22 Dec 2009

22 Dec 2009T10:54

Another new toy! Eleuke SC100 PHP

My new BARGAIN uke arrived this week - a Eleuke for £65!!

These are my initial views on how it arrived, looks etc - not really played it yet.

This is the SC100PHP model - I think its rosewood - basically a dark wood all over, fingerboard included. Its billed as a Soprano, but I have no idea why, as it is virtually the same scale length as my Mainland Concert. 20 silver frets.

Its branded Harley Benton, which is the Thomann company brand name, but it is clearly a Eleuke - came in Eleuke box, and Eleuke warranty card.

Finish is pretty much flawless, not a mark. One tuner needed a bit of a tighten (they are silver geared (open geared) with thankfully small buttons so it doesnt look like Mickey Mouse) Couple of fret ends need a very slight sanding but nothing too bad. Dark, kind of a matt gloss finish if you know what I mean (very smooth, but not mirror finish)

It has a wood nut and wood saddle (may think about changing the latter), and volume and tone pots on the face. On the base, standard guitar jack, plus two mini jacks, one for headphones, one for MP3 input. The guitar jack doubles as strap button, and there is another strap button on the back at the base of the neck.

It looks to my eyes to be a single piece of wood, which is impressive.

Came with MP3 player lead, and headphones - headphones are biggest piece of junk I have ever seen!

Also comes complete with rather nice rugged padded gig bag.

The uke arrived strung with some really nasty black, soft, low tension glossy strings. ugh. Terrible tuning, no sustain, and intonation WAY off on the G string. Wasnt even prepared to give them a chance, so on with Aquilas, and the thing now feels tight, and the intonation issue on G has gone away.

Its a solid little thing, and feels great and nicely balanced. Heavier than my wood ukes, but not much.

Had a very quick play on headphones - bit hissy and terribly thin sounding, - need an amp test to be sure (EDIT - since amp tested - just thing the pickup in this is pretty cheap sounding). Like the tone control which has a very wide range of settings.

Anyway, based on looks and finish alone, I am kind of impressed - and for only £65 it seems a bit of a bargain I suppose - just wish it sounded good plugged in.

The MP3 feature is very cool - plug in your ipod, and plug in headphones, and you can listen to yourself playing over the top of your mp3s!

So long as you know what you are getting I suppose it's worth a recommendation - but I do wish they could use a better pickup...

SCORES

Looks - 7.5
Fit and finish - 7
Sound - 5
Value for money - 8

OVERALL - 6.9

12 Dec 2009

12 Dec 2009T15:43

Eleuke ukulele ordered!

Have ordered a Eleuke (soprano rosewood model) Cant wait! Electric ukulele fun! Yay!

9 Dec 2009

9 Dec 2009T23:36

New toy

Not really Uke related, but have just bought a new toy - a Zoom H2 recorder.

Look it up on Google, but basically, its a handheld, 4 channel recorder that records to WAV or MP3 - and has some very very positive reviews. Tiny little thing with loads of features and has (from what I have heard, and my own test tonight) a great great sound.

I plan on using this to dub better quality sound to my Youtube vids, and for recording gigs and practice with my mates!

6 Dec 2009

6 Dec 2009T11:49

UKE stickers

Few people have asked me over last few weeks where to get the UKE sticker as seen on my case (the one that looks like a car country id sticker)

They are from the wonderful Tiki King here http://www.tikiking.com/uke_stuff.html

26 Nov 2009

26 Nov 2009T20:08

Ukulele Underground

and while I am on the subject of links to websites, how could I not recommend

www.ukuleleunderground.com

Great site, loads of lessons and reviews, but by far the biggest star of the show is the forum page. The friendliest (without doubt) forum I have ever been involved with. Whether you are a beginner or an old hand, the guys on this site will love to hear from you.

T20:00

Taunton Ukulele Strummers

just wanted to say what a wonderful group site this is..

http://www.tusc.co.uk/

Sadly, I am nowhere near Taunton, but if I was, I'd be right along. Loads of interesting stuff on this site - and best of all are their songbooks. If you are a Ukulele beginner, you could do a lot worse than download these - I defy you to NOT find a song in their you like. All nicely laid out with chord diagrams too. If you are a beginner and you live in Taunton.... well, you know what to do!

