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Just How Many Ukuleles?

November 2011

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?