The Tenor Ukulele

In earlier articles discussing ukulele sizes we discussed the soprano and concert ukuleles with the soprano being the traditional sized instrument and the concert being one step larger.

However some professional musicians prefer the tenor ukulele. These instruments are the largest of the traditionally tuned ukuleles that have scale length of usually 17 inches. The increased body size means that the sound they produce is louder and fuller than the smaller ukuleles. The larger neck also makes it easier to perform fancy licks and runs. All these factors make the tenor ukulele the choice for many professional ukulele players. Its popularity with professional players has made tenors increasingly popular with amateur players, even beginners.

Tenor ukuleles are very often strung in low-G rather than traditional high-G. This changes the sound of the ukulele quite significantly and gives you more options for bass notes but does take away the close-harmony sound of a reentrant ukulele.

At New England Music Store we offer two tenor ukuleles that we are quite proud to recommend. The first is the Makai TK-55 Tenor ukulele. This instrument is from our Mahogany Series and features satin finish, Mahogany laminate top, back and sides, beautiful Rosewood fingerboard, Nato neck, lightweight geared tuners for accurate tuning, bone nut and saddle and GHS black nylon strings.

For those that want a better quality instrument we suggest our Makai MT-70 Tenor ukulele. This instrument is part of our Solid Top Series and features a satin finish, sold Spruce top, Mahogany laminate back and sides, beautiful Rosewood fingerboard, Nato neck, lightweight geared tuners for accurate tuning, bone nut and saddle and GHS black nylon strings.

Many ukulele players like the satin finish as it retains the traditional look. Both ukuleles are the industry standard length in scale and total length, extremely popular and sell quite fast.

At New England Music Store we strive to sell only the best ukuleles for sale online at affordable prices. Our board selection ranges from the ukulele for the beginner in our Makai Mahogany Series to our Makai Koa Solid Top Series for the professional musician. For those who want a better sounding instrument, we have the Makai Limited Series and for the seasoned musician we have the Makai Solid Top Series. If you are looking for a truly unique instrument, then check out our Mango Series and if you are interested in a brighter sound than the Mahogany ukulele, then check out our Makai Maple Series.

Shop around, but visit us last at New England Music Store and you will find quality-crafted ukuleles for sale at affordable prices along with durable Armor hardshell cases and gig bags to protect your valuable instrument. Ukuleles also make great gifts. Rest assured, when you buy a Makai ukulele from us you will not be disappointed in the quality of the instrument. Thank you for shopping at New England Music Store!

And remember, all the ukuleles we sell at New England Music Store are ready to play right out right of the box!

Satisfaction guaranteed and happy strumming – Aloha!

The Concert Ukulele

Most beginners and sometimes more seasoned ukulele players prefer the soprano ukulele with its bright sound. However, there is another consideration to keep in mind when shopping for a ukulele and that is tonal quality and fret board size.

The concert ukulele, sometimes known as the alto ukulele, is one step larger than the traditional soprano ukulele. With its increased size this instrument produces a deeper and fuller tone, making it more suitable for people with larger hands. Some consider the concert ukulele as a good choice between the soprano’s higher pitch and the tenor’s deeper and fuller tone. This means that the concert is a good compromise between the sound of the soprano and the ease of playing you get from the tenor ukulele. Many in the industry consider the concert ukulele as the most rare of the four body styles, which are the soprano, concert, tenor and baritone from smallest to largest.

At New England Music Store we offer two concert ukuleles that we are quite proud to recommend. The first is the Makai CK-55 Concert ukulele. This instrument is from our Mahogany Series and features a satin finish, Mahogany laminate top, back and sides, beautiful Rosewood fingerboard, Nato neck, lightweight geared tuners for accurate tuning, bone nut and saddle and GHS black nylon strings.

For those that want a better quality instrument we suggest our Makai MC-70 Concert ukulele This instrument is part of our Solid Top Series and features a satin finish, sold Spruce top, Mahogany laminate back and sides, beautiful Rosewood fingerboard, Nato neck, lightweight geared tuners for accurate tuning, bone nut and saddle and GHS black nylon strings.

Many ukulele players like the satin finish as it retains the traditional look. Both ukuleles are the industry standard length in scale and total length, extremely popular and sell quite fast.

