The appeal of the Uke for me is it's harmonic possibilities as the accompaniment for many of the songs, some sophisticated harmonically, from the Twenties and Thirties. The master for me was Ukulele Ike, Cliff Edwards who was very popular in his time but eventually was obscured although he resurfaced in "Pinocchio" by Disney as the voice of Jimminy Cricket with the popular "When You Wish Upon A Star". Edwards was also master of the trick voice which he called "effing" that made him sound like an early jazz trumpet. He was the first to do the song "Singing In The Rain" much earlier than Gene Kelly.

Edwards may have been the first to employ "scat" singing predating Louis Armstrong's legendary "Heebie Jeebies", Louis, dropping his music and scatting the rest of the song.
Edwards did Gershwin, Porter and the then popular songwriters of the time.

Edwards also adapted a version of the Uke using the metal National technology.

Also, the English uke banjo of George Formby who should be mentioned as a great entertainer in the Cliff Edwards vaudeville mold.

Vetter doesn't do the uke justice as does the contemporary Shimbukuru or the earler practioners of the instrument did. You can sing and play almost any show song or pop song from the Twenties and Thirties on this instrument. It has the versatility of the guitar although it probably needs a longer neck to accommodate more chords. It is also wonderful with the traditional songs of Hawaii, not the "Hapa Haole" style that you generally hear.

My friend Bill Rutan tunes his uke with a tenor banjo tuning whereby the fourth bass string is tuned one octave higher. It has a unique sound.