Really nice video this one - what better to get you in the mood for whatever ukulele festival you are thinking of going to this year? This is blissful.
A selection of footage from the 2nd Annual Lana'i Uke Fest held at Lana'i, Hawaii this year.
Check out what other festivals are on in your area this year HERE
This weeks roundup of ukulele news from around the world.
It seems that there are lots of attempts lately to beat the ukulele playing world record. Hawaii just failed in their attempt. (Sweden hold it with 1547 players)
Covers of songs on the ukulele. Everyone is doing them, and there are thousands on YouTube. Even I have done some clunky ones, and I suppose many just get lost in the noise.
But then occasionally one gets picked up, as was the case for John Caudrey, Stephen Robson and Brian Mugford and their band montaSerra. They put up a very nice cover of the Ben Folds track, Army - and the video gets picked up by Ben Folds himself who posts it on his Facebook page. BOOM!
John alerted me to it, and is well known in UK uke circles and also runs some clubs including the Reading Ukulele Group. You can check out more by montaSerra HERE
Reminder of my free to enter competition to win a Snark Ukulele tuner! The last week now!
The Snark is a great tuner - and all you have to do is use Twitter to enter. See the instructions on THIS LINK - just make sure to follow me on Twitter and post the tweet as per the instructions - and that's it.
I love this update to my series of Famous Ukulele Players - I give you - Mick Fleetwood!
Image credit - Mele Ukuleles
Mick, best known as the sticksman in Fleetwood Mac, is now a proud ukulele player, and his model of choice comes from Mele Ukuleles who kindly allowed me to use their picture.
Check out my other famous uke player posts below - its building to quite a list!
Just to let you know that my second ebook, More Of What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know is now half its usual price for a limited period.
For the moment, you can take advantage of the price cut at Smashwords book store, but in due course the price will filter through to Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc
You may have seen my recent review of the Peterson Strobe tuner, and agree that its a bit pricey for most tastes. For me though, the best value and best featured ukulele clip on tuner is the Snark tuner by QWIK. And because I like that tuner quite so much, I am giving one lucky reader of Got A Ukulele a chance to win one!
I am giving away a brand new Red Snark (the one with the option of using it as a clip on or with the in built microphone) which as you will see in many reviews, is a highly regarded tuner. This is a free to enter prize draw.
Now this is going to be a Twitter competition. Don't worry if you have never used twitter - it's free and quick to sign up an account here.
To enter, all you have to do is the following two things
1. Follow my Twitter account - you can find me HERE or at @bazmaz_ukulele . (And don't worry, you don't have to stay following me for ever if you really don't want to, only as long as the competition runs, as I will be notifying the winner via Twitter, and will need to Private Message them to get address details.)
2. Tweet the following text exactly as you find it below. Don't add any other text.
And that's it. If you come across the tweet on Twitter, simply ReTweet it and make sure you are following me to enter that way too. Tweets must be made by midnight (GMT) on 5 May 2012 to qualify. After that date, I will draw a random winner and let them know they have won. Then you just need to wait for your Snark to arrive
Good luck - and feel free to share and tell your friends too!
RULES (IMPORTANT)!
1. Competition ends at midnight GMT on 5 May 2012
2. To be eligible for the prize draw, you must tweet the above statement and be following my Twitter account @bazmaz_ukulele
3. On draw day, I will pick a random winner of those eligible entries and inform them via a message on Twitter. Only those following my Twitter account will be able to receive the Direct Message. The message will ask for your email address in order for me to correspond with you to obtain your mailing address
5. In the event that the winner fails to respond to the request, after seven days a second draw will take place
6. This prize has no alternative cash value.
7. No purchase necessary
8. Tweeting your entry is no guarantee that the Tweet was received. No responsibility can be accepted for entries that are lost or delayed, or which are not received for any reason
9. The prize in not transferable to another person
New gear time in Got A Ukulele towers, and here is my review of the Peterson Stroboclip tuner.
