Schoenhut Oak Mahogany Ukulele REVIEW

Straight up with another ukulele review so quickly after the last. Doing so as this one is putting the cat amongst the pigeons on social media and a few people are keen to see my thoughts. The Schoenhut Oak Mahogany Ukulele.

The instrument is part of their 5400 series which also comes in several other designs, and retail for about £35 over here in the UK. It sure is a striking uke design, but striking to me because it is a direct (and I mean direct) copy of the Flea ukulele designed by the Magic Fluke Company in the USA. The Schoenhut is made in China. Is that cool? I don't think so, but this review will not get into the politics of how this came about. All I will say is that Magic Fluke have announced that they came to an agreement with Schoenhut regarding the design, and it is not for me to speculate further on that - it is their business. One thing is for sure though, there are fans out there who are raving about these and those who are claiming they are the worst ukes on earth. Neither view will affect my own review, but I mention it as it seems to be a hot topic at the moment. It is worth saying though that some people are reporting no quality problems, and some are reporting a ton of them.

As a final point before we get into the body of the review, Schoenhut are marketing this as a 'toy' and not an instrument. I will give you my thoughts on that towards the end of this piece, but it is an interesting and important thing to note.

So from a visual perspective it is pretty much identical to the Flea. The body is a single piece of polycarbonate onto which a laminate wood top is fitted to make the sound chamber. The plastic seems to have a slightly different feel to the Flea original so I don't know if it is as strong as the Flea (a uke I have dropped from a great height and is still going strong).  It was also quite scuffed out of the box.

The top though is VERY different. The Flea uses a laminate wood made from Australian Hoop Pine and is extremely thin. The Schoenhut on the other hand uses an excessively thick top. While we are here, I have no idea what 'Oak Mahogany' is, and think they couldn't make up their minds. No matter though because that bright orange grain pattern isn't wood anyway, the top is finished with a sticker or transfer of a wood design, over which the sound hole decoration is applied in black. The whole top is overly glossy to me.

I quite like the sound hole rosette, but would have preferred them to have left the large name logo off the front. It is also overly glossy unlike the Flea.

The bridge is a slotted type and looks very similar to the Flea. It is however lifting off the soundboard and I therefore have no idea on how long this will last. Looks precarious to me.

The neck is wooden like the Flea and very similar in shape. It is however finished in an overly thick gloss for my liking. It is also a wider shape when we reach the headstock, with the Flea having a far narrower taper. This is an issue to me as I found that when playing chords that use a lot of the first fret space, my hand is bumping into the headstock. It feels cramped, particularly evident on a chord like F minor.

The fingerboard is made of plastic and glued on to the wooden neck, just like the Flea, but again looks like a different sort of plastic. These moulded necks have the advantage of being super accurate in intonation, also helped by the use of a zero fret. No complaints in this regard, the Schoenhut is indeed accurate all down the neck. But a word about that material. One complaint people have levelled at Flea is the fact that their plastic frets can wear down over time. Mine is about five years old, gets played a LOT and is starting to show it. Sure, it can be replaced, but its a hassle. I took a small file and pressed it onto one of the frets on the Flea that I don't play too much and it left no mark. I repeated this on the Schoenhut and it left a noticeable dent in the fret. This suggests to me that the Schoenhut fingerboard will not last too long at all.

Fret markers are painted on in silver at the 5th, 7th and 12th, just like the Flea. The slightest touch of a nail on the Schoenhut markers though scratches them off as you may be able to see in the pictures.

Tuning is provided by friction tuners of an extremely cheap quality. Plastic on plastic friction, and they were incredibly sticky and extremely difficult to adjust to anything useable. Worse still one of the tuner buttons had sheared internally and turning it would not turn the post. That is terrible quality control. I fitted new pegs I had lying around just so I could play it and write this review. For the record the originals were also black, with silver, not gold posts. I have read some suggest they are Gotoh pegs - the certainly are not!

Finishing the deal are black, cheap nylon strings which were absolutely hopeless so I immediately re strung this with Worth Flourocarbons.

And there we have it. Very similar looks, but not quite an exact match to the Flea, let down in my opinion by the quality of materials (top, bridge, fingerboard and tuners) for my liking. But for such a saving on the Flea is that forgivable? I think it depends who the player is. For a beginner or a child, then I say no (marketed as a toy or not). If you are already a player and fancies a project or a bit of fun for £35, then maybe. But this is only half the picture, how does it play?

I have prepared a video review side by side with the Flea for you to listen to which will help you here (see below), but generally, it's quite a playable little thing. I say that when what I should say is 'its playable now I have replaced the tuners and the strings!'

Play on the neck feels very similar to the Flea, but is let down by that chunky headstock on the lower open chords and the feel of the gloss on the neck. Action and setup is identical to the Flea, but no surprises there as that is what the design is intended to do.

