Your First Ukulele: What to Buy in New Zealand
What to spend, what actually matters, and the two details that decide whether a beginner keeps playing.
The ukulele has a reputation as the easy instrument, and it is mostly deserved. Four nylon strings, low tension, three chords and you have a song. That reputation is also why so many first ukuleles are quietly abandoned within a month — because when it turns out to be hard, the beginner assumes the fault is theirs.
Usually it is not. Usually it is the instrument.
The two things that matter
Almost everything else is preference. These two are not.
The first is geared tuners. Cheap ukuleles are often fitted with friction pegs, which hold by pressure alone and slip. An instrument that will not stay in tune is not merely annoying; it teaches a beginner that they cannot hear pitch. Geared tuners, the small enclosed ones with a worm gear, solve this permanently and cost almost nothing to fit at the factory.
The second is setup. The action — the height of the strings above the frets — is set by the nut and saddle, and on an unadjusted instrument it is usually too high. High action makes every chord harder than it should be, particularly the barre shapes that arrive in week three. It is a fifteen-minute job on the bench and it transforms a cheap ukulele. Every instrument we sell has had it, whatever it cost.
What to spend
Under a hundred dollars buys a real instrument, which was not true fifteen years ago. The Makala soprano and the Flight TUS-35 travel soprano both sit here: laminate bodies, geared tuners, and enough tone to be worth practising on. If you are buying for a child, or you are not yet sure the ukulele will stick, start here and spend nothing more.
Between two and three hundred dollars is where the instrument stops apologising. A Kala Satin Mahogany concert or a Kala Guidance tenor gives you better timber, better fretwork and a noticeably fuller voice. For an adult who intends to keep playing, this is the band we most often recommend, because it is the point at which the ukulele will not be the reason you sound bad.
Between four hundred and eight hundred dollars you move to all-solid timber — no laminate — and the difference is real: more volume, more overtone, and a top that opens up over the years rather than staying where it started. The Kala Contour series and Flight's all-solid Iris, Nomad and Nighthawk models live here. Above that sits Martin, still building ukuleles in Pennsylvania as they have since 1916.
Solid or laminate
A solid top is a single piece of timber; a laminate is thin layers bonded together. Solid tops move more freely, so they are louder and richer, and they mature with playing. Laminate is stiffer, cheaper and considerably tougher — it will shrug off a humidity swing or a knock in the boot of a car that would trouble a solid top.
For a first ukulele that will travel, laminate is not a compromise; it is the correct choice. For a first ukulele that will live in a lounge and be played every evening, a solid top is worth the money.
Which size
Concert, for most adults. Soprano for children and for anyone who wants the traditional sound in the smallest possible package. Tenor if you already play another instrument and know you want volume and range. Baritone if you play guitar and want to skip learning new chord shapes altogether. We have written about this at length in the guide to the four sizes.
What you do not need
You do not need an expensive ukulele to learn on, a solid top, or a pickup. You do need something that holds tune and plays easily, a clip-on tuner, and a bag if it is going to leave the house. That is the whole list. Spend the rest on lessons or on nothing at all.
Come and play a few
Buying a first instrument online is a reasonable thing to do, and we ship anywhere in New Zealand with free delivery over fifty dollars and GST included in the price. But if you can get to Victoria Park Market, half an hour with four ukuleles on your knee will tell you more than any guide will. Nobody will hurry you. Garrick is at garrick@studio1.co.nz if you would rather ask first.