As I say regularly, a clip on tuner is really a must have for a ukulele player these days. I know a lot of purists will say that players should learn to tune by ear, and I would agree that is a good skill to develop, but clip ons now are cheap small and so convenient, then why not. I've reviewed some other tuners on Got A Ukulele before, but have wanted a Peterson strobe tuner for some time now, and bit the bullet.
So what IS a strobe tuner? Well, it's basically a clip on tuner that works in the same way as any other, but the way it provides you with a visual representation of when the string is in tune is displayed differently to any other tuner. Most tuners use either red and green lights, or perhaps an LCD needle, such as on the Snark. Simple really, when the needle points at 12 o clock and turns green, the string is in tune. The thing is with those tuners though, is that the accuracy is limited by the way the reading is displayed. As such, most clip on tuners are only accurate to about 1-2 percentage points. A strobe tuner uses a different way of displaying the readout which means it is proven to be accurate to about 1/10th of one percent of accuracy - quite a leap.
In short, it works on an old analogue technology that you may have seen used around the edge of a record player platter - the little black boxes. Using strobe theory, by spinning that strobe pattern, when the record player is spinning at exactly 33rpm (or 45rpm) the boxes stop being a moving blur and appear to stand still. The Stroboclip uses the same visual pattern on it's display screen. Basically, when a string is plucked slightly flat, the black boxes move to the left of the screen, and when sharp, they scroll right. When the string is 'dead on' the boxes don't move at all. No needle or LCD readout can provide that level of accuracy. That accuracy comes at a price however. Whilst I said above that clip on tuners are cheap enough for anyone to buy one - the Peterson comes in at an eye watering £60. Yes, SIXTY.
The Peterson arrives in a plush (but overkill) metal tin box. I say overkill as surely it will end up in the ukulele case on it's own. The design is nice, and the body of the tuner is finished in full metal. Why oh why then, did they choose to attach such a nice looking and feeling tuner body to a cheap plastic clip. The clips on the Snark and other tuners are as good as this, if not better. This is an expensive tuner, but the clip feels loose and cheap to me. Sure it clips on fine, and it's easy to adjust the display to a variety of positions, but I think the clip is a letdown.
The screen is large, and backlit, using LCD black on grey. I must say, that whilst the strobe boxes are extremely clear to see, the same cannot be said for the other display elements, such as the mode you are in. The Snark is certainly easier to see in poor light. Still it's functional. Along the top of the tuner are three buttons - basically a central mode button, and a plus and minus button either side for changing settings in the menus - and there are a LOT of settings. Power is switched on by a tiny, fiddly on off switch, which could be much improved. As well as the usual offerings on some tuners, such as the ability to re-tune the device to another source (such as a piano), the Stroboclip comes with a massive list of preset instruments (28 in fact) for it to work with. It's a chromatic tuner, so picks up the notes it hears, but setting it up for a particular instrument gets it bang on the money quickly. Want to tune your Oud or Sitar? Those are in here. Other settings include a drop capo setting for tuning with a capo, but the clever stuff comes in the next two settings.
Firstly, there is a Sustain setting. If you have ever had an issue with a clip on tuner of the note decaying before the tuner can work it out, you will find this a real boon. With Sustain mode on, it holds on to the note plucked, and continues to give you a display of the note long after it has stopped ringing. This is of less importance tuning a guitar or violin, but on a uke or uke banjo, the sustain of the instrument is naturally shorter. I found this setting to be excellent.
The next setting is something that I think is dividing opinions - the 'sweetened tunings'. Peterson have recognised that tuning an instrument is not a 100% exact science. Sure you know your soprano uke is tuned to GCEA, but actually, the real mathematics of tuning mean that by adjusting these tunings (and I am talking tiny fractions of percentages), you can provide a warmer more harmonic sound. For each of the instrument settings on the tuner, there is the ability to switch on the 'Sweetened version'. More on my opinion on that below.