Sound wise, it really isn't too bad at all. I think it has similar volume to the Flea, but lacks some of the more complex harmonics of its rival. It has a thinner and boxier sound, but really, not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, some people may not actually notice the difference. In short, it took some  effort to get there, but it sounds surprisingly good.

So perhaps a review of two halves this one? Well, not quite. The quality control is a major bugbear for me, and I have no idea how long that fingerboard or bridge are going to last. Nobody wants those sort of issues.

And in coming to a  conclusion on it, I have to return to the issue of who is buying it. Sure, if you know what you are doing, and prepared to deal with the pitfalls, it is a bit of a bargain (even though that £35 will become about £60 when you have bought new tuners and strings!). But for beginners and children, I cannot recommend this as I am not convinced you will get one without issues. Perhaps I was just totally unlucky, but I don't think so for one very simple reason. £35 does not buy a lot of anything these days and it was unlikely to be a miracle for that price.

And that brings me on to perhaps my biggest issue with it - the concept of it being a 'toy'. I personally don't like ukes being touted as toys in any case as I think it just devalues them and reinforces the stereotype as 'joke instrument'. But are they really toys? They are priced at a level that puts them a little more expensive than the likes of a Makala Dolphin, and more than the Korala Explore, both of which I think are great. If its a toy, why not cheaper still? Is the toy reference a handy get out clause. Baz from Got A Ukulele thinks its bad, so what - it's just a toy!!!

And besides, if it is a toy, then is that an excuse for it to be badly made? Toy does not have to mean 'crap'.

Mainly though if you want to buy your child a ukulele, then buy them a ukulele not a toy. Something like the Dolphin or the Korala are cheaper, and in my experience more reliable. Better still, talk to your child and get them something like a Lanikai LU11 which is about the same price as this uke when you take into account string cost and tuner price.

So do I recommend it. Well if you want a project, then knock yourself out, but if you are a beginner or buying for a child I would recommend caution.

Does sound ok though. Intriguing!


STOP PRESS!!! Before you take account of the scores below - I have now given this more play, and my fears about the fretboard were proved true. This will soon become an unplayable uke. AVOID!

See http://www.gotaukulele.com/2014/07/schoenhut-ukulele-long-term-test-and.html

Schoenhut next to my original Flea

PROS

Price
Sound (when properly setup  and strings changed)

CONS

Quality control
Thick top
Overly glossy
Concerns over fingerboard hardness
Bad tuners

SCORES

Looks - 7
Fit and Finish - 4.5
Sound - 7.5
Value For Money - 6

OVERALL - 6.3 out of 10

To understand my review scoring and see this result in context - visit my review page at

http://www.gotaukulele.com/p/ukulele-reviews.html

VIDEO REVIEW

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Kremona Coco Tenor Ukulele - REVIEW

It's nice when a new ukulele brand comes my way for review. I am not talking about the flood of cheap rubbish at the bottom end, but a new, decent playable instrument. Thanks to Omega Music in the UK, I have been lucky to have been able to spend some time testing such a uke. The Kremona Coco Tenor.

Kremona are an instrument company based in Bulgaria in Eastern Europe, and have actually been making stringed instruments for many years. This though is part of a new range of ukuleles they have brought to the market, and the Coco Tenor represents (I believe) the top of their line. It retails at £349 and is made in Bulgaria. Yes, that's right a move away from the usual China for ukes at this price point.

My readers will know that I am not a huge one for 'bling' but when I first took this out of its box my reaction was 'WOW'.  Perhaps 'bling' is the wrong word, as this isn't actually an overly ostentatious instrument, but it just spoke to me on many levels, and impressed me for being bold enough to change many of the norms that are relied upon by so many manufacturers.

The body is a traditional double bout shape, and is made of solid woods all round. The top is made from solid cedar, and the back and sides are solid Indian Rosewood. The contrast between the light and dark woods is, in my opinion, fantastic. The grain on the top is (typically for cedar) straight and even, the top itself being made of two pieces of wood, nicely book matched.

The sides are in a deep rosewood brown with plenty of stripe that is even and parallel with the build. The back is put together by two book matched pieces of the same deep rosewood and looks great. The back has very little arch to it (if any at all) which was a surprise, but we will come on to sound projection and range later on.

There is decorative binding where the top and back meet the sides, with a  brown white brown stripe showing on the top and back, and also a similar finish on the sides themselves. I think it looks really nice and sets off the darker wood really well. Where the sides meet at the base there is a similar trim.

