I’ve never been a particularly handy person. My friends know better than to ask for my help with home improvement projects, and my instrument repair skills are mostly confined to string changes. But after building Stewart-MacDonald’s soprano uke kit, I have a new found confidence in my abilities. … [visit site to read more]

Owen Holt may not be a name you know, but he’s one of the great innovators of the ukulele. His Road Toad shop produces some amazing-shaped ukes, like the Sharkfin and Mana, that are some of the finest sounding ukes made today. But more importantly, he’s created a fifth uke to add to the set of soprano, concert, tenor and baritone: The bass uke. For a few years his Big Bufo Bass has quietly been earning a solid reputation in uke circles. While similar in size to a baritone uke, the BBB was created for Pahoehoe unique polyurethane bass strings, which Owen developed. … [visit site to read more]

I think we can all agree that a ukulele is a really small instrument. But If you enjoy traveling and are also obsessed with packing as lightly as possible, even a soprano sized ukulele in its case can require too much room in your luggage. Not to worry though, I have a great solution for you. It’s the RISA Uke-Solid Ukulele from the Uke Surfer Shop in Germany.

… [visit site to read more]

UAS (Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome) is a condition that once acquired can never be truly cured. I caught this disease very shortly after discovering the ukulele late last fall. In that time, I have purchased and reviewed instruments from several popular brands. But then something happened. I decided to have a custom instrument made – a Boat Paddle uke. Folks, if you think regular UAS is bad, CUAS (Custom Ukulele Aquisition Syndrome) is even worse…

… [visit site to read more]

- A guest review by Ben Hinkley

I received my Kamaka ukulele yesterday, and what an instrument it is. I bought it from Elderly Instruments, Lansing MI.  I was offered a really polite and efficient service ordered on Friday morning of the 29th August and shipped to the U.K where I received it on Monday morning of the 1st September.  This was a lightning fast delivery from a company that I would recommend to anyone…

… [visit site to read more]

Well folks, my experience of wanting, ordering, and receiving my very first custom instrument is now complete. If you’ve been following along, I have been writing about my Boat Paddle Ukulele journey since the end of March when Jerry Hoffmann began building my custom concert sized uke. I won’t re-write that entire story as you can go back and read it yourself, but as a re-cap, I ordered the instrument in December and took delivery of it at the beginning of June. A problem with the finish caused me to send it back and it was returned to me in July. I’ve had it for a month now, and am ready to share my thoughts…

… [visit site to read more]

The ukulele originated in Hawaii, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that someone who is interested in this little instrument, would want to try a uke built in its native habitat. My goal is to be able to review at least one model from each major Hawaiian luthier. My first review towards that lofty ambition was the KoAloha KCM-00 and the next one is the C1 Sun Concert from the GString Ukulele Company…

… [visit site to read more]

KoAloha ukuleles are one of the most popular Hawaiian made instruments on the market. When I was shopping for my first uke, I kept reading good comments about them, but their looks kept me from actually purchasing one. The pictures that I saw on the web made them look a little boring as they didn’t have any contrasting binding, inlays, etc. Having said that, I don’t really like overly fancy instruments, but I do like my ukuleles to have just a little bit of style. I ended up buying a Ko’olua Pono uke, but kept the KoAloha in the back of my mind because of all the good comments that I had read about them as far as their sound.

… [visit site to read more]

If you want to learn to play the ukulele, but you’re on a tight budget, which brand do you buy? While there are many inexpensive ukes on the market these days, you might spend your money on one, only to find out that it is hard to play or has issues with intonation. Today, I want to tell you about an instrument that has neither one of those problems. It’s the FLEA ukulele from the Magic Fluke Company. Made in the USA and sold through Flea Market Music, the entry level model of this ukulele retails for $169.00. I got mine for a little less through Ukulele4u. Let’s take a closer look…

… [visit site to read more]

If you have been searching for an affordable solid wood ukulele with a traditional Hawaiian look and sound, you should take a look at a new line of instruments created by luthier Casey Moore of Kelii Ukuleles. The Koa Pili Koko ukes are not made of Koa as their name implies, instead they are constructed from a relative of the Acacia wood family which looks similar to Hawaiian Koa. These instruments are imported from China, but are setup in Hawaii.

… [visit site to read more]

We’ve all heard of ukuleles that are made with popular woods such as Koa, Mahogany, Cedar and Spruce. But how about a ukulele made of Bamboo? No, I’m not making that up. Just ask Chuck Danford as the Bambukulele is his creation.

… [visit site to read more]

The Ko’olau Pono PKC 1-E was the first ukulele that I purchased when I came down with the uke virus last October. Pono’s are Ko’olau’s economy line of ukuleles. They are built in an Indonesian factory, on the island of Java and then their final adjustments and set-up are done on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. In Hawaiian, “pono” means goodness and excellence. Let’s see if this instrument lives up to that definition…

… [visit site to read more]

Ok, maybe I shouldn’t call this posting an actual review as I only had this instrument in my hands for about an hour before I boxed it back up and shipped it back to ukulele4u. I ordered it because I wanted to find out if a soprano sized ukulele felt ‘better’ to me than a concert sized ukulele. My first uke was/is a concert sized Pono. Ever since I bought it, I kept wondering if I had chosen the wrong size to learn on. I tested a tenor and found that it wasn’t to my liking, so the Kiwaya KTS-7 caught my eye and I decided to give it a shot too.

… [visit site to read more]

In my YouTube ukulele video travels, I kept running across banjo ukulele videos that had me very intrigued about this hybrid instrument. Most banjos have 5 strings and are not tuned like a ukulele (GCEA). Since I have always wanted to learn to play banjo, and am now also learning to play the ukulele, I figured it would be a no-brainer to get a banjo uke too.

A quick search on google yielded a company called The Bean Sprout Banjo Ukulele Company. Their instruments look wonderful, but are a bit over my budget right now, since I have two regular ukuleles on order. So I decided to wait awhile… But that didn’t last long before I spied the Woodstock Banjo-Tam on eBay one day. With a price tag of only $24.95, I was pretty sure it would not be high quality instrument, but hey, people buy Mahalo ukes for about the same price and I see people playing them on YouTube all the time. So I clicked the Buy-it-now button and waited for it to arrive in my mailbox.

… [visit site to read more]