So how is the tuner to use? Well aside from that fiddly on off button and cheap feeling clip, I tuned my Kanile'a Tenor with my Snark as accurate as I could get it. On with the Stroboclip. One string was bang on, but all of the others needed some adjustment until the display had each string dead on. I then put the Snark back on and it was still reading exactly in tune. That in itself showed that there was more tuning to be done beyond the Snark. I repeated the process with my Koaloha Soprano - that was more of a fiddly job because it employs friction tuners - with this level of accuracy, you need to make only microscopic changes, and this took a bit more effort, but again, the Peterson tuned the instrument more finely. But did it make a difference in sound. I would say yes, on both of those instruments, when bang in tune, they seemed to ring and sing more than before. Was that just an aural illusion? Time will tell and your mileage will vary! Certainly when using the tuner on a cheaper instrument I found very little difference, so I would suggest that this is a tuner for a more professional instrument.
And what about those sweetened settings? Will this jury is still out, and I suspect it may stay that way. I liked the sweetened tuning on my Kanile'a but actually disliked it on the Koaloha - work that out! I would say however, that I used it on my Taylor 6 string guitar in sweetened mode and it sounded absolutely lovely so perhaps there is something in this. Another observation I have yet to put into practice, is how a sweetened tuned uke will sound playing with others tuned regularly - will it make mine sound out of tune?
So there you have it - does it work? Yes, very well, but with some design issues. It's not a tuner for every player, not least because of the price, but also because I think it would be total overkill on anything but a higher end instrument (and at the end of the day, this is a higher end tuner). The clip, the buttons and the display are all a bit of a let down - they work, but could be improved in my opinion. And finally though - does anyone need that supreme accuracy? Well, that depends on your outlook. Certainly before recording something special, you might want to give this a whirl, and I can see this being extremely helpful for checking intonation to a high degree of accuracy all over the neck. I'd say, if you want to splash the cash, give it a whirl - it certainly works.
Links below to get one - bear in mind that since doing this review, Peterson changed the styling to a sleeker black model - does the same thing though!
VIDEO TEST
PROS
Supremely accurate
Nice casing to the tuner
Sweetened tunings may appeal to some
Sustain feature is outstanding
CONS
Price
Cheap clip mounting
Fiddly buttons
Display could be improved
First, thanks to the author Barry Maz for making this book available for the Kindle and at an attractive price. If you have a Kindle and a uke, you should have this book.
This is NOT a "how to play" method book. There are plenty of books for that, plus video tutorials available for free and for pay all over the Web. (check out Ukulele Underground.) This is a reference book on how ukuleles are made, the sizes they come in, the variations, the woods used to make them and other subjects, such as stringing.
The string section was in particular very helpful for me. The types of material (nylon, fluorocarbon) are discussed, how they affect the sound, and when you might want to employ them. For example, if your ukulele has a naturally bright (loud) sound, you may want to put on the Worth brand brown fluorocarbon strings which will mellow out the tone. If you have a ukulele and you are not fond of the sound, try restringing it first.
There is a section on electronics (pickups, mics) a section on training your fingertips to harden against blisters and pain and a section on common notation for ukulele transcriptions. There is much more. It really is "what you want to know."
I think this book is a must-have for any player.
5.0 out of 5 starsExactly what I was looking for!, October 13, 2011
This review is from: What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know (Kindle Edition)
This is a complete, thorough, and yet concise description of how ukuleles are made, the most common woods they are made from, and the history of the ukulele. There are tutorial chapters on basic techniques used for playing and maintaining the ukulele along with internet links for key ukulele websites. The writer discusses his own experience encountering the ukulele for the first time, buying his first ukulele, and learning from his mistakes. A few of the brands he refers to are no longer available, but by and large his desciptions of the nature of the different ukulele makers is clear, concise, and accurate. An excellent introduction to a thoroughly modern, largely misunderstood, and frequently underestimated musical instrument.
5.0 out of 5 starsA nice primer for the newbie!, January 17, 2012
This is not, I repeat NOT an instruction book on how to play your uke! But it IS a GREAT guide to how you should select your first uke, how to judge which types of equipment you will need the first time out instead of the usual trial and error approach taken by so many first time uke players. I literally read it in two hours of non stop reading, and came away much better prepared to start off my uke playing...and that is a great thing! Highly recommended to the first time uke player, the knowledge in it is priceless!
