We don’t follow industry numbers too often (as most of you know, mass produced gear isn’t really what our magazine is about) but we couldn’t help noticing this figure: According to the recent Music Trades magazine, over the last nine months, ukulele imports have gone up 45% to (drumroll, please) … 632,119 units. Yes, you read that right, our country was flooded with 632,119 ukulele immigrants in the first nine months of this year. And ukes now account for 19% of guitar imports on a per unit basis. This figure doesn’t even include all the great ukes being made in the US by companies like Kamaka, Martin, Collings, Mya-Moe and others. So, is the ukulele craze continuing to grow or is this just a bump in production for a bunch of Made in China souvenirs and wall hangers? Time will tell. Regardless, I have a hunch we’ll see a whole new batch of ukuleles at the forthcoming Winter NAMM show.

So, have you bought a uke yet?