The whole body is finished in a satin that, like some of the Kalas who employ the same finish, make it look and feel a little artificial. Thankfully though there is enough grain coming through to offset this more than it does on say, the Kala Acacia I reviewed. Finish is generally good, though there are one or two bubble spots and rougher patches. Honestly though, I have seen much, much worse on ukes that cost more money.

I mentioned above that I like manufacturers who do things a little differently and the first thing that strikes you in that regard on the Kremona is that sound hole. It's an oval shape (itself unusual) but is decorated around in quartered segments of inlaid wood (what appear to be rosewood and maple). I think it looks great and will certainly turn heads when you turn up to a jam with one of these.

The bridge mounting is also different. It's a standard tie bar bridge but shaped nicely and differently than 99% of ukes you will buy. The saddle appears to be bone or Tusq and is set on an angle. Sadly the bridge seems very low giving little room for manoeuvre if you needed to take the action down.

A look inside and all seems neat and tidy. The manufacturer label is hand filled in on the serial number line (I like little touches like this that remind you it was actually built with human intervention!) and the bracing looks nicely shaped (if a little rough around some edges). All tidy generally though.

On to the neck and this is made of mahogany and is in three pieces with a joint at the heel and the headstock. It has a nice profile to it, not too thin and slightly wider at the nut than many tenors - something I prefer and I find helps playability. People often think the scale of the ukulele (i.e. soprano, concert, tenor) dictates fingerboard space, and as such the myth that concerts are easier than sopranos. Whilst this applies to some degree, nut width is a far bigger factor.

The neck is topped with a rosewood fingerboard, which is evenly coloured all over. The fingerboard edges are not rolled, but it remains extremely comfortable in the hand. Outward facing fretboard markers are inlaid in white at the 5th, 7th, 10th and 12th frets. As far as player facing markers go, we have a solitary one at the 7th. Better than none I suppose!

There are 18 nickel silver frets, with 14 to the top of the body and they are on the chunkier side which I like to play. They are really nicely finished on the fret ends, in fact one of the better examples of finish I have seen in this regard.

Past the bone nut (which is nicely applied, nice and low with the strings sitting on the slots, not deep inside them) and the headstock is another highlight. I will always applaud a manufacturer who chooses to go with a headstock shape different from the most common Martin clone shape. This one is kind of offset and looks like a mountain range silhouette.  I really like it. The headstock is faced with rosewood, and the facing plate also has binding detail where it joins the headstock. Another really nice point of detail.

Tuning is provided by open geared tuners in gold. They are unbranded but work perfectly and seem to be of good quality. The buttons are not overly large and suit the scale of the instrument just fine. I personally would have preferred the tuners in silver not gold, and perhaps the pegs in dark rosewood to compliment the back, but I am now nit-picking. (I do think they are a little gaudy though).

The package is finished off with Aquila strings, what else. I haven't changed them as this uke has to go back to the dealer, but I would be sorely tempted to experiment with strings on this one.

So I think you can probably tell from the description above, that I am really rather taken with how this uke looks, and the little differences that set it apart from the pack. I will go further, I think it looks FABULOUS. As I often say though, looks do not affect tone or playability. The Kremona is doing well so far, but how does it play and sound?

Firstly, the setup is just fine for my tastes. Thankfully the action at the bridge is acceptable as if it was high I may struggle to take it down much more. The action at the nut and the general finish is excellent and one of the best nut finishes I have seen outside bespoke ukulele builds.

To hold, the instrument is comfortable. It actually feels a little body heavy which is no bad thing, although if this was mine I would fit a strap button for performances anyway. The satin finish makes it a very tactile thing to hold though and the neck comfort is better than most instruments I have played at this price point.

Volume wise, well, it has bags of it. A really good projection, and when strummed or plucked hard it can really shout the volume out when needed. Played quietly though it is surprising how easy it is to get a clear tone out of it, so it clearly has a great range.

Strummed and there is great separation between the strings, and chords ring very accurately all over the neck. It doesn't quite have the complex harmonics and chime of some higher end instruments, but compared to a lot of Kalas I have played in this price range, the Kremona excels. Sustain seems to be a little shorter on strumming compared to picking though. Nothing overly short, but to my style of playing and my ears, this instrument seems slightly better suited to fingerpicking than plain strumming. I don't think that is a bad thing. Also bear in mind the Aquila strings. I am not a fan, and sustain when strumming will, I suspect, be improved with a string change to fluorocarbons.

Playability is helped by that really nice neck and nut width. I found it very easy to play with no issues of bumping fingers or lack of space when hammering on more complex chord shapes, even on the lower frets. It feels very natural and intuitive to play and that is, in my experience, the mark of a very playable instrument. To date only a couple of other ukes have given me that feeling and they both cost considerably more than this one.

