The Makala Dolphin is a decent, affordable instrument from one of the top names in entry-level ukes. I know I don't like preaching about strings, and that you should experiment, but these have quite thick tops and the Aquila power can really drive them to get a good tone and volume. When you wrote the review, I was fortunate to be staying with my Coz in South Island, NZ and almost to the day, we sauntered into Post Impressions - facebook. I recommend a few models at the end of this post, or you can read my article on the best beginner ukuleles .

I didn’t notice any buzzing or high frets as I played up the neck, and the notes consistently rang out clear and clean. The Makala Dolphin is a soprano sized ukulele, which is the smallest of the three primary ukulele sizes. Players interested in a larger version of the MK-S should check out the MK-C (concert) or the MK-T (tenor). The tie-bar bridge might be an issue for some newcomers to ukulele who would prefer a slotted bridge but regular readers of Ukulele Go will know that I’m not a slotted bridge type of guy. As such, this retains its position as about the best starter ukulele I can recommend to people (for those wanting to spend next to no money).They’re either a bit tinny or they’re muted and somewhere between those brackets is the holy grail of sound.

Ok It’s my first Uke and it’s a gift from my wife but, it’s ok, I can learn a lot of things, the sound it’s not bad and it stays in tune for a long time. In January 2010, my wife and I bought two Makala Dolphin ukes – hers in pearlescent white, his in pearlescent black.In January, this year, I joined the Sandbach U3A ukulele class and, with the Aquilla strings that James fitted as an 'extra', it is a joy to learn on. While I don’t like to see brass frets on steel-string instruments like guitars, uke strings are so soft that it’s not something I worry about. In fact I’ve found myself playing this ukulele standing far more than any other that I own over the past few weeks.

Update] – Now I’ve had it a few months the strings seem to have settled in now; they’re brighter, have better balanced volume between each string (a mild issue before with my GDAE arrangement); they hold their tuning more consistently too.If you enjoy this blog, donations are welcomed to allow me to invest more time in bringing you ukulele articles. I’ve found it be really well suited to a bit of fingerpicking mainly due to the volume that you can get from it.