4.0 out of 5 starsBuy This Book Before You Buy Your First Ukulele, January 2, 2012
This review is from: What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know (Kindle Edition)
This quick read is the book I wish I had read before buying my first ukulele. While not designed to teach you how to play the ukulele, it does tell you just about everything else you would want to know about the amazing uke.
Buy this book before you buy your first ukulele and you'll be better informed. If you've already bought an uke, then this book will help you familiarize yourself with your new favorite instrument.
I love this story! Over on Ukulele Underground, one of the forum regulars, CountryMouse alerted us to the fact that she put up a cover of the Amanda Palmer track 'Ukulele Anthem' on YouTube. Nothing unusual in that, but Amanda Palmer herself spots it and Tweets it to her HALF A MILLION fans on Twitter!
I think it's so cool, and would urge you to click LIKE and check out her other videos too!
It recently struck me that I haven't provided any beginners advice to a very popular way of buying a uke - going down the used or vintage route.
In the current economic climate, it is of course clear that many people are finding times tougher on the pocket and generally being more careful with how they spend. So can you get a saving going down the used ukulele route? Well you certainly can, but be aware of the pitfalls. Below I discuss the three main options you can consider. In respect of all of them, in the vast majority of cases you can find some great instruments, but as always - BUYER BEWARE!!
BUYING PRIVATELY
That is to say, buying direct from the seller of an instrument through direct contact with them. Perhaps they posted an advert in the local newspaper, on Craigslist, or on a forum, but you have found yourself a listing for a ukulele that looks like a good deal.
As I say to anyone buying a brand new instrument, the same applies here - do your level best to actually see the instrument before you part with any cash. Look it over extremely carefully and, of course, play it! Firstly, with an instrument of any age that is used (though particularly with vintage gear) you want to be looking for damage, or old damage that has been repaired. Go over the whole of the body, top, back and sides for signs of cracks or dings. Little dings are normal and we all get them on our instruments. If it is just a few dings which are cosmetic, it's then up to you as to how you negotiate that into the price you are willing to pay. But keep an eye out for more serious damage - splits, gaps, signs that the bridge has been re glued in place, or obvious amounts of filler on a previous split. This is a tough area to be absolutely sure on as a very well fixed repair by a skilled luthier is something to behold - a well repaired instrument will give you no worries whatsoever, but a bad repair - different story. Ask the seller about the history - if you find some damage, ask about it, who repaired it and how. If they tell you they re-glued the bridge themselves with super glue after they dropped it down the stairs, obviously, move on!
Look inside the body for more signs of damage or repair that may not have been so well hidden as on the outside too! Get a torch in there if you have to!
Move on to the neck. Hold the uke at the headstock and look down the neck to the bridge. Is it straight, and can you see all of the fret tops? Are the fret tops set well, and in the case of old instruments are they overly worn? On very old instruments, wear to the fingerboard is to be expected, and so long as every fret works cleanly with every string (and, I mean, check this with a tuner!) then you will be ok. Flip the neck over and examine the back, particularly around the heel, and where the neck joins the headstock - any signs of a break that has been re-glued? Again, a good repair is nothing to worry about, but ask.
Are all the tuners ok, do they work, do any of them look replaced, or are they splitting?
So, aside from looking for damage - how does the ukulele play? Is the action playable? Bear in mind that with very old instruments, all those years of tension means that the neck will naturally have started to raise. Over the years, this raises action, and then then can be adjusted by dropping the saddle a little. How much saddle is left on the instrument? If you have a very old uke in your hands and the saddle is only just protruding above the bridge mounting, it's clearly been adjusted about as low as it can now go. The only next step is to have the neck professionally re-set. Get out your clip on tuner, and check the tuning at the nut, and to confirm that the notes are the same at the 12th fret. Go further, check various other fret positions - do they all fret cleanly? Most of all, how does it sound and feel to you - only you can answer that question.
Of course, the above assumes that you are able to see the instrument, but I appreciate many of you need to rely on having a uke shipped - this is where you need to be much more careful. I would want to see many many photographs of the ukulele if I was spending some serious money. Perhaps even ask for a sound sample!. Ask the history - be a nuisance. Bear in mind that there are scam artists out there - on the good ukulele forums such as Ukulele Underground, they have a rule in their marketplace that any photos of the uke in question must include a piece of paper in the shot with the date written on it and the name of the forum member. This stops people just trying it on with stock photos they have grabbed from ebay and trying to pass the uke off as their own.