So in short, I think this is a winner. I was immediately taken by the fact that the build features a number of elements that make it stand out from a crowd that is increasing in size. It's a head turner for sure, but I am particularly pleased that the playability and tone do not let it down. That would have been a real shame.

Recommended, and be sure to check out the video review below. Thanks again to Matt at Omega for the loan.

PROS

Looks - all sorts of details and features that are unique
Neck finish, nut, frets, width - all wonderful
The contrast between that top and the back
A move away from China

CONS

Slighty plasticy satin finish
Gaudy tuners

SCORES

Looks - 9
Fit and Finish - 8.5
Sound - 9
Value For Money - 9

OVERALL - 9

To understand my review scoring and see this result in context - visit my review page at

http://www.gotaukulele.com/p/ukulele-reviews.html

VIDEO REVIEW

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A Look Inside Ukulele Friction Tuners - Not All Bad!

A common thing I read on ukulele social media is how beginners seem to hate friction tuning pegs on ukes. I decided to look into them a little more closely. Guess what... you get what you pay for.

Personally, on smaller traditional looking instruments, particularly sopranos, I don't think you can beat the look of friction pegs. Geared tuners on small instruments can make the neck top heavy and just, kind of, stick out! But it is a worry that friction tuning pegs have gained a reputation to being difficult to use, sticky or just plain useless. This is not true across the board.

Sadly, like many things with the uke today, cheap parts flood the market and it is therefore no wonder that pegs form part of that. The friction pegs on the recent uke that I took to pieces, are some of the worst I have seen and are a nightmare to use for a beginner (I just about got them working). The vast majority of other cheaper ukes that use friction pegs (including some higher cost ones) will use pretty basic friction tuners too. I am used to them, and I can tune with them, but have been working with them for years. A beginner though will find they stick, shoot to over tuning and that they are generally hard to be precise with. A shame, but very common.

However, if you spend only a little extra money, you can find some really nice pegs with a number of parts that honestly will change your perception of friction pegs. The pegs on my Koaloha Soprano are sublime. They look pretty much the same as other friction pegs, but only when using them will you see what I mean. They hold, but turn as smooth as geared pegs, without slipping. Not all friction pegs are alike!

So whilst it may not be cost effective to add £25's worth of better pegs to a £20 ukulele, if you are playing a £100 uke and dissatisfied with the friction pegs, or fancy removing geared tuners to move to a more traditional look, retro fitting them is easy and you can get good quality.

Anyway, I put together this video to show you how they compare, and what goes in to making a higher end peg.

Enjoy!



( DIRECT LINK )

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Why Do We Accept Cheap Junk Ukuleles? The Ready Ace Review

Time for another ukulele rant, and another piece I have been meaning to write for some time. Why is it that people accept and buy such cheap junk ukuleles? Since when did the assumption that a musical instrument has become a bargain price impulse purchase? Why is this considered normal in so many quarters?

In fact, this is also a kind of uke review but read on for that.  This post was prompted by me spotting a cheap ukulele in a local shop that took my breath away... massively.  You know the sort of thing - the brightly painted, thick laminate ukes that plague eBay and unscupulous dealers who jump on the ukulele bandwagon because they see the ukulele as a 'popular' money spinner. Sadly what these sellers don't do is actually give much of a damn as to whether the ukulele they are touting is actually playable or not, and as such the market is full of instruments that could only very loosely be called 'musical instruments'. Ukulele shaped objects perhaps.

A couple of points before I continue. This is not a case of instument snobbery and I appreciate that money is tight for many people. But is there really an expectation that you are going to get something that works for only £10 (or in the case of the uke I look at below, £8 or about the price of a good set of strings)??  Really?  These are musical instruments! Would you expect a violin, guitar, piano, flute or whatever else for £10? A single ukulele lesson, just a lesson, can cost you twice that! Why is the uke considered to be the cheap one in the instrument world?

I am also writing this because I get a lot of email on the subject of 'I bought a ukulele for cheap and it won't play in tune', but also because I see a lot of beginners saying the same thing on various social media spots.  I have ranted about this subject before, particularly over instruments I have reviewed such as this Mahalo which should never be considered 'intruments' in my view.

People have also said to me that the ukulele should be cheap because it is small - like THAT is a good reason. The media endlessly tell us the same. What a complete nonsense! They are still musical instruments and need a certain basic level of technicality in the build to make them capable of being played properly. I am not just talking about action and setup, but basic build characteristics such as the neck angle, the position of the bridge and the frets. I have seen instruments from certain brands where they were just plain built 'wrong', making accurate playability a total impossibility. In that I mean, this is not a subjective problem such as 'they sound rubbish', but are actual build defects that would mean the instrument would never play in tune. Ever. And anyway,  if it follows that small should be cheap, a good tin whistle or harmonica costs more than the uke I include in the example below...

