Ukulele Buyer's Guide (Beginners) Comparing Size, Brands, and Prices

hello everyone thank you so much for joining me today I have an Oglala buyer's guide for you this video is not sponsored the majority of these Yuke's shown in this video were borrowed from Hite music where I teach some UQ's I've purchased myself or received as PR samples those youths are clearly labeled in the description box below number one you have to decide what is your budget what are you willing to spend for a uke set that and then go from there now I want to warn you against going to cheap usually in my experience cheaper ukz are not constructed well I have found inconsistent fretwork and some of the fret spoke out of the fret board now Fred sprout razor neck binding happens when the fret board dries out the frets poke out of the fret board making the instrument uncomfortable to play now frets can be shaved down and the fret board can be conditioned to restore it so it's not necessarily ruined but take note of the instruments overall condition and ask yourself is this going to be an instrument that is going to last me enough into the intermediate range is this worth my money in my experience cheaper ukz don't hold their tuning very well and so a lot of students that bring in the cheaper UQ's they do get frustrated more easily because they're playing the right chords their fingers are in the right position but when they play they just get this sounds awful and has nothing to do with them it has everything to do with the uke that they're playing so the number one question that I receive is what size should I choose ukuleles come in four main sizes soprano concert tenor and baritone although they all look very similar each size will impact the playability and sound of the instrument so first of all the soprano concert and tenor sizes have strings tuned to g c e and a while a baritone is tuned to a d G B and E very similar to a guitar but it's missing strings five and six typically the larger the uke the longer the neck and that usually means more frets so generally the longer neck that you have the more space you have between the frets sometimes some of my students feel like a soprano may be too small for them and they feel like their hands just feel really really cramped within the frets so if you feel like your fingers are going to be cramped in a soprano a concert is a great happy medium a tenner typically has a longer neck and even more space between the frets than a soprano you come in different shapes you'll see hybrids like banjo Lille's resonators uke's with cutaways to access the upper part of the fretboard and pickups to amplify your uke those will typically increase the price and we'll talk about those more in my how to upgrade your uke video the most traditional is going to be the figure 8 body shape you're going to find a lot of variety with the figure 8 body shape because it's the most common you also have a pineapple shape because it resembles the shape of a pineapple does the pineapple shape really affect the tone at all I don't think so I some people say that pineapples are a little bit more richer in tone I don't think that that's necessarily the case because tone can be affected by tone wood strings bracing and also the size of the body so you do have to just pick it up and play it and decide yeah I think that that's the tone that I want or nope next try another one so typically but not all the time the bigger the body the bigger the tone some might find small ukuleles to be hard to handle or control while playing so a larger model might make more sense in this case and some are looking for a brighter tone thus making the choice to play a soprano might be best this is how I have somebody test out a uke to see if it's right for them first either rest the uke on your leg or place the body of the uke on your ribs on your right hand side swing your arm around and press the uke to your body using your forearm to carry the weight or support it on your leg hold the uke NIC up at a 45 degree angle and find where your forefinger meets your hand and locate the notch by the headstock and rest the weight of the headstock on your finger ask yourself if the body feels easy to control or does it feel like it's going to slip out of your grasp does the right hand feel free to strum does the left hand feel free to pivot even if you've never played but the only way that you can really know what size is truly going to be your size is if you try a bunch now as you're testing your uke sout something to consider are the headstocks coverage your tuners are aesthetically pleasing but could weigh down the headstock while open gear tuners typically lighten the headstock if you notice that man the headstock just feels a bit heavy a little bit unbalanced it could be the covered your tuners now this one I don't think that this one is unbalanced because the body is bigger so I think that this is very very well balanced and the cover gear tuners were good choice in my opinion another thing to consider is the action that's the distance between the strings and the fret board and check to see if it feels comfortable as you press down on the strings this can be lowered by getting a proper set up if you feel that it's too high or too hard to press down on the strings to produce a clear sound so that's an easy fix also if the strings feel too stiff or too soft you can easily switch out the strings and that's another inexpensive way to customize your uke hey we're almost there for my specific recommendation so stay tuned we're going to talk a little bit about tone wood typically I've seen nukes made out of plastic laminate solid tone wood or a hybrid of laminate and solid tone wood plastic can usually be found in travel uke's and they're usually very durable and low cost but not all plastic is equal laminate is made of thin layers of wood that are stuck together with adhesives and pressure to form a sheet using laminate materials reduces the cost for the manufacturer and for the consumer solid tone wood uses a thicker more expensive piece of wood while solid wood is more