At New England Music Store we strive to sell only the best ukuleles for sale online at affordable prices. Our board selection ranges from the ukulele for the beginner in our Makai Mahogany Series to our Makai Koa Solid Top Series for the professional musician. For those who want a better sounding instrument, we have the Makai Limited Series and for the seasoned musician we have the Makai Solid Top Series. If you are looking for a truly unique instrument, then check out our Mango Series and if you are interested in a brighter sound than the Mahogany ukulele, then check out our Makai Maple Series.

Shop around, but visit us last at New England Music Store and you will find quality-crafted ukuleles for sale at affordable prices along with durable Armor hardshell cases and gig bags to protect your valuable instrument. Ukuleles also make great gifts. Rest assured, when you buy a Makai ukulele from us you will not be disappointed in the quality of the instrument. Thank you for shopping at New England Music Store!

And remember, all the ukuleles we sell at New England Music Store are ready to play right out right of the box!

Satisfaction guaranteed and happy strumming – Aloha

JH-30 – Guitar Tuner Clip 3-in-1

Looking for something that will disappear into your pocket, carrying case or gig bag, is super easy to read and use, and gives very usable results, then you can’t really go past this Clip Guitar Tuner. This lightweight device makes a suitable gift for every guitar and string instrument lover.

The JH-30 or sometimes known as a Clip Guitar Tuner 3-in-1 tuner is a compact, lightweight, digitally exact, easy to use 3 in 1 tuner. It can help you tune your guitar or any other string instrument, be used as a metronome, or assist you as a tone generator.

The JH-30 has 6 buttons, 3 functions, 2 tuning mode, 1 bright blue back-lit LCD screen, and weighs only 41 grams, which is 1/2 the weight of your Zippo lighter. You can drop it in your pocket or inside any carrying case and carry it to your studio, rehearsal, concert or anywhere you like.

You have more than one instrument, no worries, this is for more than just guitars! This great device can also work for a violin, viola, cello, banjo, mandolin and most other string instruments.

The JH-30 is easy to use and features these three modes:

Tuner: Clip it to the headstock, or any other position you like. Choose either microphone  or vibration mode. In vibration mode there is a sensitive clip that is essential for tuning in noisy surroundings. It picks up vibrations as opposed to sounds transmitted in the air, so it only detects your noise and no one else.

When a note is played, the tuner automatically identifies the note and its back-lit LCD display will indicate by how much the note is in or out of tune. There is also an LED light that will turn red or green depending on whether the played note is in or out of tune.

Metronome: In metronome mode, you select the tempo and rhythm of your music, and it will make a beeping sound so you can play your music accordingly.

Tone Generator: It can generate any note from any of the four major scales: C, F, Bb, Eb.

Shop around, but visit us last at New England Music Store and you will find quality-crafted ukuleles for sale at affordable prices along with durable Armor hardshell cases and gig bags to protect your valuable instrument. Rest assured, when you buy a Makai ukulele from us you will not be disappointed in the quality of the instrument. Thank you for shopping at New England Music Store!

And remember, all the ukuleles we sell at New England Music Store are fully inspected and are ready to play right out right of the box!

Satisfaction guaranteed and happy strumming – Aloha!

Makai LK-80R Soprano Ukulele

Are looking for an all-solid soprano ukulele that has broad tonal qualities with beautiful grain patterns? Did you know that cedar and rosewood are two other popular tonewoods that are often used for tops or soundboards?

Cedar is a soft wood known for producing a warm and mellow tone. The overtones are evenly distributed, rather than concentrated on the highs and lows. Cedar is a light to reddish wood that lends warmth that many players find appealing.

Rosewood is a dense wood that exists in different colors and textures. The sound of a Rosewood body is sweet and round producing deep basses and dazzling trebles. The beautiful grain patterns complements splendidly with the complex overtones it produces.

Our Makai LK-80R ukulele is an all-solid Soprano ukulele that features a solid Cedar top with solid Rosewood back and sides to produce the sound quality you would expect. Other features include: beautiful Rosewood fingerboard, deluxe Gotoh friction peg tuners, Aquila strings and bone nut and saddle. The satin appearance adds to the instrument giving it a more traditional appearance. The Makai LK-80R is fully inspected and is ready to play right out of the box.