So what is going on here? Well, with any boom, supply grows to meet demand, and China is the powerhouse in this regard. They are churning out instruments by the bucketload and in many cases giving little thought to the end player. I am not down on China or Chinese instruments, and they produce some fine quality ukuleles when the production is overseen by a brand that demands quality. Sadly, in other areas they are equally quite happy to knock out sub par products that find their ways into our homes in their droves. And I mean droves. That's where ones like the one in this review fit.

The price at which ukuleles become basically playable is very, very subjective, but it certainly isn't at £10 or even £20... It just isn't and don't believe the hype that it is. Don't expect it because it's small and don't expect it because it's fun. Most of all, don't expect it just because you want it. For me I think they start getting good at about £100 over here in the UK, and in the £100-£300 range you can find ukes to suit all abilities. Beyond that you get some sublime instruments, and if you top over £1000 you get into the real stunners. Below £100 you 'may' (and I stress, MAY here) get something playable if you take advice, but generally speaking you will get rubbish.

But there is another problem behind this. I am afraid to say that the sales of these junk ukes go hand in hand with the misconception that the ukulele is just a toy instrument, a joke, or 'just a bit of fun'. And so long as that myth remains, then these monstrosities will continue to appear in stores. It is almost as if the uke is considered a throwaway item.... Nothing serious, no harm done... Never mind whether they actually play in tune or not..

Anyway, lets take a look at this one I picked up today. AND TO BE CLEAR - THIS IS NOT JUST A PIECE ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR UKE - I AM USING THIS AS AN EXAMPLE - THERE ARE INCREASING NUMBERS OF UKES APPEARING ON THE MARKET AS BAD AS THIS ONE!!! 

Specimen A comes packaged in a suitably Hawaiian themed box complete with tropical flower motif and goes by the name of the 'Ready Ace' ( a trades description breach if ever there was one as you will see...)

It is a laminate bodied uke complete with a thick, glossy, garish paint finish like so many cheap ukes at this price point. Interestingly, the makers decided that gloss on the body was not enough for this little beauty and decided to paint the fingerboard in gloss black, and then detail the frets in gold paint. I have never seen anything quite like it. Paint, paint, paint, and lots of it.

The bridge is a slotted type, with a saddle of plastic and is screwed to the body. Nothing massively wrong here I guess. A look at the edge of the sound hole shows that the laminate top is super thick, so volume and tone are bound to be compromised. This is probably one of the thickest I have ever seen. Bear in mind the body of a ukulele is a sound box. It's supposed to be resonant, light and snappy. Thick woods do not create resonance. Added to that, the bridge is actually set in the wrong place and on a slight angle. Critical error number one. Put the bridge in the wrong place and you will never get accurate scale length on the strings, and that means you will never get accurate play on the fretboard. Things like this matter. Greatly.

It is the neck though where things then fall apart completely. Those frets are not set correctly either. Not only is the spacing somewhat random, most of them are set in the fingerboard at a slight angle and as such this instrument will NEVER play in tune. In fact the instrument would play better if they didn't bother with the frets at all! And that's all before I talk about just how hideous that black paint looks and feels on the hands. So bridge out of place, frets out of place... we already have a massive failure.

The tuning is provided by some of the cheapest friction tuners I have ever seen, that use a piece of cardboard as a washer to create the friction. They were loose on arrival (which would be enough to fox any new player or child) and one was actually detached completely and rolling around in the box. I tightened them up as far as I dare without splitting the plastic and the strings (nylon by the way, and all of exactly the same gauge) just about held. To use them though is just awful. You either have these so tight that they hold the strings but make it impossible to tune them, or they are moveable but just spin backwards with any sort of string tension.

Action wise, this is far too high at the nut and the saddle, but that can be adjusted I suppose. Those misplaced frets and bridge cannot....

So the build is horrible as I say, but the feel of that ultra thick paint is just horrid on the hands and naturally it feels far heavier than it should for a soprano.

Playing it, well that high action was pretty awful, but the misplaced frets are the killer here. Tuning on the E and A strings was not too bad, but don't ever try to play a chord that uses those strings in conjunction with the G or the C string as they just won't work! The thick body woods mean that the instrument has virtually no tone or sustain to speak of and a pitiful volume too. Hardly surprising.

I recorded a video to accompany this post which you will find at the end if you are interested. So in other words a totally unplayable instrument. I should take it back for a refund, but...... I wasn't finished with it just yet...

I wanted to look deeper into this uke. Literally.  So throwing my £7.99 to the wind for the sake of the good readers of this site, out came the craft knife. What I found inside was frankly revolting.

Firstly the top. No real surprises here, super thick plywood with some over spray from the painting process and enormous screws holding the bridge down. Presumably that super thick paint and super thick laminate was the reason why there is no bracing.... at all... none.

