Unnecessary Background
Well I've begun shopping for a reasonably-priced concert ukulele in anticipation of completing Bernadette Teaches Music's #30dayUKEchallenge. I'm already finding my little soprano (that I bought without research) to be a bit uncomfortably small. After watching a size comparison, I suppose I should have started with a concert instead. But, it will be a good excuse to reward myself for finally sticking with an instrument for an entire program after years of on and off interest. (Recently I've been finding (micro)rewarding progress is helpful with ADHD)
I suppose I should have expected most of the major brands to be USA based since Hawaii was colonized afterall.
Here's a list of Non-USA owned brands that I found in a preliminary search.
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Ibanez
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- Country of Manufacture: I spy Made in China on all 3 uke models
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- Country of Ownership: Japan
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Aria
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- Country of Manufacture: China and Indonesia, Japan for platinum line (no ukes)
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- Country of Ownership: Japan
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Cordoba
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- Country of Manufacture: China
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- Country of Ownership: ~~Spain~~ Japan, owned by Yamaha now
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Your Local Luthier
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- Country of Manufacture: Canada
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- Country of Ownership: Canada
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- Edit: Added this in for those who can afford it/are skilled enough to justify a handmade one!
Disclaimer: Always check the CoM for a specific model you are interested in if you want to make sure.
Would love suggestions for other quality brands too if you know of any others!
While we’re on the subject of ukuleles, anybody remember the triangl-shaped ukuleles they used to use in elementary schools years ago that were unique to Canadian music classrooms?
https://www.vintageukemusic.com/ukuleles/northern.htm
I remember still having these around in the 1980s and 90s at our schools in Nova Scotia.
A few years ago a younger kid was telling me they had a “Russian ukulele”, not knowing that it was actually part of Canadian history. They had thought it was Russian because it resembled a balalaika, but it was definitely one of these “Northern ukuleles.”