At New England Music Store we strive to sell only the best ukuleles for sale online at affordable prices. Our board selection ranges from the ukulele for the beginner in our Makai Mahogany Series to our Makai Koa Solid Top Series for the professional musician. For those who want a better sounding instrument, we have the Makai Limited Series and for the seasoned musician we have the Makai Solid Top Series. If you are looking for a truly unique instrument, then check out our Makai Mango Series and if you are interested in a brighter sound than the Mahogany ukulele, then check out our Makai Maple Series.

Shop around, but visit us last at New England Music Store and you will find quality-crafted ukuleles for sale at affordable prices along with durable Armor hardshell cases and gig bags to protect your valuable instrument. Ukuleles also make great gifts. Rest assured, when you buy a Makai ukulele from us you will not be disappointed in the quality of the instrument. Thank you for shopping at New England Music Store!

And remember, all the Makai ukuleles we sell at New England Music Store are ready to play right out right of the box!

Satisfaction guaranteed and happy strumming – Aloha!

Ukulele Tuners

Probably the two most popular tuning pegs for a ukulele fall in the friction and geared categories.  Typically geared tuners are much less susceptible to slippage than friction tuners, although friction tuners may be more popular. Having to retune your ukulele can be quite frustrating and may cause you to not want to play the instrument at all.

One type of friction tuners use a wood-to-wood friction fit to stay in place. This can make it more difficult, especially for the beginner, to accurately tune the instrument. The other type has the post riding on plastic bushings where the friction is caused by an adjustment screw that pulls the post against the bushings. This makes it more easy or difficult to turn the peg depending on how tightly the adjustment screw has been turned.  With time, the bushings can become smooth and no longer hold so tightly. Although friction tuners have a traditional look and style it is not necessarily a sign of quality.

Geared tuners are significantly easier, especially for the beginner, to tune the ukulele because of their gear ratio. The gear ratio describes the number of times the peg needs to be turned for the post to make one revolution. The gear ratio is expressed as 15:1 which means it takes 15 turns of the knob for one complete revolution of the peg. For geared tuners, a complete revolution of the knob may only cause the post to turn very slightly. Geared tuners allows for more accurate tuning and prevents the slippage that occasionally happens with friction tuners. One of the premier manufactures of geared tuners is the Gotoh tuner.

There is a debate amongst musicians on which is better, the friction or geared tuner which is a matter of preference. At New England Music Store all our Makai ukuleles are fitted with geared tuners with about half using the Gotoh tuner. Our Makai Mango Series are all fitted with geared tuners and features solid Mango body, satin finish, rope inlay, tortoise bindings (white/black), white pearloid buttons and Aquila strings at affordable prices. For those that prefer the Gotoh tuner, we suggest our Makai Limited Series.  The instruments in this series vary from Cedar to Spruce, from Maple to Marblewood in wood types, with most fitted with Aquila strings, bone nut and saddle and more. All the instruments in this series are quality-crafted at affordable prices.

At New England Music Store we strive to sell only the best ukuleles for sale online at affordable prices. Our board selection ranges from the ukulele for the beginner in our Makai Mahogany Series to the professional musicians in our Makai Koa Solid Series. For the collector, we offer our Makai Limited Series and for the seasoned musician we have our Makai Solid Top Series. If you are looking for a truly unique instrument, then check out our Mango Series and if you are interested in a brighter sound than the mahogany ukulele, then check out our Makai Maple Series.

Shop around, but visit us last at New England Music Store and you will find quality-crafted ukuleles for sale at affordable prices along with durable Armor hardshell cases and gig bags to protect your valuable instrument. Ukuleles also make great gifts. Rest assured, when you buy a Makai ukulele from us you will not be disappointed in the quality of the instrument. Thank you for shopping at New England Music Store!

Satisfaction guaranteed and happy strumming – Aloha!

Ukulele Strings

When it comes to the sound of your ukulele, good quality strings can make a big difference. Originally the ukulele used strings made of the intestines of sheep or goats, which mistakenly were called Cat Guts, or simply gut. This produced the authentic sound of the ukulele, which some musicians prefer. However, temperature and humidity made these strings difficult to keep their tune.

Nylon strings have since replaced the gut. There are advantages of using nylon strings on your instrument. One is that nylon strings are readily available, if you can find gut at all, and cheaper. Another advantage of nylon strings is that they are less susceptible to humidity and temperature changes making them keep their tune. Finally nylon strings are resilient and less prone to breaking than its predecessor. There are two types of nylon strings available today that are clear or black. GHS is a company that makes black strings as opposed to other companies like D’Addario that makes clear strings. Both are good, it’s just a matter preference. Nylon strings are very popular and found on most ukuleles.