expensive people argue that the tone is superior and offers more resonant tone because the material has a uniform grain and thickness to enhance vibration better vibration needs better sustain and better tone the idea of combining the solid tone wood tops and laminate back in sides offer better tone and projection than an instrument made of laminate but keeps the price affordable for the consumer but I have played laminate instruments that have better tone than ones made of solid tone wood and vice versa so it really depends upon what kind of tone wood it is who manufactured it bracing strings so you really can't judge a book by its cover you really have to try the uke to really see if it's the tone that you're going to love so first is plastic now this is a really cute look I bought my daughter at Walmart for $25 it can be tuned it can be played I don't really recommend it if this is going to be your first ukulele because the strings don't really maintain their tuning but it's a cute toy but let's talk about some plastic appeal alloys that are meant to be played that are meant to take a beating these are travel oglalas both Sopranos one is from kala completely made out of plastic but it's meant to get wet it's meant to travel it's meant to take a beating as far as intonation up and down the neck it's okay but the main thing is is that it's meant to take a beating and it's going to maintain its tuning unlike the shimmer and shine one this is the flight tus 35 travel you and I purchased it from flight a year and a half ago on discount I love this one I actually named this one the number one soprano ukulele in an article that my friend Terry has on his blog it's maintained its tuning and I love the tone out of it [Music] that's pretty darn good and it's a great price that comes in a variety of colors [Music] this is called ABS cream binding this is a plastic binding that really helps just fuse the edges together so that if it were to have an unfortunate accident where if you were going to drop it the likelihood of the edges splitting is going to be significantly reduced if you look on other Ocala lace they do have ABS binding on the fretboard just to keep the frets from sprouting now will it prevent frets frets Brout completely no it won't but it's definitely going to help just keep things in that much more [Music] so if you're looking for something maybe just a little bit on the brighter side of tone of the tone spectrum because when I played the pineapple one you could tell that that one was deeper than this one you can see some little design choices that just make this just a little bit pricier you see the back you see that flame right there that's really really visually stunning this also comes in blue and it is also available in the concert and tenor sizes [Music] this is really the best of both worlds with a concert in a soprano if you like the soprano Bali body but the neck maybe just a little too small for you or just maybe a little cramped this is an extended neck soprano so it's kind of a hybrid between a concert and a soprano you have a little bit more space in between the frets and this is bound right here so frets brow I'll think you're gonna have a problem with it on this one [Music] look at that back gorgeous comes in blue purple green and this beautiful yellow I love the glossy finish because I really think it brings out the uniqueness of this tone wood and Ohana necks just feel so solid I think that it's very well-balanced nice and lightweight you have ABS cream binding along here just to help with fret sprouts not going to prevent it 100% but it's definitely going to help ABS binding around the edges so it is going to be a bit more on the durable side just in case you had an edge really pretty abalone rosettes and it comes in different colors [Music] something I do like about the neck is that this is thinner than the 15cm so if you're looking for something just a little bit more slender for your hands it's not so thin where you feel like you're hanging on to nothing but if you want something that's more of a D shape to neck profile than a c-shaped neck profile just a little bit thinner this one may be the one for you [Music] this one is described to be meant for the entry-level player but also to last you well into the intermediate range so you can see this reflected upon the price and the design choices as well because it's a hundred and eighty dollars now you have one hundred and eighty dollars to spend depends [Music] something you have to know about kala is that they have an app so that it can go through a whole bunch of different songs different chords you can learn from some very familiar faces like Oakland Lani and Emily arrow the fretboard is not bound but it's very well done I don't feel like these frets are gonna sprout anytime soon this lovely abalone rosette very traditional looking yet stands out just a little bit [Music] they have made some really beautiful design choices that just really resonate with him no pun intended but they really resonate with the player they have a wider neck profile and then of course with the baritone you have more space between the frets you are going to have to use different chord shapes and voicings will the shapes might be similar to that of the ukulele but they're going to be different names because the tune completely differently than a standard Oglala [Music] these are just my opinions and if people want to differ from me that is totally okay leave your comments in the comment section below what do you think what oka Lille's do you have that you recommend what are some of your experiences because that's going to help not only me but other people that are looking to shop for their first ogle Olay all of these links to these Ocala days are in the description box below so please go ahead and visit those if you have any other questions let me know and I hope to see you in the next one bye

Channel: One Music School

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Id: _C-pXjfOhhQ

Length: 17min 33sec (1053 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 27 2019