Which $300 ukulele?

[Gary F.]

I read with interest an earlier thread on ukulele recommendations, but it came up short on specifics. So here's the question: If you had about $300 or less to spend on (your first and only) tenor ukulele, which specific make/model provides the best tone, playablity and overall quality for the $$$?

thanks for your informed opinions--

Gary

[supergenius365]

My limited experience tells me that Pono ukes are the best bang for the buck. I have a tenor. The build quality is very nice. It is miles and miles above a Martin soprano I had for a while. If you have about $300, I think Pono is where you should look.

[Tone Ball]

Yeah, a Pono or a Bushman (if you can find one) will be your best bets. Imported but both are really quite nice. You can't find anything cool and vintage for under 300 dollars these days. One more tip: most ukuleles can be improved if you change the strings to Aquilla or Worth-brand strings. For whatever reason, they really seem to open up 90% of the ukes out there.

[PedalFreak]

Pono are great. Don't know if you can get one in the $300 range though. Bushman has a large following, but I can't understand it from all the ones that I played. Thought they were pretty bad. The Lanikai line is nice. Flukes are awesome also.