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Location: Foothills of Mt. Rainier | Hello Ovation friends,
Stopped by to see my favorite used musical instrument shop the other day and they had a bunch of ukulele's that they had picked up in an estate sale. Among them was a pretty nice Applause ukulele..acoustic and soprano (small) style in a cardboard style case. It had nice tuners on it and it sounded pretty good to me. I imagine that the roundback does wonders in projecting the sound in such a small instrument. No pricing as of yet...they were still cleaning everything up and getting them ready to sell next week. I do not have a uke in my collection and this looks to be a pretty decent one and not a toy. I would like to hear any opinions positive and negative about these ukes. I am hoping the price will be under $100 but do not know what they usually fetch. At any rate it will add another color to my musical palat I am sure.
Washington Bob |
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Location: SoCal | These are fun, inexpensive little ukes. There's one on the wall by my desk. If you can get it for less then $100 then do it.... |
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Location: big island | kinda sucky unplugged but among the very best amplified. of course, i'm a bit spoiled living amongst the ukulele play and build masters of the world |
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Posts: 45
Location: Foothills of Mt. Rainier | Thanks Moody and lanaki,
I would like to have one to play around with. I love Hawaian music and play a bit of slack key from time to time but I need a uke too. This one is not an electric version but sounded pretty good compared to the really cheap ones I can usually find at stores and the tuners looked very nice. We shall see and I will let you all know what I do.
Bob |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Which kind of Uke are we talking about? Center hole, or with epaulets?
Either way... Offer them fifty bucks, and settle on seventy-five.
(Hey, they ain't cheap... ya' shoulda got one before they "cleaned-it-up")
It would be nice to have hanging around to annoy the neighbors with! :rolleyes: |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | oops, wrong button... |
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Location: GA USA | Bob, when I bought one, I went with a Concert size, a little larger and easier for guitar players to get accustomed to, but small enough that you're still playing a uke.
You can download Tupperware's helpful and informative "Ukulele For Guitarists" PDF HERE.
Also, do a search on "ukulele". Tons of topics exist. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I think I have a little book of Uke chords that I got from Tuppy (or he probably was StandingOvation then). If you want it, I'll send it to you. I hope Dave won't be offended. |
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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | As big of an Ovation slappy that I am, I'd say that the Applause Uke, unplugged sounds marginal at best. The main rason I have one is because it's such an exact mini-match for my UTE Adamas.
They look so gol darn cute sitting next to eachother. |
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Location: GA USA | Since we've established that it's not great sounding, we need some suggestions about what Bob should get.
I'm no expert, but I like mine. Lanaki played it and said it was a "good little uke". Tupperware has one and said it is "a good uke for the money". I like it 'cause it's purty.
Oscar Schmidt OU5 |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | In the $100. price range there's not a huge difference between the applause and others. Vinyard are nice, and a few others. For for $100. you're going to get a $100 instrument (duh).
The difference between a $100. uke and a $200. one is HUGE. The quality, tone and playability is worth FAR more than the extra hundie. Kala, Bushman, Vinyard are all nice. Get a concert size.
Dave |
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Location: Foothills of Mt. Rainier | Thanks for all the input everybody. He just emailed me and wants $140 for the Applause with epaulets and is totally acoustic and he also has a Mele Uke ,like new, with Grover tuners on it, for $250. I have never heard of the Mele brand...but then again I have never actually looked for a uke.With the exception of vintage Martins and a few others do any of the vintage ukes play well and have good sound? I don't mean to turn this into the ukulele forum so just tell me to look elsewhere and I understand. I really do appreciate all the advice I get here.
Bob |
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Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | $140 for the acoustic only applause is a rip off. Sorry to be the price police, but you can buy it brand new for less. And on top of that it ain't very good.
Here's a number of better choices:
KALA mahog concert $115
KALA spruce concert $125
Lanikai ac/el concert $165
Kau Wela concert spruce/zebrawood $169
Jenny Concert w/ tweed case BUY THIS ONE !!! $200
Seriously the Jenny Concert is a great one. I've owned 30-40 ukuleles and have gradually moved upstream and thinned the collection down to a few very special (to me) ones which are also a bit on the more expensive side. But the one "economy" model I still have and use is the Bushman Jenny Concert. Plus the freaking tweed case alone costs $75. Just buy this and you will never look back.
Dave |
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Location: GA USA | There's your answer. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Dave is full of ukeless information. |
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Posts: 45
Location: Foothills of Mt. Rainier | Hey everybody,
Thanks for your advice and Dave...thanks alot for your pointing out the Jenny Concert. That is a beautiful instrument and one I will go for. That really looks like an instrument I would like to own...plus the tweed case will look cool among my early Telecaster cases. Thanks again everybody...we can put this issue to rest know. I got the answer I sought.
Bob |
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Applause ukulele..acoustic only...opinions?