If you are having a ukulele shipped, try to pay with PayPal (its safe) and ensure the uke is sent insured, well packaged, and ideally in a case.
And remember - if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.
BUYING FROM A STORE
Your safer option (though still with some pitfalls) is buying through a store who deal with used or vintage ukuleles. My advice above applies here too - if you can actually get to the store to try the instrument out, I would urge you to do so.
If you can't do that - check the provenance of the store - who are they? Ask on the forums if anyone else has used them to ensure they are not a fly by night operation. There are obvious well known names out there such as Elderly who stock used gear, and with those people you should be fine. Again, ask for as many photographs as you can and for any details of damage or repair and how it was fixed. Good dealers will probably know much of the history on newer instruments, particularly at the higher end (and may have fixed themselves), but bear in mind on very old vintage gear it would be unreasonable to expect the dealer to know much about the full history. The comments above about shipping and insurance apply here equally - don't take the risk!
One other sort of store I should mention here is an potential interesting source for a uke - the antique shop or flea market. Even at car boot / garage sales I have walked through you occasionally see instruments. In these cases, buying is a total minefield, and if you are prepared to take a chance then go for it. Remember though, it is a real chance. The sellers may have simply picked up the instrument from a house clearance, and are unlikely to know much about the instrument. It may have no strings meaning you can't really check how it plays either. Look it over very carefully, and Buyer Beware!
THE HALFWAY HOUSE - EBAY
I couldn't write this post without a mention of what must be the biggest marketplace for used gear in the world - Ebay. I have both bought used instruments from Ebay, and sold some of mine also. I call it a halfway house because whilst it is, in the main (shop sellers excluded) a private marketplace, Ebay provides some more of the security buying from a well known shop brings.
This is a very popular choice for those wanting to buy an instrument for a better price, and the listings are full of ukuleles for sale. The vast majority seem to be the bottom end ukes, as sellers try to jump on the bandwagon, but hidden within the noise are a range of very nice ukes too. Sadly, the ukulele boom is working against those wanting to buy used for two reasons. First, if the ukulele is a decent one, you can expect to have a lot of bidding competition. Secondly some dealers are looking to cash in on the boom, and are setting reserves or buy it now prices which are, in my opinion, unrealistic. As with anything on ebay, do your research, set yourself a limit and don't be tempted to go over it! There are more fish in the sea!
Check the feedback of the seller and the quality of the listing. Someone who cares about the instrument will go into lots of detail about the history, any damage, and provide lots of good photographs. Beware the listing that is simply a one line with a blurry photograph. Sure, it may be a bargain in disguise from a seller who doesn't know any better, but do you want to take the chance.
Paying with PayPal will again provide you with an extra layer of protection, and ensure that the uke is well packed, ideally in a case, and insured. Even better, if you can pick it up - do so. If you arrive and the ukulele is clearly not in the condition it was described as, walk away.
So in summary, buying used can be thrilling and fun, and there are certainly some bargains to be had out there. Like anything though, there are chancers and scammers too, so be careful and trust your instincts.
And finally - what about buying an instrument that is listed as damaged? That may sound crazy, but it depends what it is. If I saw a 1960's Kamaka with a busted bridge or split headstock for the right price I would certainly consider buying it. That is to say, if I worked out the rough cost of getting a good luthier repair, added it to the price of the instrument in it's damaged state - then why not?
I'm torn. Torn between whether this DVD cover makes me happy, or will stop me sleeping tonight. On so many levels.
For example, it has Rolf Harris on the cover. I love Rolf, but why is he dressed in naval uniform? The Wiggles are clearly bright, colourful and cheery, but the chap in the red is scaring me... So many questions....
Sharing this for a couple of reasons. First, I think Seth Lakeman is a bit of a genius - lucky enough to have seen him a couple of times and it's enthralling. Second reason is I do like to occasionally feature the close cousins of the ukulele on this site.
