My best sounding and feeling ukes are my Kamaka and my Larrivees, but I think my favorite brand is Ohana. They provide variety, playability and tone at very affordable prices.
There's a Kamaka HF-2 on sale on the marketplace right now for $795. I have quite a few excellent 300-$600 ukes and play them a lot, but my >$1000 ukes (Kamaka, Larrivee) really do stand out in tone and feel from my mid range ukes.
Kinda glad and kinda sad that I'm in Canada, so safe from temptation. I have their spuce/koa concert and all mahogany tenor not to mention their rosewood special edition parlour, and rarish c19 cutaway guitar. So yea I'm quite the Larrivee nut and if I ever found a soprano in Canada I wouldnt...
Except for the Enya Nova U, which I own 2 (of each color), I only have one uke - each - for a certain size, body type and wood. This poll I guess echos why the uke industry needs to keep innovating and not just rely on growth of new users with same old designs and low prices. It needs to cater...
It's all solid acacia and wow is she a beaut. The wood grain is just gorgeous front and back and the abalone binding really adds to it. The build quality is as good as any Asian made uke I've tried at twice the price. The action is nice and low out of the box, a little under 2.5mm at 12. I love...
I have the Spark 40. Fantastic for my electric guitar but it's not as great with piezo pickups on my acoustics. I prefer the Yamaha for acoustic. Spark mini is so tiny though its hard to not like.
The fenders were not available when I bought my yamaha so I can't speculate on comparisons. I think the Yamaha is loud enough for people who want to hear you. If you want to stop all conversation at the party dead and be center of attention then perhaps not. fYI If you want something twice as...
Electric guitar amps are designed to cut out many of the best parts of acoustic instruments. You need an amp designed for acoustic guitar or keyboard. Yamaha THR5a is right at your price limit but is all-metal so shielded against ugly buzzing and great quality. Looks cool too. Runs off AC or AA...
Update: the Uma distro has offered a full refund without fuss, which is quite fair. I'll probably grab one of their nice looking pineapples while I'm there.