Ulumac Concert Ukulele, KOA Acacia Wood 23 inch Adults Professional Ukelele for Beginners, Hawaiian Ukele Kit with Carbon String, Tuner, Gig Bag, Strap, Guitar Picks, Cleaning Cloth, Folk Style

Great little ukulele for the price. I don't think I will keep the strings it came with. They sound kind of tin-canny. Also, my finger tips turned black, probably from them being carbon. I would purchase this ukulele again as a gift.

On my recent trip to Hawaii I was very interested in buying one but they were a little pricy. This is fantastic! Well made, sounds great and I love the case. Great buy!

I have walked by ukuleles hanging in music stores many times but haven’t been inspired to try one until now. I thought I’d give this beginner level instrument a try to see what ukulele is all about. I just wanted one to plunk around on at home and learn a few tunes that I could maybe pull off at a party or open mic one day. It came in a serviceable gig bag. It’s not super heavy duty but as long as I don’t throw it around or drop a bowling ball on it, it should be fine. Also in the box were six medium thickness picks (not sure why since ukulele is typically played with the fingers but I will use them on guitar), a cleaning cloth, an extra set of strings, a strap which I haven’t used yet and probably won’t use, and an electronic tuner which doesn’t come with a battery (which is mentioned in the “What’s in the box” portion of the item description). I have a stash of 2032 batteries so it was no problem popping one in and firing it up. I didn't read the instructions but it appears to have settings for (G)uitar, (B)ass, (V)iolin, and (U)kulele that are cycled through by pushing the button. I used it to tune the uke and it worked fine. The finish on the instrument is fine for an item at this price point. The fret work looks good and the edges don’t feel rough. The tuners are okay. I tightened the screws on the gears and the buttons to take out some slackness. Once in tune, I couldn’t detect any slippage in the tuners. It does take some time at first to get the strings stable enough to hold tune but that’s the nature of these types of strings. Spending some time up front to stretch them, I was able to get it fairly stable and can hang it on the wall overnight, take it down in the morning, and only have to do some fine tuning on one or two strings. Out of the box, the action was certainly playable but a bit high for my tastes and aging hands. I lowered the action some by filing down the bridge saddle. The slot for the saddle is nice and tight so, after loosening the strings, I used a hammer and punch to gently tap the saddle out of the slot. After taking a little material off the bottom of the saddle with a metal file and some fine grit sandpaper, I tapped it back in, tightened up the strings, and it was better. I may take a little more off later after I play it a while. I’m not suggesting that everyone do this, only that it’s possible if one has the inclination. Overall, I would give this ukulele 3.5 to 3.75 stars but since I have to round up or down, I will be generous and round up to 4. It’s a decent starter ukulele, one that you can use to determine if you want to stick with it before upgrading to a next level instrument.

It did not come with the colorful strap that’s in the picture it just came with a brown one. And only 3 ukulele picks.

