Ukulele Store — Local services in Honolulu

Had a wonderful experience with Mr. Tyler Gilman, the store owner, who helped me find my match with a Kamaka HP-1 Pineapple. It's awesome that I found a ukulele that sounds as sweet as it looks, but also the process and journey of getting there was fun, insightful, and humbling.

I visited the store on a Friday afternoon with my wife during our honeymoon trip. We spent about and hour there, and were lucky to have been the only guests for the majority of the time. Tyler was kind, patient, and knowledgable without pushing sales or asserting his own biases onto me, as a novice/intermediate player. I can tell that he is not just dedicated to ukuleles, but passionate about the culture and community surrounding the ukulele.

I introduced myself, shared my experience of self-teaching via Youtube, having owned several (Lanikai, Kala, Ohana) ukuleles, and that I finally wanted to try and hopefully purchase one of the K-brands. The entire left wall was imported products, and the right wall was Hawaiian made. I probably touched about 6-8 ukuleles, slowly narrowing down my preferences. I even asked Tyler to play a tune on the final 2 that I liked, and he taught me a few chords to try on them for myself. He never made me feel like I was an inconvenience, or an inferior player, or asking too much. Overall, the experience was welcoming, safe, and fun. In a world of subjective preferences, Tyler was able to articulate subtle nuances that I would have struggled to pinpoint on my own. All the while, it wasn't too technical, and ultimately said it doesn't really matter; just listen to my gut.

Mahalo, arigato, thank...

The shop has a large selection of instruments from the low to the very high ($4k+) end. They also have tons of accessories, which can be a little difficult to find outside of a specialty store like this.

In addition to their regular ukes they have other nifty items, including a case with vintage and collectible ukuleles. It’s worth dropping by just to take a look in the case. They also have CDs, songbooks, and self-teaching courses, but those are more par for the course.

The retail space is large and well kept, with room for people to sit or just mill around. Best of all it’s a quiet store, so you can really hear the instruments when you play them. (Nearby Puapua Ukulele has a slightly larger selection but the space is LOUD and it’s tough to hear the character of the ukes you play.)

The staff member who helped me was knowledgeable and attentive. He tuned every uke I wanted to try and when I had my choices narrowed down to two he played chords opposite me so I could hear the instruments juxtaposed. He answered all my questions and I ended up with an instrument I’m completely happy with, which is a big consideration when you’re making a high-end uke purchase.

I own two ukes now: a mass production tenor that’s very nice but always felt a little bigger to me than a uke should. My new uke from The Ukulele store is a soprano and it’s a joy to play with a bright, cheerful sound. I’m not sure if I’ll ever add a 3rd uke to my collection but if I do I hope to do business with the Ukulele...

This was awful. Everywhere it is constantly advertised that they have free ukulele lessons each day at 10.30 and 4.30. In the picture there are all ages and lots of kids in the ad. My 5 year old daughter was so excited when she saw the store when we arrived in Waikiki (as she has a little ukulele at home) and really wanted to go back and have a lesson.

So I took her there to a 10.30 lesson on Monday, there was 1 other person there, and his wife was sitting to the side watching. I sat down with my daughter on one of the spare seats. At no point upon entering did we receive a smile or a hello - nothing. The man giving the lessons looked at as with a blank face as if to say ‘WTF are you doing here?’

With a big smile I said Hi and asked if we could do a lesson. He said No, as she was too young. I was fine with that so asked if we could sit to watch. He said no cause the lesson was finished! It was only 10.35! They said that he had been playing for ‘ages’ and that it was over.

So we just left, with my daughter in tears. She had been so excited and couldn’t understand why she couldn’t at least see someone play the ukulele.

Absolutely so rude - wouldn’t recommend this place. So stupid of him too, we were keen to learn, experience and shop! Lost customer here and I’ll definitely be spreading the word to...