I second the advice from fogger: a solid wood top uke will probably give a better tone, and age better(not a hard and fast rule, but a good bet) Aquila strings are a great way to improve the sound of an inexpensive instrument--I also suggest replacing the tuning pegs, because tuning and staying in tune are the big issue with entry level instruments. As to size, the younger players seem to be prefer tenors, often with a low G (tuned from low to high, instead of having high pitched 4th string).