Eight years ago, I received my first ukulele as a gift, and I have been crazy about ukuleles ever since. That uke was a Washburn, and I used it to write "All My Afternoons," "Happy Anniversary," and "Polly Urethane." Eventually, however, one of the holes on the electronics plate became stripped, so I put it on eBay and replaced it with the one shown above.

The Lanikai LU-21CE concert acoustic/electric ukulele, made by Hohner, is made of Nato wood (Eastern Mahogany) with white binding and has an 18-fret rosewood fingerboard. My favorite feature is the Shadow P3 pickup system, which allows the ukulele to be plugged into an amplifier (here's what that sounds like).

Whether or not you are a musician, you may want to consider buying a ukulele, as they are easy to learn to play. You can get an inexpensive but playable ukulele for about $30 at Musician's Friend, and that is a LOT of fun for the price. In the words of the late George Harrison, "Everybody should have and play a 'uke' it's so simple to carry with you...I love them--the more the merrier--everyone I know who is into the ukulele is 'crackers' so get yourself a few and enjoy yourselves."