Wait a minute is he playing a ukulele or isn't he? Well, whilst it is four strings, and looks like a large Baritone, it's actually a Tenor Guitar. Seth is a fiddle player at heart, and the tuning of the tenor is linked to that. The tenor guitar is tuned CGDA, and the violin (and mandolin) is tuned GDAE, so it fits him perfectly.
So similar but different, but enough of that, just listen and enjoy.
Well it is here, and i've been playing it non stop for the last day, so here is my initial review of the new Firefly Banjo Ukulele from the Magic Fluke Company.
Firefly Banjo Ukulele
Firstly some housekeeping - you may have seen that this is my second delivery, as the first one was damaged in transit. Being in the UK, I have spoken highly of two shops for buying ukes, the Southern Ukulele Store in the UK and Musique 83 in France. I needed the banjo for a gig this week (ideally) and at the time of ordering SUS were out of stock. I therefore ordered from France, and want to point out that there service dealing with the broken one was SUPERB. Sadly, they didn't have stock for a replacement, and therefore SUS sorted me out with more SUPERB next day service. So, therefore a big shout of thanks to both stores!
Right, on to the instrument itself. The Firefly is a banjo ukulele designed by the Magic Fluke Company in the USA. I am a fan of their Flea and Fluke ukuleles so it was really only a matter of time until I completed the family. It is essentially nothing more than a Flea ukulele neck with the distinctive headstock bolted through a Remo 8 inch hand drum. As such - at over £200 that seems a lot for something so simple. It's more than that though, as I will explain.
Firefly logo label inside the rim of the pot
The uke is essentially soprano scaled, but is actually slightly longer than my 14 fret Flea, as this one squeezes in 16 frets. It actually feels more Concert to me. It comes in a variety of 'flavours' from the Company - with a moulded plastic fingerboard or wooden (this one is wooden), in Walnut or Maple finish (this one is Maple) and with the optional upgrade to Peghed tuners, though I am happy enough with the stock frictions.
Looking at the pot first of all, as I say, it's just a hand drum, nothing more, with a synthetic Remo Fiberskyn head. As such, unlike other banjo ukes, there are no J hook tensioners around the rim holding the head in place, just a braided band of fabric. That has raised eyebrows with many as it means, naturally, that the head cannot be tuned or replaced in the event of damage. Fluke advised that the head is pre-tuned, but I suppose as a new instrument nobody really knows what years of playing will do to it. The pot is also unusual as it is not wooden, it's made of a synthetic composite material which actually looks like High Pressure Laminate - essentially a very tough cardboard - they call it an Acousticon Pot. The outer of the rim is finished with a faux wood effect label. Now all of this is sounding a bit ropey as I type it out - but there is a reason that Fluke went this route, and it's also the reason that I was keen to buy it. Weight and comfort. I already own a banjo uke in the Ozark 2035. I like that uke, but I find it really heavy and uncomfortable to hold and play. The hooks dig in my arm and lightweight it is not. The Ozark isn't even a heavy banjolele and if you grab one of the really traditional looking ones, they are heavier still. The Firefly on the other hand - light as a feather, really easy to hold without a strap - no discomfort. What Fluke set out to achieve on that front they have succeeded with very, very well. This is a really easy uke to 'get along with'. To add to that, I am, personally, not a huge fan of the trad banjo uke 'look' (should I duck?) and therefore the Firefly ticks that box for me too - I think the minimal look is just great.
Firefly ukulele head and pot - essentially just a hand drum
Turning the uke over we see how the neck is attached to the pot. The traditional Fluke neck has had an extra piece of wood added to it (the neck is a two piece) which runs through a hole in the top of the pot and is bolted to the inside of the bottom. This is the dowel rod arrangement seen on most banjos and is very nifty. I also adore the engraved Firefly logo on the rod, a bug composed of a neck for a body, notes for the legs, a banjo head for its butt and a Fluke headstock! The way the rod is attached is clever in terms of its ability to be adjusted. The connection on the bottom is stacked with small rubber washers and removing or adding these allows you to adjust the action high or low. As it is, my Firefly arrived with action just as I like it, but it's nice to be able to adjust it.
