Gear Reviews

Great Ukes: Martin’s Style 3 Was a Favorite of Many Notable Players

Introduced in 1915 at a price of $25, this was one of the most expensive ukuleles on the market at the time

Kanile’a KSTP Tenor Ukulele Review

The Kanile`a KSTP is an heirloom ukulele. It’s the kind of instrument that you can reward yourself with and keep for a lifetime of fun and exploration.

Review: Tanglewood’s TUJ5 & TUJ1 Acacia Koa Ukuleles Offer Great Tone for Less

By Ken Hughes | From the Spring 2015 issue of Ukulele Spending some quality time with a good uke is always a joy. And when that uke also happens to be made of desirable woods and comes at a very…

Gretsch Camp Uke and Long-Neck Soprano Uke

By Ken Hughes Like a handful of other storied, American instrument manufacturers, Gretsch participated in the first uke boom nearly a century ago, and the fact that the company is still around to take part in the current surge in…

Blackbird Clara

The idea started with having an instrument for the maker’s four-year-old daughter and turned into a concert-sized ukulele that’s collecting design awards. Made from an new bio-based composite material called Ekoa, the Blackbird Clara is an innovative new ukulele from…

Seagull Merlin

Let us be the first to say, the Seagull Merlin—it is not a ukulele. It’s not even an instrument that really existed before Seagull invented what it calls the “strummable dulcimer,” but it’s so charming and user-friendly that ukulele players…

Collings UC1 Concert & UT2K Tenor Ukuleles

By Adam Perlmutter [Editor’s note: Collings has put ukulele production on hiatus since this review appeared.] In its four-decade history, Collings Guitars has made smart, modern interpretations of the widest range of golden-era guitar designs—acoustic and electric, flattop and archtop—not…