This is the Martin OXK, a concert ukulele from the world’s most famous ukulele maker. With a huge tradition in making ukes, it’s slightly unusual then than the OXL eschews lots of the norms of the past 100+ years of ukulele making with some interesting choices. The first of which, it’s not made of wood - much as it might look like it does. Instead, it’s made from HPL, high pressure laminate. This is a mix of paper and resin that’s compacted together to make an extremely hard and resilient material. And it turns out it resonates very well too - because for all that doesn’t sound very promising… it does actually sound very good and more wood-like than you’d imagine.

The neck is another non-traditional feature, made from stratabond - thin strips of birch that are glued together, again providing a lot of strength. As a result this is a ukulele that can really be used and abused… in heat, in damp, in dry conditions - it’s very reslient.

The finish is satin, and there’s a very pretty looking koa on top. It’s not koa… it’s a picture of koa. Confusingly, lots of dealer describe how this pretty koa was hand selected… well maybe it was, before someone took a photo of it and reproduced it on top of the HPL. To be honest though, it could be made of cheese if it sounds good… and it sounds good! There’s a lot of volume, plenty of brightness and jangle, and it responds well to different styles of play - particularly when gently strummed with the thumb, which gives lots of sunny warmth.

Martin fluorocarbon strings are fitted, naturally enough, which are good strings which project and sustain well. The OXK has a 35mm nut width and Grover friction tuners - a real change of pace and back to tradition. Friction pegs like these tend to make people panic - but they’re perfectly useable, if requiring a little more of a light touch to be accurate. This concert uke comes with a really excellent, premium gig bag with lots of padding.

All in all, it’s an interesting thing - great for travelling but a nice sounding uke in its own right - and by Martin standards, affordable too.

Just a quick word on pricing. I have no doubt you can find this one elsewhere for less money. That’s because Martin are stocked by lots of the ‘big boys’, and box shipping companies. They like to compete on price, and are often cutting prices because one or the other has dropped the price. It’s a practice that continually sees them going out of business, relaunching and starting again. I don’t get into all that. Yes, I make a bit more money - but you also get the benefit of my expertise. When I’m awake, the activity I spend more time doing than any other is setting up ukuleles. It’s what I know best and while these instruments are good - they do need work, often with frets that need to be levelled. I’ll do that - and it won’t be the cheapest out there. It WILL be the best.

At the bottom of the page you’ll find a number of optional extras. You could add a hard case but I’d argue the excellent gig bag this Martin comes with is enough! And strap buttons are an option too. (If you’re wondering, there’s a tail block so that one can be fitted - don’t worry about HPL and suitability for buttons, it’s fine). You could also add a strap or fit a low G, all down at the bottom of the page.