Maker: Oscar Schmidt by Washburn
Model: OU53S
Top: Solid Spruce
Back and Sides: Laminate Rosewood
Fretboard and Bridge: Rosewood
Saddle and Nut: Plastic

I was playing the the local Ukulele group at an event which got rained off. We, being silly, decided to Keep Calm and Carry On. So I was standing in a doorway playing the Makala Baritone when I decided I needed a decent Baritone.

I play baritone sometimes in the group to add a lower register. As it is tuned like a guitar it is easy to play but can bring confusion if you forget which instrument you are playing.

This was an Ebay purchase well below MRP. When it arrived the action was horrendous. A new saddle was needed to get it playable. (Was it an undeclared reject?) Another group members have Oscar Schmidt ukuleles and they also have a high action. Could it be that they are sold high for individual setting up?

After a while I decided to go another route to lower the action. I converted the bridge from tie/loop to through the top. The layout of the original bridge actually lends itself to this conversion. As the saddle could now be lowered , this meant having to remove some of the bridge in front of the saddle as the top edge of the saddle finished up below the top of the wooden bridge. This new freedom of adjustment meant I could now fit an under saddle piezo pickup and still get great action at the 12 th fret.

It is said that the increased angle over the saddle using through the body adds tension to the saddle and hence more sound. If there is this is a bonus.

I now have a ukulele which is a pleasure to play and well worth the additional hassle of changing the strings.

MAKALA BARITONE UKULELE
Maker: Makala
Model: Mk-B
Top: Laminate Agathis
Sides and Back: Laminate Agathis
Fretboard and Bridge: Rosewood
Nut and Saddle: Plastic

This was the first Baritone ukulele and was a Craig’s list purchase. It was bought in two parts as the neck was separate from the body. Once re-glued it played quite nicely.

I think these Makala baritones are better sounding and looking than the equivalent Lanikai Baritones.

I have strung this AECG using the Aquila set .

LANIKAI RESONATOR BARITONE UKULELE
Maker: Lanikai
Model: LU -21B
Top: Laminate mahogany
Sides, and Back: Laminate mahogany
Fretboard and Bridge: Rosewood
Nut and Saddle: Plastic

This was by way of an experiment. The basic ukulele was a Ebay reject, in this case because of very high action.  This did not matter was the bridge etc. was coming off. The cone was brought from a man who makes them for cigar box resonators.

If I did this again I would buy a new cheap baritone ukulele, as an unseen reject may have all sorts of playability issues. I was lucky with this one.

This is another project which benefited from my steel string discovery. With these on it really does sound like a resonator. All the bits and bobs down at the base are the remains of alternative string anchors until I settled on pins.

Maker: Montana
Model: 2653
Top: Laminate Mahogany
Back and Sides: Laminate Mahogany
Fretboard and Bridge: Wood
Saddle and Nut: Plastic

The Karman Music Corporation is mentioned on the label, so probably imported by them from Taiwan in the 1960s. KMC are the company who introduced the Ovation guitar.

A typical cheap effort with painted bridge, fretboard and bindings.

It did come with a fiberboard case which does service with one of the other baritones.

Maker: Santini
Model:
Top: Laminated
Back and Sides: Laminated
Fretboard and Bridge: Rosewood
Saddle and Nut: Plastic

This is an odd shape for a ukulele. It is very heavliy constructed and really not very nice. However the shape suggested heavy metal
.
Once again the steel string knowledge came to the rescue and I fitted a single coil pickup with tone and volume controls complete with a hardtail bridge and plastic scratchguard..

Now it has purpose and played through an amp with some distortion Wow!

Maker: Samick
Model: UK70B
Top: Solid spruce
Back and sides: Laminate Rosewood
Fretboard and Bridge: Rosewood
Saddle and nut: ABS

This had a full length crack in the solid spruce top which looked pretty terminal in the pictures.

I brought it with the intention of making into a "busker's uke" with onboard amp and speaker. However, once seen it was possble to push the crack together and so it was really too good to alter.

This has the Greg Bennett name on the headstock. They stopped using this in 2013. These branded instruments were made in Indonesia.

Maker: Vineyard
Model: BK 100
Top: Solid mahogany
Back and sides: Solid mahogany
Fretboard and Bridge: Rosewood

They are solid mahogany. The brand is distributed by Praiseland Music. Vineyard was a partnership between Louis Wu and Paul Chu. Louis Wu left Vinyard to form Ohana. The name Vineyard was registered in 2004.

Apprently made on the same production facility as Ohana ukes in Hangzhou, Zhejiang China. Their ukes are identical to Ohana.

This example was brought with a full length crack on the top. This was glued and cleated.

It has a nice neck and so I have set the action fairly low.

Maker: Caramel
Model: -
Top: Solid Acacia
Back and sides: Solid Acacia
Fretboard and Bridge: Engineered wood

This is a factory second as it has a repaired crack I cannot find! As nearly all Caramels it comes with a built in preamp and tuner.

Six string baritones are generally strung as a guitar but you can get string sets which let you string it as a ukulele with two extra strings.  This is strung as a guitar. I am using classical guitar strings but of the Hard tension variation. This I find helps remove some of the slackness of the lower note strings.

Maker: Pono (Ko'olau)
Model:MBD-CR
Top: Solid cedar
Back and sides: Solid mahogany
Fretboard and Bridge: Ebony

The fret board is radiused and with Grover tuners it is a joy to play.

Wonderful instrument!

Maker: Johnson
Model:UV 2/0
Top: Laminated mahogany
Back and sides: Laminated mahogany
Fretboard and Bridge: Wood

This is a case of "because I can" I do not play bass but here we are.

I used a cheap baritone because they tend to be heavier built than the more expensive ones. The strings are from D'Addario EJ88UB and have roughly the same tension as a set of normal strings. I converted the bridge to through the body.

Obviously it needed proper bass tuners ($24 from MBG guitars). It has an under saddle pickup.

As it is, there is some rattle on the fretboard. So it needs the saddle raising a tad.