, and you can see them from the side, and you live in a dry zone, do not fear: Simply avoid the urge to keep your ukulele on display and instead keep it in its case with a case humidifier. These little gadgets run from $5 – $15 and are available online or at most music stores. You soak it in water every week or so and put it in the case. That will take care of the problem.

Lastly, if you already own the ukulele and your wires do stick out, they can be smoothed back out again by an instrument repair shop or luthier.

Body and sound: So what might seem like the most important thing comes last in my book. You may hear about “solid wood” instruments and “laminated” instruments. The philosophy is that solid wood will vibrate better and provide good sound whereas laminated wood has glue between thin layers and won’t give as good a sound. That is generally true, but for a first uke I just say this: Strum several different ukes until the sound of one distinguishes itself beyond the others. If it sounds good to you, that’s all you should be concerned with. There are very decent laminated instruments out there and there are poor sounding solid wood ukes too.

Remember, this is your first uke to learn on. The playability of it, which is the alignment of the neck, the smoothness of the frets, and the feel of the body in the crook of your arm, are the most important things. For that reason, do not buy a ukulele online unless the seller is willing to spend time discussing or emailing about the uke with you, will patiently answer your questions, or will play it on the phone or in YouTube video, etc. AND they have some sort of return policy. Make sure they have some sort of verifiable reputation. Most online sellers are great folks. We are one! Just be careful. For now, just come to the Reno Tahoe Uke Fest and visit each and every one of the vendors!

It’s only your first uke: If you stick with it, and become ukulele fanatics like many of us, there will be plenty of time for you to spend way too much money as you battle U.A.S. (Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome).