TIM JOYCE: Hi. I'm Tim Joyce. I'm the retail director, and I run the Old Town School Music Store at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago.

At the Old Town Music School Music Store, we have a lot of ukuleles as well, and they sort of fall into the same category again that we've been talking about, the stringed instruments that start out in the laminate range and then move up into the solid top and then get into all-solid wood instruments. With ukuleles, it's a much different thing because you have a much smaller surface area that you're working with, so you have a much, you know, brighter smaller sound. It's the sound you think of when you hear ukuleles.

Another thing about ukes is their sort of classified a little differently. There's the smallest ones that people are most familiar with are the soprano or standard-size uke, then you move up into the concert size, which is a little bit larger and the scale length is a little different, then tenor, same thing a little larger, and then you get into the baritone ukulele. The baritone ukulele is a little different monster altogether because it's tuned like a guitar if you took the bottom E and A string off. So, if you're a guitar player and you're looking for another instrument to pick up and learn, the baritone uke is a super-easy switch right away because all your chords are still the same.

This is a good example. You know, there's different shapes too. This is a good example of sort of the smallest soprano or standard size. This is a Lanikai ukulele, and then you move up into the concert size, which is a little bit larger, again Lanikai. We have Oscar Schmidt as well. Then you get into the tenor size, which is again a little bit larger. It's got a slightly different string configuration. This is a wound string as opposed to nylon strings. And then you get into the baritone size which is here, and this is the one that's tuned, you know, like a guitar with the bottom two strings taken off.

The first uke we're going to look at is a baritone uke. Like I said, this is really an easy transition for the guitar player because the top four strings are the same as the guitar. So, you know, you've got -- your tuning is the same.

[TIM JOYCE PLAYING THE OPEN STRINGS OF A LANIKAI S-B BARITONE UKULELE]

So, all your chord shapes are the same with just the bottom strings dropped off, so you can make your D chord [PLAYS A D MAJOR CHORD], same thing. The G you're just going to lose, you know, your strings at the bottom, so it's a great way, you know, to get into the ukulele or have a smaller instrument that you can still can play without having to learn too much and do stuff.

[TIM JOYCE PLAYING A LANIKAI S-B BARITONE UKULELE]

This ukulele is a Lanikai S-B. It's got a solid top on it which is, again, the same thing as what we've been talking about the whole time. It's a little bit better sound, it's a little more desirable sound. A lot of the ukuleles, the original ukuleles are from Hawaii and are made of Koa wood, which is a specific wood to Hawaii. This one has a spruce top on it, but the sound is really good and it's a great sort of travel guitar type of thing if you can't, you know, if you can't get into the full-sized travel guitar, this is a really great substitute for going to the beach or the campfire or whatever.

This ukulele is a Lanikai concert size ukulele, and this is a laminate ukulele so that helps keep the cost down. You can get a lot of these for under $100, you know, some up to $150. But again, this is concert size, a little larger than the standard soprano size, and the tradeoff is a little bit of sound quality, you know, so here let's give it a listen.

[TIM JOYCE PLAYING A LANIKAI CONCERT SIZE UKULELE]

This uke is made by Bushman. It's an all-solid wood ukulele with an Englemann Spruce top on it, and the sound of this one you'll hear is really amazing.

[TIM JOYCE PLAYING A BUSHMAN ENG-C ENGLEMANN CONCERT SIZE UKULELE]

You know, much louder.

[TIM JOYCE PLAYING A BUSHMAN ENG-C ENGLEMANN CONCERT SIZE UKULELE]

It projects a little bit because you don't have much surface area to work with here.

[TIM JOYCE PLAYING A BUSHMAN ENG-C ENGLEMANN CONCERT SIZE UKULELE]

And that's getting closer to what you think of as a traditional ukulele kind of sound.

This uke is the Koaloha premium soprano uke. It comes from Hawaii. It's one of the ones we have on our store that's actually made in Hawaii, and it's made of Koa wood, which is a wood that's native to Hawaii, and they've been making ukes out of that since the uke came into existence. The [PLUCKS A FEW STRINGS] sound on this is what you think of when you hear -- when you think ukulele. This is it. This is the one. It's the soprano or standard size Koa ukulele. We'll give it a listen.

[TIM JOYCE PLAYING A KOALOHA KSM-00 SOPRANO STANDARD UKULELE]

This Koa wood has a really, you know, interesting mellow sound to it, and it's really that distinct ukulele sound. Another really important thing that I might mention is, especially with these things coming from Hawaii, is humidity. We really didn't talk about that too much but these things come from Hawaii where the environment is completely humid all the time. A lot of times, people will take these things home, especially the solid-top ones, and if you don't take care of your instruments, you know, and humidify them right away, especially the stuff that comes from the humid climates, you're going to be sorry right away, right out of the gate.

[TIM JOYCE PLAYING A NATIONAL CONCERT STEEL UKULELE NCSU-ASH]

So, the tuning on a soprano or a standard ukulele is different than the baritone. The baritone is tuned like a guitar. These are tuned slightly different. It's G, C, E, A, and oftentimes you'll hear people referring to as this.

[TIM JOYCE PLAYING OPEN STRINGS ON A NATIONAL CONCERT STEEL UKULELE NCSU-ASH WHILE SINGING]

[SINGING] "My dog has fleas," and that's the way people, you know, all over the world will know that. If you hear that phrase, you know they're talking about a uke. This is a National resonator ukulele. Again, same principle. You're just going to get a lot of sound out of this one similar to the resonator guitars, and this one has just an amazing sound quality to it.

[TIM JOYCE PLAYING A NATIONAL CONCERT STEEL UKULELE NCSU-ASH]