Looking into the body though it actually looks like someone has vomited into the uke. There seems to be more glue poured around the body than there is holding the back and top on to the sides. In fact, the top was really easy to prize off, so this uke was never going to last. It is a complete and utter mess. The tail and neck blocks look like they have been sawn off a tree that was growing outside the factory. This is what your princely sum of £7.99 gets you.

Interesting note - the label says it is an Acoustic Guitar......

Why does any of this matter? We don't play the inside of the uke. Well, it is an indication of just how shoddy the build process is from start to finish (as if that wasn't immediately obvious from the outside...). It shows that this production line couldn't care less about whose hands the 'instrument' lands in, and only cares about fleecing the buying public for what they can on the back of the popular ukulele trend.

Why do I care about this one? Surely Baz, you knew this was going to be a rubbish uke? You may yourself be confident that you would never buy one of these. That is good to hear, but sadly people ARE buying them, and buying them in great quantities. The very best outcome for someone with one of these is that they have wasted their money. But the worst outcome is that somebody who wanted to give the ukulele a try would end up frustrated and totally put off because the thing is unplayable. This may be their first and last foray into the uke world. Think of the child on their birthday morning who wanted a uke and opened this box. It's very sad, and whilst there is little I can do about it, if I had my way then these things would be banned. In fact the concept of a child getting one of these really upsets me. Destroying a musical instrument relationship so early is just not on. As it is, all I can do is shout about it here and hope that people take note. And remember - it's not just Ready Ace that are guilty here. Lots of junk like this is available. This one is just indicative of the problem.

If you are buying, buy from a reputable place and please remember that you get what you pay for. If you are a dealer, eBay or otherwise carrying these sort of ukes, and shipping them out without even opening the boxes, then shame on you. Have a think about what you are putting on the market and perhaps have a bit more pride rather than just ripping people off.

As a final point -  some people are suggesting this sort of uke is not sold as an instrument, but just as a toy or decorative piece. Sadly, that is not true - this one even came with a leaflet inside with a chord chart and a how to play and tune guide.... See below.

So.. what SHOULD you buy for yourself or your kids if these are quite so bad?

Well if you really don't want to / cannot afford to spend much more than twenty quid, then you really should take a look at a Makala Dolphin uke. They will need some adjustment, but are very playable and project well (I own two). They are around 30-35 pounds and I know many top end players who own them because they are fun. They really are not too bad.

Or how about another favourite of mine - the Octopus Brand soprano ukulele- seriously nice for next to no money.

The Lanikai LU11 or 21's are considered to be great for kids and many schools use them. I have seen some quality control issues with some, but think they sound ok too.

If you want to move to the £100 bracket that I suggest (and that wasn't an order in the post, just my opinion) and get a great first ukulele then I personally think it is hard to beat the Ohana SK25. Wonderful little uke that one.

But I am wavering here and just listing the exceptions to the rule. If you choose to buy the cheapest ukulele you can find because you think they are naturally cheap you WILL be disappointed.

I couldn't even be bothered to score this one properly. If I did, it is a firm 0 out of 10.... And very sadly, this is not the only one out there of this calibre.

UKULELE VIDEO REVIEW



STOP PRESS!! To see how the Ready Ace ended up (it deserved an honorable send off - see below!)



AND! Be sure to check out my other ukulele RANTS - where I explode the many myths and bad advice that surrounds the instrument - CLICK HERE!

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Ukulele News - 16 March 2014

I haven't done a ukulele news roundup for ages, so lets take a look back over the last couple of weeks!

600 Ukes.... Fun at the Sunshine Coast Ukulele Fest

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That's 'Brooklyn', not 'Britain'

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I heard very good reports from this years Ukes For Unicef

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Fears for the uke festival in Bend

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Really, two chords does NOT make you an intermediate player... When are we going to drop the 'its easy' tag and allow the instrument to be taken seriously?

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Here's another one..

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Nice piece with James Hill and Anne Janelle

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I'm From Wigan Me - Ukulele Chords

Just spotted this video and as good friends and great performers, I had to share it here to get some more traffic for the lads. Les Hilton from Chonkinfeckle teaches the chords for their track 'I'm From Wigan Me'.

I love Les' uke playing style and also got to play this myself with Chonkinfeckle's percussionist and vocalist Tim Cooke at the last N'Ukefest. We like these guys a lot so were are delighted they are playing on the evening bill of N'Ukefest 2014 too. As well as that, they are playing at this years Grand Northern Ukulele Festival and also at the second Czech Ukulele Festival.

And if you want to know how popular the song is becoming, take a look at the Chairman of Wigan Athletic Football Club singing it on TV!