T19:09

Ukulele beginners tips - All things strings

(NOTE - This is a very old Got A Ukulele post from 2009. I used to update it to reflect changes in string brands, but it became an endless task. I therefore consider it a bit out of date! Bear that in mind!)

A bit like guitar, there are a range of strings available for the Uke. If you are a Ukulele beginner and have bought an entry level instrument, the chances are, it will arrive with cheap basic strings on it (usually GHS). You can tell, they will be jet black and shiny, or clear and shiny.

One of the very best upgrades you can make to a cheaper Uke is a string upgrade - probably costing you no more than about £6 or £7.

Now, dont expect to walk into your local music shop and see a huge range - that aint gonna happen. The internet, and ebay, is your friend however. As for which, it's hard to recommend a perfect string for everyone, simply because such a thing doesn't exist. The thing is, we all have different ukulele, different playing styles, different tastes and different ears. There is no one size fits all. What may suit one person may not suit another. The answer is to experiment.

A couple of brands that you may come across include:

Aquila - Italian made from a substance called nylgut, which attempts to recreate the properties of real gut that instruments used to be strung with. They are pretty thick, and are not slippy - have a kind of rough coating. They are white and opaque. make sure you get the right set for your size of instrument (ie soprano, tenor etc), and choose high or low G string.

In my view, Aquilas are superb strings, particularly at bringing cheap ukuleles to life - they are loud, have loads of bell like sustain and are quite bright sounding. Some people, however, dont like them - they are thicker than some strings, and if you are an absolute beginner, they can hurt the fingers. The rough coating can also make a noise when you slide your fingers on them that some people dont like. For me though, as a guitar player - my fingers are used to the soreness, and the noise you get from wound strings. If they dont sound right for you, take a look at the next suggestion.

Worth - these are Japanese strings, and come in a bewildering range of styles. As well as size styles, they come in different thicknesses, and two colours (brown and clear). I personally like the Brown Mediums, labelled as BM (well... duh!). These strings are thinner than Aquilas, and are smooth in finish (so slippy). I think they also have less tension, and are easier on the fingers. They sing better than Aquila to my ears when picked, but I prefer Aquilas when strummed. - Horses for courses I suppose. They work very well on mahogany instruments. Some say there is no difference between the brown and clear strings, but to my ears, the brown are mellower. Worths generally I find are a mellower sound than Aquila.

Others - you will probably struggle in the UK to find much else to buy - but if you do see others, try out Martin flourocarbons - nice strings apparently. I think the key is to go for flourocarbon strings, not nylon.

To be honest though, there are SO many and you want to know what I use don't you? I use these. Seriously!

Have fun - but I do urge you - if you have an entry level instrument with cheap strings - upgrade - it is well, well worth the effort.

Amazon.com Widgets

T18:48

New Bruko!

My latest acquistion - handmade, solid wood Uke from Germany - the Bruko No.6. Really like the looks, very bright sound - dont see many of these about!

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Since posting this, have actually sold this uke - too many ukes not getting played, so off to the great ebay in the sky! - allowed funds to go towards the newest acquistion - yes, yes, I know that is self defeating and makes no sense, but what have you gotta do?....

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T18:46

My Ukes - part 3

My Ukes, Part 3

Then bought a beautiful Mainland Concert Scale mahogany - no idea how they make these for the price - all solid instrument -really warm sound, and unique looks!

T18:44

Introduction to my ukulele collection part 2

My Ukes, Part 2. I then bought a Lanikai LU21 - very cheap, laminated, but a nice cheery sound, and very well made. This is my "beater" Uke.

T18:41

Introduction to my ukulele collection

Introduction to my Ukes - Part 1 - My Fluke Flea - in Purple. Wonderful instrument - plastic back, laminate top, plastic (yes plastic) fretboard - but it has a wonderful wonderful sound all of its own.

really decent Uke.