Decent Inexpensive Uke

[monquixote]

Mrs Quixote is currently baking a bun due to be delivered in January and it's got me thinking that I'd rather like a Uke to play bedtime songs to them on and also as a sprog sized instrument for them to get their mits on when the time comes.

So what would you recommend?

Tenor, Soprano, Concert?

Mohog, Koa, Spruce?

Brand?

As some guidance I want something that looks like a uke (not a stupid mini flying vee), don't need it to be electro and ideally want it to be less than £100

[ICBM]

I have one of the nicer Mahalo koa soprano ones, which I think sells for £89 (it was a present so I'm not totally certain) and comes with a fantastically cool gig bag with palm trees round the sides and silver turtle zip fobs. It sounds better than any other cheap uke I've played, although admittedly not quite in the league of something really nice.

Mine also came with a Miss Hawaii poster but I don't think that's standard .

[monquixote]

I have one of the nicer Mahalo koa soprano ones, which I think sells for £89 (it was a present so I'm not totally certain) and comes with a fantastically cool gig bag with palm trees round the sides and silver turtle zip fobs. It sounds better than any other cheap uke I've played, although admittedly not quite in the league of something really nice.

Mine also came with a Miss Hawaii poster but I don't think that's standard .

That sounds ideal.

Do you find a soprano difficult to play?

I'm worried my big man hands won't get to grips with it.

[ICBM]

Do you find a soprano difficult to play?

I'm worried my big man hands won't get to grips with it.

No, but I have little girl hands .

I think they're all pretty small actually - you have to use a different technique, it's more a fingertip thing than wrapping your hand right round the neck.

[Wonks]

I've got a good Koa Tenor and a cheap Soprano. I find the Soprano really hard to play in comparison to the Tenor, so a thumbs up for a Tenor from me. I find you can hold the body still with your forearm whilst strumming. On a Soprano, I can't.

[Guitar_Slinger]

I've got a cheapo uke - a bright yellow Ashton. It was a gift when I did a 'ukulele for dummies' class and although it seems entry-level, I've been to ukulele jams with it and it held it's own against other instruments of various woods and sizes*.

Our baby's 11 months old and is sometimes interested when I've played the acoustic during the daytime, but TBH he wasn't that into the uke until he wouldn't sleep last night, when I played Monkey Man. Don't think I'd spend any money on a decent one if it's just to play to him, because he's into grabbing stuff and using it as a hammer.

*taking into account the small percentage of people who are beginners but buy the 'most expensive one in the shop', be it guitars, mountain bikes, golf clubs or whatever.

[monquixote]

Definitely don't want to buy an expensive one because I don't want to freak out if it goes El Kabong (Any Quick Draw McGraw fans out there), I just want to avoid getting a POS that won't stay in tune etc.

[Wonks]

Be warned that most take ages for the strings to stretch enough to actually stay in tune for a reasonable length of time - regardless of cost. Don't be put off by this, but you may find it takes several weeks of playing to achieve stability. Quite a shock if you've only played steel strung guitars before.

[monquixote]

I guess you want to avoid changing the strings if you can help it then!

[Wonks]

There's not a lot to go wrong with them, so no need to change that often. No wound strings, so nothing to tarnish or gunk up.

Can someone suggest a way to get Uke strings settled quickly? I use Aquila Nygut strings on my expensive Tenor, though the cheap soprano still has its original strings.