Ukulele Diary: Meet Sunny Phillipa, My Ukulele

Originally, I planned to get a TGM soprano ukulele. TGM is a local Singaporean ukulele brand that's well known and reliable. It's a good, cheap beginner ukulele that has got many great reviews. It was everything I wanted from a ukulele but it was missing something. I was just about to get it but a little voice in my head told me to keep looking. So I did. Then I came across this ukulele made by an unknown brand, Sunny Phillipa was named after the sunflower surrounding the sound-hole. She wasn't actually the ukulele I intended to get but she's better!

She's better for me because she's got character that suits me better. A TGM is all good but it lacks a certain cuteness and it isn't as unique. There was only one of Sunny Phillipa (as far as I know) in that shop. At first I doubted Sunny Phillipa when I got her but in the end it was the right choice.

Moving on...

Sunny is made by Mantic. I don't know the brand. I should've asked but I'm real lucky that they made Sunny a good uke. Despite being a no-name budget brand it comes with good geared tuners and... here's the awesome bit... Aquilla strings. Yep. The real deal, with the Aquilla tag and everything. The uke itself was SGD50, which was right on budget. Unfortunately, I forgot to include a gig bag in that budget. The gig bag was SGD25 so in total it costed me SGD75. A pretty good deal. I got Sunny at Davis Guitar Music Centre. You can know more about Davis Guitar Music Centre and buying a ukulele in my last post.

The strings took about 2 weeks to get itself well adjusted to the ukulele. Any new stringed instrument takes time for it to adjust to the body of the instrument. It needs to get used to being stretched and tightened.

Quick Tips:

• Don't settle. Look for a ukulele that looks as good as it sounds and suits you.
• Remember the budget includes the ukulele and essential accessories. These include a gig bag and tuner. If you're lucky you'll get them as one packet.
• Strings take time to adjust so it's ok if it doesn't stay perfectly tuned every time.The key is too keep playing. 

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