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Non-USA Ukulele Brands (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/buycanadian

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Unnecessary Background

Well I've begun shopping for a reasonably-priced concert ukulele in anticipation of completing Bernadette Teaches Music's #30dayUKEchallenge. I'm already finding my little soprano (that I bought without research) to be a bit uncomfortably small. After watching a size comparison, I suppose I should have started with a concert instead. But, it will be a good excuse to reward myself for finally sticking with an instrument for an entire program after years of on and off interest. (Recently I've been finding (micro)rewarding progress is helpful with ADHD)

I suppose I should have expected most of the major brands to be USA based since Hawaii was colonized afterall.

Here's a list of Non-USA owned brands that I found in a preliminary search.

Ibanez
- Country of Manufacture: I spy Made in China on all 3 uke models
- Country of Ownership: Japan
Aria
- Country of Manufacture: China and Indonesia, Japan for platinum line (no ukes)
- Country of Ownership: Japan
Cordoba
- Country of Manufacture: China
- Country of Ownership: ~~Spain~~ Japan, owned by Yamaha now
Your Local Luthier
- Country of Manufacture: Canada
- Country of Ownership: Canada
- Edit: Added this in for those who can afford it/are skilled enough to justify a handmade one!

Disclaimer: Always check the CoM for a specific model you are interested in if you want to make sure.

Would love suggestions for other quality brands too if you know of any others!

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[–] Snowstorm 3 points 1 week ago

I am two years ahead of you, so i got a high quality Hawaiian branded uke 18 months ago. I can calm my UAS with three good enough instruments to keep busy. You can check Twisted Wood (they presents themselves as Canadian with made in China ukulele maybe made by Enya) i almost bought the Switchback model before i went with Pono (US based)

[–] tunetardis 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My wife plays a Honolua uke at our gigs pretty often. They are a Canadian company, though I just asked her and she said not everything in their catalog was homegrown back when she bought it, so you might want to check with them before ordering?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Wow they sound like a nice family run Canadian business! I may end up buying from them I think. They even plant 5 trees and 5 kelp in Canadian forests per uke!

10% off and free shipping right now too

[–] tunetardis 2 points 1 week ago

Yeah and she really loves her uke she bought from them. I think it's her favourite instrument these days! It has a great tone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Never tried their Uke, but seagull makes great acoustic instruments, made in Québec's eastern townships.

https://seagullguitars.com/product/uke-nylon-sg-burst-eq/

I have their mandolin (love it!) and an "M4" for when kids come over and want to play on something. Somehow, they always prefer to try the crappy neon green Mahalo uke...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Wow that's a gorgeous uke! A bit out of my price range as a beginner, but fair for an acoustic-electric made in Canada!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Oh yes! It seems there are more good manufacturers in Canada than I initially thought!

[–] darkpanda 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I’ve only tried their uke in stores but have like it every time I’ve tried one. I have their mandolin as well, as well as the Godin A8 mando and several of their guitars, both acoustic and electric. I also have two of those M4s, or Merlins as they were originally called, one of which I actually had customized by a luthier to insert the “missing” frets to make it a chromatic instrument.

I can’t say that I’ve played any truly bad Godin products.

Now you got me thinking about getting another uke…

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Oh! That Merlin modding is such a good idea! I like the sound of the Merlin and can usually shift tunes up or down to play parts on it...

I'll look into it! Some of my colleagues used to be luthiers.

[–] darkpanda 2 points 1 week ago

It’s pretty cool, yeah. It’s basically like a weirdo mandolin-ish thing as I keep it tuned to DAE, but it’s fun. I don’t think it’s a particularly hard mod to pull off, but I’m no luthier myself. There are some videos on YouTube showing the process, but I just had a pro do it ‘cause I felt I’d likely just ruin the whole thing if I tried it myself. The results are pretty fun though… here’s someone else who also did the mod …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YawH26uTHXw

I see they have Merlins now that have pickups in them from the factory which wasn’t an option when I got mine, but maybe someday I’ll put a K&K in there or something which would be a fun mod. That’s a mod I’d be more comfortable doing myself, as I’ve messed around with pickups before, but I’ll stay away from fretwork for now.

[–] darkpanda 2 points 1 week ago

While we’re on the subject of ukuleles, anybody remember the triangl-shaped ukuleles they used to use in elementary schools years ago that were unique to Canadian music classrooms?

https://www.vintageukemusic.com/ukuleles/northern.htm

I remember still having these around in the 1980s and 90s at our schools in Nova Scotia.

A few years ago a younger kid was telling me they had a “Russian ukulele”, not knowing that it was actually part of Canadian history. They had thought it was Russian because it resembled a balalaika, but it was definitely one of these “Northern ukuleles.”