Inside the Firefly pot
The bolt that holds the dowel rod to the pot runs through the uke into the small but nicely formed tailpiece for holding the strings. To attach the strings, they simply need a knot that you hook into the gaps.
Firefly tailpiece and braided rim
On to the walnut neck, and this is where I knew that the Firefly would be a winner. I really like the Fluke and Flea necks - they are superbly accurate and for someone with biggish hands, they are wider than the average uke and chunkier in profile. My Fluke and Flea have plastic fingerboards, and I was keen to try a wooden one this time. The wood used on the fingerboard is not specified (just a hardwood) but is a nice piece and, like any other Fluke instrument, is supremely accurate. The 16 frets are nickel (all dressed and finished very well), and the uke also benefits from a 'zero fret' - that is to say, the nut is not the end point of the vibrating string, it is only there to hold the spacing. At the very top of the neck is a fret that the string sits on - this too helps with accuracy / intonation.
The classic Fluke headstock - note the zero fret
The headstock is standard Flea / Fluke shape which I love, and the tuners are Grover 2b frictions which I think work just fine. The buttons on this one are black, but if you order the maple version of the firefly, the buttons are white. I know some people despise friction tuners, and I have blogged about that before. I personally find the tuners that Fluke use are just fine.
The whole thing is finished off with a standard uke banjo ebony topped bridge which you simply slide into place to the pencil marks helpfully provided. The strings on this one are made by La Bella, and unusually come with a wound C string. I must say, I am not totally in love with them, as I find that wound string is giving an overly sharp sound to it (a very banjo sound!) and suspect I will be changing to Aquila all nylgut strings in due course.
Lastly, the uke arrived in a normal Flea shaped soft gig back, made of denim, and screen printed with the Magic Fluke logo. Nice.
Denim Firefly gig bag
So how do I get on with it? Well, as I say above, the lightness and comfort are absolutely superb, and that is a huge plus point for me. This is a uke that is easy and quick to pick up and play, easy to play standing or sitting, and just feels great in the hand. I may offend some banjo uke fans in saying that, because it isn't traditional looking, but that weight and comfort thing is something that has put me off banjo ukes. I also love the design of it, which, being a Fluke, is not surprising - this one will have people asking questions. It's a supremely playable looker!
The action is nice and low, with no buzzing - it's a fast and very easy neck to play. I would say that those who only play banjo ukuleles may find the action too low for their liking, but if you are coming to this from a standard ukulele you will find it a dream (all Fluke instruments fall into that category in my opinion). Intonation all over the neck is perfect too, and with the adjustable bridge, that is the only thing you need to worry about for accuracy in tuning.
Sound wise, it's not as full toned or as loud as other banjo ukuleles I have played, but I like that fact - it's mellower, and I suspect when I fit Aquilas, will be a little mellower still in getting rid of that wound string. There are a few 'ghost' notes as is common with banjos, and you will see that I have solved that in the pictures above in the normal way - sticking a small cloth in wedged between the rod and the underside of the head. Being open backed, I can control the tone and volume depending on whether I play the uke close to my chest or with the back opened away slightly. But I like the sound a lot, kind of not quite banjo, not quite uke. Whilst I say that other banjos are louder, this is not a quiet uke - certainly louder than a standard wooden ukulele!
Turning back to my earlier observation - is a neck bolted on to a drum that costs £20 worth £200? Well, I think so - this uke is more than the sum of it's parts. You know you are buying the quality that Fluke deliver - you KNOW it will be well made, you KNOW it will be accurate, and you KNOW it will be different. Gripes wise, I could moan about the fact the head is not replaceable, but if it was, it would lose the minimalist look. I suppose that synthetic pot accounts for the fact that the sound is not that fully toned, but again, changing that would make the uke heavier so it's about balance.
I therefore think it's likely to be a love it or loath it instrument for people - I personally like it a lot - the looks and the playability are the key for me and I would highly recommend you try one out.
SCORES
Looks - 8.5
Fit and finish - 10
Sound - 7.5
Value for money - 6
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