Introduction
Have you thought about getting a ukulele? No matter if you are a professional guitarist or totally new to the world of music – a baritone ukulele can offer hundreds of hours of fun and excitement, provided you get a high-quality instrument that will suit your needs.
We can help you make the right choice! Our Best Baritone Ukulele Guide will teach you what you need to consider when buying your first Baritone Ukulele. In case that you prefer an electric instrument, you may want to check out our Best Electric Ukulele guide, too!
QUICK RUNDOWN
If you are in a hurry these are our Top 5 Picks:
- Ideal for professional acoustic guitarists
- Beautiful binding and design
- Select Hawaiian Koa top, back & sides
- Nyatoh neck, Rosewood fingerboard and bridge
- Great Playability
- Satin Finish
- Laminated Mahogany Top, back and Sides
- Mahogany Neck
- Solid Spruce Top
- Rosewood Fingerboard and Bridge
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Table of Contents
Best Baritone Ukulele Under $400
- Build Quality 97%
- Performance 97%
- Price to Value Ratio 94%
- Ideal for professional acoustic guitarists
- Very durable build and flawless design
- Beautiful binding and design
- No internal pre-amp/piezo pickup
- Build Quality 95%
- Performance 94%
- Price to Value Ratio 90%
- Unique woods used for the neck
- Good alternative to more expensive electric/acoustic ukuleles
- Huge cut away for easy high-end note access
- Requires a professional intonation setup
Best Baritone Ukulele Under $300
- Build Quality 88%
- Performance 98%
- Price to Value Ratio 95%
- Great hardware
- Comes with very decent strings
- Flawless finish
- Plain looks
A short overview:
This balanced model features a solid Ovangkol top, back and sides, rosewood bridge and fingerboard and mahogany neck.
Ovangkol’s bright and clear tone is balanced nicely with the sweet and warm qualities of the solid top, which along with padauk appointments create a visually impressive instrument with an incredibly full and refined voice. It sounds better than many more expensive ukuleles.
Build quality and design:
Ovangkol is a visually exciting wood that combines flame, birds eye, quilting and ink-like lines that can resemble a modern painter’s masterpiece.
It is a great instrument with a deep, very resonant sound, similar to a Cordoba Mini, but it has a different and unique tone. The build is very good and only the tuning machines seem somewhat cheap.
It is also a very lightweight instrument compared to other manufacturer’s instruments.
Value for the money:
This is the ideal instrument for a beginner who has enough money to invest into a hobby.
The mesmerizing sound and the stunning visuals make this an instrument of choice for both beginners and advanced players who want a solid practice instrument for traveling or quieter practice sessions.
- Build Quality 85%
- Performance 90%
- Price to Value Ratio 100%
- Very lightweight, beginner-friendly and easy to travel with
- Unique tone with a feel similar to a classical guitar
- Unique combination of high-quality woods
- Tuning pegs and reentrant-tuning- saddle make it harder to intonate properly
Best Baritone Ukulele Under $200
A short overview:
The 20BM is Cordoba’s first baritone sized ukulele and it features a solid mahogany top and mahogany back and sides. The sweet-sounding Cordoba baritone ukes come set up in one of the more popular tunings, which matches the top 4 strings on a guitar (DGBE).
The strings used are Aquila Nylgut baritone uke strings, which include a wound 4th-D and 3rd-G strings, and nylgut 2nd-B and 1st-E strings.
Build quality and design:
The natural wood pattern rosette and satin finish make this a truly beautiful instrument for the both beginners and ukulele enthusiasts alike, all the while offering very deep tone.
The frets need to be “dressed”, leveled and re-crowned on this model, whichmakes a huge difference in sustain and the ability to get low action – an important aspect of a beginner’s instrument.
Value for the money:
The instrument requires a certain set-up from a professional. If your local music store offers this for a good price, then this is a great instrument for a beginner. It offers a nice balance of quality and playability for a very moderate price.
- Build Quality 84%
- Performance 88%
- Price to Value Ratio 92%
- High-Quality strings even on this cheaper model
- Good materials
- Thin body which retains a deep tone
- Requires a professional setup to be played ideally
- Build Quality 83%
- Performance 85%
- Price to Value Ratio 91%
- Solid quality despite being cheap
- Thick, beautiful body which retains a deep tone
- Tuner and beginner guide
- Not the best intonation, requires proper setup
Best Baritone Ukulele Under $100
A short overview:
The CB500 is a model done by Caramel, a uke company that makes affordable, low-end ukuleles. While the looks are inspired by the popular and great sounding Ovation guitars, the uke is still not really more than a cheap beginners instrument.
This uke is stylish, so it might be a great gift for a beginner or child, but you can pretty much forget about any high-quality studio work at this price point.
Build quality and design:
The instrument looks expensive and sounds cheap. The all-rosewood design isn’t all that great or unique, but the uke comes with a piezo pickup, which means that you can play it amplified.
