U-35BK Sparkling Ukulele Outfit - Black

After contemplating getting a uke for a few months, I impulse bought this one to brighten an otherwise cruddy day. Verdict? It is a SHOCKINGLY nice little instrument, ESPECIALLY given the price. Musically, it has a nice warm and surprisingly resonant sound. It really has a lovely, clear tone without the tinny-ness that's common to cheaper instruments. Others have complained that it won't stay tuned, but after fiddling with it for the first 24 hours the strings stabilized fairly well. Out of the box it IS truly terrible at holding a tuning, but it's mostly a product of the strings stretching rather than the uke itself (a common problem with new strings- I play violin and it can take up to a week for those to settle and hold tune well.) A little noodling and some patience, though, and it stays in tune well. Visually, the sparkly green? Awesome. It is a bright, shiny apple green with a bit of glitter (another reviewer said "craft glitter" which: exactly.) Is it traditional? No. Is it cute as a bug? Oh yes.Take home: Inexpensive, sounds nice, looks good. For less than $30 I'd say it's a great starter instrument for a beginner.

Good ukulele to start learning, but I stain hands to touch, the mast and black fade that brings on the basis I'm losing just one week of use

I purchased this in November for my little sister's birthday, I immediately got a call before she had played it saying she loved it so much. 6 months later I went to visit and asked her to play me something, she said kind of embarressed she didn't want to. Later I found out it was because she's too nice and didn't want to tell me it was because it didn't work. The knobs arent stable and if by chance you are able to tune it, it only stays tuned for 1 strum. It would be 5 stars if it were purchased as a decorative piece but unfortunately it wasn't she was really looking forward to learning to play the ukelele.

Update: While I love my little blue sparkly ukulele I've had a chance to compare it to others. If I had to do it again I would have spent the extra $10 for the Makaka Dolphin uke. That one is really much better. However, This has been a fun little uke that I don't have to worry about and I did use it to learn to play. But really it kinda sucks in comparison to a real ukulele. I see that it's selling for $50 now. I paid $28. I would not pay $50 for it when you can get the Makala Dolphin ukulele for $40-$50.Original review: I love love love this ukulele! No it's the the finest instrument ever made. But it's pretty darn good. I replaced the strings that came on it with the highest quality strings I could find at the local guitar store (about $8). It was totally worth it. That improved the sound and ease of playing dramatically. It has a nice bright sound and is perfect for me to learn to play. I can take this thing places without worrying about damaging it. I let my kids play with it. It's easy to learn and super fun. Additionally, the tuning pegs have little dolphins on the back! Who doesn't love dolphins?

This is $27 bucks well spent! I'm a multi-instumentalist musician, wanted something for the kids, found this, it's pretty nice for the money. Build quality is quite decent, the frets will need dressing, the fretboard is cheaply ebonized but looks pretty smooth, the fretboard overall is pretty good quality, level frets, decent intonation. finish is nice-looking, it's heavy paint and clear-coat, which deadens the sound a lot, but it looks nice, and my kids loved it. Sustain is pretty minimal, you will have to pay a lot more for an instrument with really good tone and sustain, but this is good for a starter, it does not feel like a toy, you can actually play real music on this little thing! Which surprized me a lot at this price point. Tonally, it is biased towards the bass end of the scale, it does not have the bright sound of my higher-cost ukes. You can't expect wonderful tone at this price point. Good choice for a beginner who can't spend a lot, or if you're not sure if you'll stick with it. If you do stick with it, you will of course want to buy something nicer. The action is of course too high, this seems to be always the case with cheap ukes, if you have files you can lower the action at the nut and bridge in 20 minutes, definitely necessary for kids. The bridge insert and nut are claimed to be Nubone material from Graphtech, which if true is a big plus! The strings are actually pretty good, surprizingly so, although it will of course sound better with a nice set of Aquilas on it. I tune my ukes old-school, to D-tuning, one full step up from normal, so maybe this makes a difference with the strings. The open-geared tuners are a nice dolphin shape, they are rough-feeling, but hold tune pretty well. You should invest in a tuner, I use Guitar Machine app for iPhone, with nylon strings you will be tuning up for a full month before they settle in. You really need to understand that initially you will be tuning up every five minutes of playing or so, really, no joke. Nylon stretches like crazy and goes out of tune, so tune up constantly. Overall impression is that this is a good choice for entry-level playing, it is a real instrument, not a toy like you might expect, and will let you play real music with a little set-up to lower the action. A better choice for a beginner who doesn't mind spending a little more is the Lanikai LU-11 soprano, for about $55 it is an excellent choice, great tone and sustain, excellent build quality, feels like a quality piece, will make the Mahalo sound like a toy in comparison. And - Aquila strings will make any soprano sound better.