I have numerous ukulele in my collection but what is my first store bought uke?
It’s actually a Lanikai LU22CGC Concert Ukulele, which I purchased at a Guitar Center store.
You start to learn that many major guitar shops tend to sell Lanikai. But what is this company? Is it Hawaiian? Or like a few companies which have a Hawaiian name but are based in the US?
To answer this question, Lanikai is a company that was started by Hohner, a German manufacturer of musical instruments founded back in 1857 by Matthias Hohner and company best known for their harmonicas.
Like many ukulele not made of koa wood (and made in China), these are made in China and are laminated in China and tend to have different price ranges from the most affordable in the market.
At the time, earlier when the company was just starting out in 2000, Mike Upton was heading the design and production of Lanikai and he learned a lot from those from Ko’olau Hawaii on tweaking constructions to make their ukulele to sound better.
Upton and Lanikai would eventually go their separate ways and Upton ended up creating his own ukulele business called Kala, while Lanikai continued on their own path, and for the most part, both companies (along with Luna, Oscar Schmidt, Enya, Ohana, Fender) are affordable, but quality brands which people tend to purchase.
Depending on the build, depending on the setup, depending on the person playing the uke, how good one instrument is, depends if that person is able to utilize the instrument to its best potential.
My first ukulele which I purchased at a music store was the Lanikai LU22CGC Concert Ukulele.
The Lanikai LU22CGC Concert Ukulele features gold die-cast tuners and so far these tuners have held up well, as with the Auila Nylgut strings.
The uke is a concert body ukulele with a mahogany body, top and neck.
It’s 15″ scale, 19 frets with the 14th fret being the neck joint and utilizes a Rosewood fretboard and bridge and has a total of 19 frets.
This ukulele is among the most affordable ukuleles to get at from Amazon, Guitar Center or Musicians Friend store priced at under $100.
The sound is no doubt soft and sweet but one thing that was different is to see how the nut is utilized. Most nuts are flat and this one is a bit different, so often I rub my finger on the bridge. Not to say I don’t like the feeling but different from other ukes I have played.
I like the white concentric circles and the white at the edges on the edges of this ukulele. But I really dig the overall look.
The Lanikai LU22CGC Concert Ukulele actually a very good, well-built ukulele. Great for beginners and for its price point its a wonderful ukulele for those who want an affordable concert uke (slightly bigger than the soprano).