This also means that, when playing as electric, you can create a bit of better sounds by using pedals or amp settings, which makes it decent for live-play, at least for smaller acts. For YouTube covers and similar stuff, this ukulele is more than enough.
Value for the money:
The extremely low price makes it a great instrument for beginners, for shooting videos or for stage work for smaller acts. For a better sound, get a professional setup for better intonation and use it while amplified.
- Build Quality 84%
- Performance 87%
- Price to Value Ratio 89%
- Solid quality despite being cheap
- Comes with a piezo pickup, can be used with an amp
- Very stylish, Ovation-inspired design
- Not the best intonation, requires proper setup
A short overview:
Kala specializes in production of high-end professional instruments. It is wonderful to see that they didn’t compromise on the low-end instruments, either.
This ukulele is by far the most affordable one, but offers a high-quality build which offers amazing tone.
Build quality and design:
The instrument looks cheap and sounds expensive. While it has been stripped of more modern details, it still looks nice. This retro-style uke has amazing tone and is very sturdy considering the very low price.
Geared tuners offer fantastic tuning-stability for a low-end instrument like this. The body of the MK-T is crafted of agathis, a wood that is similar in appearance and tonal properties to mahogany, along with a rosewood bridge.
Value for the money:
The Kala Makala MK-B Baritone Ukulele is extremely affordable and a great way to get started on the ukulele. Sadly, a case or gig bag is not included.
Another thing is that the strings are very cheap, which results in an instrument that doesn’t sound as good as it should right out of the box. This can be solved by buying a better string set, though.
- Build Quality 82%
- Performance 84%
- Price to Value Ratio 90%
- Good tuners and build even on the cheapest models of the company
- Unique visual style and sound
- By far the most affordable, playable baritone ukulele
- Very cheap, wire-wound strings that sound dead and need replacement
Thing to Consider – Baritone Ukelele Basics
There are four main sizes of ukuleles, the smaller ones playing the higher notes and the bigger ones playing lower notes: soprano, concert, tenor and baritone. Besides those, there are a few more sizes and shapes that we encounter less often: the guitalele, banjolele and the bass-uke.
More recently the sopranissimo size, even smaller than a soprano, has become popular.
The Baritone Ukulele is a very unique instrument. This instrument is tuned similarly like other ukulele sizes, but it uses the lowest register of all ukuleles, disregarding bass ukulele.
A baritone ukulele is tuned, high to low, E – B – G – D. If you already play ukulele, you will be able to use all shapes that you have learned, but use them to play chords in a lower register. Due to its size it may feel a little different at first, but getting used to it is very easy.
Some of you will recognize that these are the same four strings as the four higher strings on a guitar. That means that you will still be able to play a lot of guitar songs on the ukulele, especially in the key of D major, as the D chord on the baritone ukulele uses the same shape as a D chord on the guitar.
Similarly to guitar, a baritone ukulele can be both a solo and an accompanimentinstrument. It sounds very good when combined with singing, but you can do some simple classical and fingerstyle arrangements with it, too.
It is also perfect for a traveling musician as it takes up much less space than a traditional guitar. Bassists can benefit from a baritone ukulele, too!
Getting used to the different size and tuning will force you to think out of the box, get more knowledge about harmony and the higher registers, but you can also try an alternate tuning that will make it more similar to a bass guitar and help you practice when you don’t have an amp around.
Let’s take a look at some different baritone ukulele models out there!
BUYING GUIDE:
When buying a baritone ukulele, what you pay for is mostly what you get. Because of that you should try to save up and to get a higher-end instrument.
Of course, if you need something just for practice and are using it more as a tool than an instrument, you can get away with a cheaper model. But for performances and studios, a good ukulele will make your life much easier.
Live-musicians need to especially look at whether or not the instrument has strap pins, or look for a comfortable chair if you plan on playing while sitting.
For studio musicians, this aspect is somewhat less important than the tonal qualities of the instrument. But regardless of whether you play live or in a studio, having an instrument that sounds good and plays effortlessly is the best choice.
Besides the described models, there are some unique models out there like Roosebeck Baroq-ulele T Baritone and Gold Tone Gold Tone Baritone Ukulele Banjo.
You should probably avoid these hybrid instruments as a beginner, but advanced players can benefit a lot from having these unique instruments at their disposal, both because of the stunning visual aspects, as well as because of the unique sound.
CONCLUSION
Choosing an instrument is always hard and there are many things you need to consider, especially as a beginner. Don’t be afraid to ask the staff in the store for help and advice, but also try to get a second opinion.
In the end, make sure to follow your gut and to get an instrument that inspires you to play and practice.
We hope that we’ve managed to make your choice at least a bit easier! Let us know what your favorite baritone ukulele is! And if you would prefer to get an electric instrument, we got you covered – because we also have a guide on buying electric ukuleles.
Once you decide be sure to start playing some baritone ukulele songs! Or maybe you simply need more strings? If you’ve already bought a baritone ukulele and want to expand further on your knowledge, then you should continue with a great classical guitar.
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