I'd been looking forward to receiving this even though my tolerance for ukulele music is... somewhat limited on certain days. I ordered this in the "TENOR" size, which, via size, should make it sound deeper and less "tinny." I had faith I could tune it down an octave and have a small, handy, four-string guitar to practice and use for songwriting when I didn't want to get the big dog out. It arrived around 4pm and I was happily tuning it down an octave an hour later. Unlike my regular guitar and my new violin, these strings held their tuning right out of the gate. To be fair, there are fewer moving parts on this instrument than on my Strat or the new violin, which probably helps with tuning? You're also dealing with non-metal strings here, so maybe that helps, too? I was able to successfully tune it an octave lower than standard ukulele tuning (did mine at G3, C3, E3, A3) and it held in tune, which made it a LOT more fun for me to play (I live in the city - there's a ton of high-pitched noise around me at any given moment - on a Friday afternoon after a crazy week, low sounds are more soothing). Whipped out a few riffs really easily. Was delighted to hear some nice note-bending with very minimal effort. This *COULD* become a mini-blues guitar if you tune it correctly. This will be great for kids, because you don't need the finger strength you might need on a big electric or a full-size acoustic guitar with heavier strings. Easy to play. Fretboard actually felt a little bit small in comparison to my usual instruments (outside the violin - that requires serious fingertip action), but no biggie. My glove size 8.5 hands did fine. Comes with a case, a tuner, an extra set of strings, picks, and pick holders. The case is soft-sided, so don't let your roadie stack this at the bottom of the pile under the amps. The finish is really quite beautiful. It looks like a "real" instrument. Wood is gorgeous. Hilariously, while watching football today, I saw a commercial for a popular brew throwing shade to the beer-drinking dude wanting to play ukulele at the beach party, but hey, we don't need to do that! Tune it an octave lower. Make it sound all buttery! Play a lullaby to soothe the cattle on the cattle drive and/or your housemates/neighbors/fellow beach-goers. The build of this one has a nice resonance for a small instrument. It CAN be a soothing instrument. Parents, I encourage you to do this so YOU can continue to encourage your children to become musical savants so they will one day support you in high style. Everyone likes happy children, but when you hear the same progression of C-F-G7 for the thirty-eleventh time, you'll want to take your child's Skittles away so they can learn some blues scales. I'm delighted. It's nice to have several instruments at hand in the songwriting process, and it's fun to learn new instruments. This is a good set to get started with, and should hold up to some bumping around. Looks pretty, too, and is lightweight to haul around (even if not to beach parties). I may try some alternate tunings or just go the Keith Richards route. But if you hear a tinny, happy as pie instrument strumming songs in the key of C next door, just know it's not me. Over here the tunes are low, buttery smooth and all bluesy, because I was born under a bad sign, I'm tore down, and the blues just won't leave my happy home.

I've been learning to play the bass guitar for a couple of years now. I'm not great, but I do really enjoy messing around on stringed instruments. This little ukulele showed up in my recommendations and I thought it might be fun to play around with - and WOW was I right! First thing, ukulele is shockingly easy to pick up and start playing. If you have any experience with other stringed instruments, picking up a ukulele makes you wonder why other instruments don't tune the way a ukulele does. Whatever they've done with the standard tuning for ukulele makes it really straight-forward to play simple songs. I think I had this thing in my hands for about 10 minutes before my wife poked her head in the room to ask "so, you can just play that thing already?" LOL I haven't been too adventurous with the ukulele yet, but I have had a lot of fun playing along to some songs on YouTube (search "ukulele play along" and there are tons of videos out there that tell you what chords to play in time with the song). I think the only thing that I've been slightly disappointed by is the level of difficulty all of the Steven Universe songs have (they use far more chords than I'm capable of remembering at this point)! I don't have a whole lot of experience to compare against, but to my eyes (and ears) this particular ukulele is quite beautiful. The wood has a nice grain and the body has been polished to a high sheen. It looks a lot more like a real instrument than some of the made-for-kids ukuleles I've seen in the past. The sound seems great to me and is exactly the kind of sound I'd expect to hear in the Tiki Tiki Tiki Room at Disneyland. The ukulele came with a little packet of accessories - a tuner, a few picks, a strap, an odd little pick holder that seems to be intended to be stuck on to something with tape (I wouldn't put it on the ukulele itself personally), a cleaning cloth, and a set of extra strings (that seem to be a different material from the ones that are on the ukulele when it arrives).

Lousy finish and high action. Returned the one I received. Buy the brand that shares the name of one of Santa's reindeer instead. Very happy with the three I bought for my grandkids.

I got the tenor, in the KOA Acacia-Folk. The finish is very bright and high gloss. The wood grain is really beautiful, and the sound and overall quality of the wood is impressive for an entry level ukulele. Just realize that it's a bit flashy. One of the strings wasn't done right, upon tuning it slipped off. Again, not a big deal, it didn't break or anything, these strings are actually fine. The overall build quality is impressive for an entry level ukulele. I've tested several in the under-hundred-bucks category, and this is the best so far. The next step up (a half step up) for a ukulele would be the Yamaha GL1. It's a few bucks more, you won't get a fancy style wood, and it doesn't come with a case or any of the extras. But it would be a very solid build quality, and that would probably be the best entry level option if looking for name brands. But overall I'm happy with this Ulumac, especially given all the accessories.