A company called Aquila has produced white strings from a synthetic material they call Nylgut. This unique material posses the same qualities as nylon and gut. It is more stable than nylon in keeping its tonal qualities against temperature and humidity. Another quality of Nylgut is its resilience to tension as compared to gut. Nylgut strings are becoming the choice of ukulele players. Nylgut strings for ukuleles are highly polished to a smooth surface. If you have used nylon strings before and are looking for something different, Nylgut strings might be worth the try.

At New England Music Store all our Makai ukuleles are fitted with either GHS or Aquila strings. Our Makai Mahogany Series are all fitted with GHS strings and featuring Mahogany laminate top, back and sides, satin finish, geared tuners and Rosewood fingerboard at affordable prices. For those that prefer the Aquila strings, we suggest our Makai Limited Series.  The instruments in this series vary from Cedar to Spruce, from Maple to Marblewood in wood types, deluxe Gotoh tuners, bone nut and saddle and more. All the instruments in this series are quality-crafted at affordable prices.

At New England Music Store we strive to sell only the best ukuleles for sale online at affordable prices. Our board selection ranges from the ukulele for the beginner in our Makai Mahogany Series to the professional musicians in our Makai Koa Solid Top Series. For the collector, we offer our Makai Limited Series and for the seasoned musician we have our Makai Solid Top Series. If you are looking for a truly unique instrument, then check out our Mango Series and if you are interested in a brighter sound than the Mahogany ukulele, then check out our Makai Maple Series.

Shop around, but visit us last at New England Music Store and you will find quality-crafted ukuleles for sale at affordable prices along with durable Armor hardshell cases and gig bags to protect your valuable instrument. Ukuleles also make great gifts. Rest assured, when you buy a Makai ukulele from us you will not be disappointed in the quality of the instrument. Thank you for shopping at New England Music Store!

Satisfaction guaranteed and happy strumming – Aloha!

Composite Woods

Some beginner ukulele players may be confused when it comes to the use of composite woods used in the construction of ukuleles. They think of composite woods as having a plastic material incorporated in the wood grain or wonder if it is actually wood. In this article we discuss the use of composite woods in the construction of ukuleles.

Generally small stringed instruments such as the ukulele have to have a thin soundboard usually 0.0625 inches thick to produce a noticeable sound. With such a tolerance, the wood can have a tendency to crack or the grain in the wood can separate over time.

To overcome these problems luthiers have developed a special composite wood especially designed for stringed instruments. This material is not the cheap plywood found in house construction with scrap wood glued in the middle. Although still considered a plywood, their durability makes them an excellent choice used in the soundboard allowing for the required thinness to produce a louder sound and are not susceptible to grain splits.

Keep in mind that quality built instruments are still made of solid woods. However the cost of such instruments is much greater than there composite counterparts. Quality constructed composite instruments are very popular, have exceptional sound quality and are a great value. Should you prefer solid wood instruments, then by all means go for it, but take the time necessary to care for them.

At New England Music Store we offer two styles that we are quite proud to recommend. The first is from our Mahogany Series and features satin finish, Mahogany laminate top, back and sides and beautiful Rosewood fingerboard. For those that want a better quality instrument we suggest our Solid Top Series which features satin finish, sold Spruce top, Mahogany laminate back and sides and beautiful Rosewood fingerboard.

At New England Music Store we strive to sell only the best ukuleles for sale online at affordable prices. Our board selection ranges from the ukulele for the beginner in our Makai Mahogany Series to our Makai Koa Solid Top Series for the professional musician. For those who want a better sounding instrument, we have the Makai Limited Series and for the seasoned musician we have the Makai Solid Top Series. If you are looking for a truly unique instrument, then check out our Mango Series and if you are interested in a brighter sound than the Mahogany ukulele, then check out our Makai Maple Series.

Shop around, but visit us last at New England Music Store and you will find quality-crafted ukuleles for sale at affordable prices along with durable Armor hardshell cases and gig bags to protect your valuable instrument. Rest assured, when you buy a Makai ukulele from us you will not be disappointed in the quality of the instrument. Thank you for shopping at New England Music Store!

And remember, all the ukuleles we sell at New England Music Store are fully inspected and are ready to play right out right of the box!

Satisfaction guaranteed and happy strumming – Aloha!