#ukulele guide

Painting: Definitely don't do this with an expensive uke. It may alter the sound quality (particularly if you use a thick paint) and it could easily go wrong! However this is the most effective way of personalizing your uke.

Lightly sand down with sandpaper or similar before painting. Particularly if it has a gloss finish (the cheaper ones usually do) this will make it much easier to paint, however don't get carried away and make the wood too thin - you'll probably end up putting a hole in it!

The type of paint you should use depends on the finish of your uke: acrylic is probably the easiest medium to use for painting designs and it is the cheapest and easiest to get hold of.

Some types of paints are incompatible, and will cause the under-paint to "bubble up". You might be safer using a lacquer based paint if you want the design to be permanent as your biggest issue is going to be paint chipping (acrylic is more prone to this however too many layers could dampen the sound.)

A top coat of glaze or wood gloss to protect from chipping and create a nice finish is a good idea but again - make sure you don't have too many layers of paint.

If your ukulele is expensive/precious then i'd recommend a more minimalist approach eg       to keep it classy yet personal.

If you're worried about affecting the sound quality you can paint the fret board only like this   although keep the paint thin so it doesn't get in the way of your fingers/get chipped off. Obviously to do this you'll have to take the strings off and put them back on again - you might want to take it to a shop and they'll usually do it for free.

Miscellaneous decorating: Realistically, you can do whatever you want to make your uke your own. In fact the more original you are the better! Be aware that anything over the body of the uke will muffle the sound. If you're thinking of using material I'd recommend only 'taping' round the edges so as not to affect the sound. Here's a video describing some techniques.

The easiest way to decorate is simply with stickers. You can get a massive variety from all over the place and you don't need any artistic ability. These are still personal though as you can collect them over time, maybe buying a new sheet of stickers every time you visit a new place with your ukulele. You can create any look you want with he right stickers and it's probably the cheapest option.