Take a look at my interview with Chonkinfeckle HERE and be sure to visit their website too

http://chonkinfeckle.co.uk

ps - Les - that one from the C - its a Caug!

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A Special Thank You To Doc Kazoo!

If you are a regular reader of this blog you will probably know a couple of things. First that the N'Ukes are holding their third annual N'Ukefest ukulele gathering in May this year, and second that Doc Kazoo is a rather wonderful chap who hand crafts wooden Kazoo's for shipping around the world.

Anyway, we are having a raffle at N'Ukefest again, being hosted by the marvellous Mary Agnes Krell, Director of the Grand Northern Ukulele Festival in Huddersfield.  The raffle (in fact the whole festival) is all for charity. We have had some great donations including ukes and other goodies (in no particular order, thanks to Noah Ukuleles, Omega Music, GNUF, The Ukulele Festival Of Great Britain, Ooty And The Cloud, Tinguitar.com, Lanikai, Peter Johnson and Moselele). But one donation was worth  special mention I thought.

You may recall my review of the Great Aswego Fatboy Performer Kazoo made by Doc, and the fact that when you order one he records personalised videos just for you of the building process (a lovely touch). Well, we knew Doc was making a kazoo for the N'Ukefest Raffle, but not TWO kazoos and some other goodies, shipping them across the Atlantic for us. And, of course, they would not be complete without his trademark videos. Check this out!

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You can check out Docs work at http://www.aswegohomestead.com

And for all details on N'Ukefest go to http://www.nukefest.com

Thanks again to all those who have donated so far, and I hope to meet you at N'Ukefest!

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How To Buy Your First Ukulele - Beginners Guide

Been meaning to do this video for a while. How a beginner should buy their very first ukulele!

( DIRECT LINK )

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Ohana TKS-15E 'thinline' Electro Tenor Ukulele - REVIEW

I have been long overdue writing this review, but here we have the Ohana TKS-15E tenor ukulele. It's a thin line model and comes complete with a pickup too. How does it fare?

I have actually had this ukulele since late last year, as I won it at the raffle at the Grand Northern Ukulele Festival. It's not a uke I had played before or even knew much about, but I must say, I rather like playing it. The TKS is a thin line body uke, sometimes called 'travel ukes' by other manufacturers (a name I have never quite understood, as the ukulele for me is naturally travel friendly), and part of a thin range by Ohana that also includes a concert (naturally called the CKS).

The uke is pretty standard looking in shape, with a traditional double bout body, and is made from laminate wood with a mahogany outer finish. It's made in China and like all Ohana ukes I have played, its extremely well put together and very neat and tidy. The top is very plain, with no detailing or sound hole rosette, but does feature cream plastic binding where it joins the sides. The grain is not all that special to look at, but it does have a more 'natural' look to it that some laminates. Inspection at the sound hole shows that the laminate is pretty thin, which for me is a good thing when not using solid wood. (Check my review of this Kiwaya to understand how good laminate can actually be). Laminate is a real divider with people, and often you will face the snobbish response that only solid wood matters. Not so. Cheap laminate can indeed be awful, but it is possible to make an instrument with good laminate too. In fact, top end guitar makers have been working with quality laminate for years.

Looking inside, all is nice and tidy, with flat kerfling holding the top and back to the sides and the distinctive Ohana label. The bracing looks a bit heavyweight to me for such a thin instrument, and one that is made of laminate (that is naturally stronger than solid wood), so I hope that doesn't kill the volume and tone.

It is when you turn this instrument on its side that you see just how thin it is. The sides themselves are made of a single piece of wood with no join at the base which is a little unusual for a tenor scale uke. The sides are joined to the back with the same cream binding which adds a (much needed in my opinion) bit of detail to the uke.

The back is also very nicely arched to help with sound protection, but is otherwise fairly plain looking and like the top, made from a single piece of wood.

Back to the top and we have a standard tie bar bridge in rosewood, and a bone saddle which is nice to see.

On to the neck and this is very nicely finished. It is smooth to the touch and has a slightly chunky profile to it that I like. Topping the neck is a rosewood fingerboard which is extremely nicely finished, smooth and evenly coloured. The edges of the fingerboard are slightly rolled too which surprised me for a laminate uke of this price and feels great in the hands. Top marks Ohana.  There are 19 nickel silver frets, with 14 to the body and they have no rough edges and also feel great. Fret markers are inlaid mother of pearl circles at the 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th and 15th frets. Sadly, there are no side markers. The neck itself is made of three pieces with a joint at the headstock and the heel. It is nice to see a chunky joint at the heel, meaning this should stay put. Kala's original travel uke was plagued by a small neck joint, and necks easily snapping from the body.

