Herald: Ukulele - Natural Wood

Okay, so to start of this review I will point out that even though this is in the 'Toys' section of Play.com, it is not actually toy like and is made out of real wood which is unlike some others which are made out of cheap plastic. On the official herald box, which is shown in the picture, it says "My first Ukulele...." but I think this is more than just a kids toy.

I've been looking at Ukulele's for weeks and all I've come across is Ukulele's that cost around 20 GBP and then jumping straight up to 50-300 GBP. As I am a complete beginner, I wasn't going to buy an expensive one! This Ukulele is cheap, very very cheap which is a good thing and to say the very least, it does it's job well.

This Ukulele (as of 30/05/2012) cost me just 15 GBP. The reason I did buy it was because it had mostly good reviews on Argos, whereas another Ukulele I'd been looking at - the Stagg US10 had fairly mixed reviews and didn't look too great. It costs 5 GBP more to buy this exact same Ukulele from Argos but obviously if you're patient then buy it off here for the lower price.

The first thing people usually do when they buy a cheap Ukulele is change the strings to Aquila Nylgut strings. I didn't, and after the strings had been allowed to stretch; they sound brilliant enough without needing to change them. After waiting two days (so the 3rd day) the strings stay in tune quite nicely.

The wood itself looks a bit plasticy but I can assure you it is genuine wood.

Okay, so this Ukulele doesn't come with a nylon gig bag, but lets be realistic and think if a thin piece of plastic would even protect it from any form of bump or scratch.

I can't really knock this down because it's such a good little instrument for anybody who wants to learn and for the price especially, you can't expect an AMAZING product. When I did open the box containing the Ukulele it had white (presuming it was glue, if not.. ew.) residue on the top of the headstock - not to worry, it's all gone now.

This is a Soprano Ukulele, I can't remember Play.com stating that anywhere. It's very cute, it's perfect for any age and I really recommend this instrument. I'm well on the way to playing a song because the chords are so easy to remember/learn.

I think you should buy one :D

I hope this review was helpful, there wasn't one when I purchased this :(

When first seeing this ukulele, I had my doubts about it as it is listed in the 'Toys' section, but in reality (when you have it in your own hands), you'll see that it's not actually a toy, nor does it even look like one.
The touches to the ukulele look amazing, and well-created, and the wooden painted color is beautiful, even to look at. The texture is smooth and overall, the ukulele looks very neat.
As for the strings, in the manual, it says you need to constantly tune them, but for me, I only need to tune it every 2 or 3 days because the strings definitely stay in tune over the nights. The sound of the ukulele is beautiful too; sounds so heavenly and just how I thought one would sound, as long as you strum them correctly.
I especially find the plec piece very handy as I find it difficult to strum with my hand/thumb, so I feel it is definitely great having the plec being included.
The previous ukuleles I have been looking at costed much more, and when looking at the reviews about them, I felt I was missing something in my search. Additionally, one of my other good friends have bought this ukulele at the same time after he showed me it, and I had my heart immediately set on it because of the price, and how great it looked, however, there were no reviews on it before we bought it, so I think more people should have a try at buying this and giving a review on it.
To sum it all up, I truly think this ukulele is worth the cost and buying. I don't think you will regret it if you do, and it will even look brilliant in your own room! It is also something to always go back to whenever you are bored; it has to be one of my favorite pastimes ever.