Up to the headstock, its an unfussy affair in traditional Ohana shape with the Ohana logo silk screened on in silver. Tuning is provided by silver, sealed geared tuners that are stable and work very well. No complaints with these.

But what about that electric connection? Well the TKS-15E is fitted with a passive spot pickup (i.e. not an under saddle) underneath the soundboard which is connected to a jack socket just off centre on the base of the uke. Firstly, full marks to Ohana for going with a passive system and not installing an awful cheap active system. This does really require the use of a pre amp box that an active may not, but I find passive systems give a far more authentic uke tone when plugged in. You also don't need to rely on batteries!  I would however have preferred an under saddle system as I find they are better at reducing body noise. Another observation though - why oh why not fit the pickup to a tail block at the base and include an integral strap button? I worry about jack sockets fitted in this place as they are connected to a fairly thin piece of wood. I have seen examples where people have snagged cables and literally ripped a hole out of the side of the instrument. There is far more strength at the base 'assuming' there is a tail block fitted. I can't actually tell if there is one, so the whole affair may be a little fragile.

The package is completed by the usual Aquila strings and there you have it.

Before we get on to playing it, a word about the price. These are listed on Ohana's website at an RRP of just over $300. You read that right and I honestly wondered if it was a typing error. $300 for a laminate uke (albeit one with a pickup and a nice neck). I think that is crazy. Thankfully, they seem to be available on the inter web at at anywhere between $180 and $200. I still think that is a little expensive myself, but it lines it up alongside the similarly priced Kala travel ukes. More on that comparison later.

The uke is very comfortable to play and hold and is nicely balanced. The thin body makes holding it without a strap a breeze and I like how thin body ukes seem to get you closer to the sound in that you can really feel the resonance through the back and into your chest. The neck and fingerboard I referred to above is really, really comfortable, smooth and a joy to play. It also has a slightly wider nut (also made of bone) than many tenors which I also like. This one has become a uke I don't like to put down!

Unplugged the sound is not hugely complex, but it does have good volume and a nice voice. It isn't up there with some premium laminate ukes I have played, but it is a mile above cheap laminates. Notes are very clear, across all strings, but it does lack a bit of sustain. I actually swapped out the stock strings to La Bella Uke-Pro strings as I thought the Aquilas made it bark a little. I'm pleased with the La Bella strings and its a very pleasurable instrument to play.

Through an amplifier, well, I have a problem, and I knew it was likely to manifest itself before I plugged it in. Body noise. The advantage of an under saddle pickup is it minimises noise from handling the instrument itself. The use of a soundboard pickup means everything that vibrates the uke, and not just the strings gets heard. As such, when you plug this in, even the uke rubbing on your arm, or your chest gets amplified. It's a nice sound from the strings, but you really need to hold it very carefully and steady to avoid it picking up everything else. Sat down and playing gently, its just fine, but I could never use this on stage and jig around without other noises being amplified too. The video below demonstrates that quite clearly for you. (I knew it would likely be an issue as I fitted a similar pickup to a Fluke and have the same problem). Perhaps I am just clumsy though, but I find it very hard to play it and move around without picking up all sorts of noise.

Before we finish, let us go back to that hard to ignore comparison to the similarly priced Kala. With the Kala travel you get a solid wood top ukulele which, to  some people, will matter. You also get a very nice embroidered padded gig bag that the Ohana doesn't have. On the other hand, the Ohana has a far nicer neck than the Kala for me and has a pickup fitted. So I suppose the choice is yours - do you want solid wood and a gig bag, or can you live with laminate and get a pickup as part of the deal. I think it is a close call, but the Ohana really doesn't sound all that different to the Kala for me, so I guess it just wins. That said, I think both the Ohana AND the Kala are overpriced for what they are!

But price aside, I still rather like it. It's a very playable instrument acoustically with a wonderful neck. For me though, I could not live with the transducer pickup on stage and would prefer to have one of these either without a pickup for a lower price, or with a pickup mounted under the saddle. Your mileage may vary on the pickup, but for me it will remain an acoustic only uke.

FOR

Ohana build quality
Wonderful neck
Great comfort to play

AGAINST

Plain looks
Price
Noisy soundboard pickup


SCORES

Looks - 7.5
Fit and Finish - 9
Sound - 7
Value for money - 6.5

OVERALL 7.5 out of 10

To understand my review scoring and see this result in context - visit my review page at

http://www.gotaukulele.com/p/ukulele-reviews.html

Take a look now at the video review and better audio sound sample!

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How To Change Ukulele Strings - Beginners Guide

Surprised I have never posted a video like this before, but a number of people had suggested that a video would be helpful. How to change ukulele strings! One for absolute beginners.

I would recommend all beginners learn how to change their strings at an early stage.




( DIRECT LINK )

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