Clearwater UCW7B/PU Roundback Baritone Ukulele - REVIEW

3 Jul 2016

Clearwater UCW7B/PU Roundback Baritone Ukulele - REVIEW

I'm pleased again to be rallying the troops in the Baritone regiment with this ukulele review, with the Clearwater UCW7B/PU Roundback Baritone. (Lets just call it a roundback baritone from here on in!)

Clearwater roundback baritone ukulele


The Clearwater Roundback series are a range of value instruments of various scales, made in China and most likely available in other badged variants around the world. In fact this Baritone looks identical to me to the previously available Ohana BK70RB Baritone... coincidence? Whatever the heritage, this is a standard baritone scale ukulele (scale length is about 19.5 inches) made with a solid spruce top applied to a polycarbonate round or bowl back body.

Construction wise, this one is extremely sound and the solid spruce top (made of two bookmatched pieces) is flawless and finished in a pleasing satin coat. There really are no issues, glue spots, bubbles - just smooth nice wood. Where it meets the rounded back of the ukulele we have some black / white / black edge binding that adds to the quality feel. Some people dont like pale spruce tops and I am one of them I suppose. I think it would look much better with a darker top, but that is minor and very personal complaint.

Clearwater roundback baritone ukulele top


Sound hole decoration is by way of an inlaid mother of pearl rosette (no transfers here!), and we have a fairly standard looking rosewood tie bar bridge with attractive white edge detailing. The saddle appears to be made of plastic and is not compensated.

Clearwater roundback baritone ukulele sound hole


But it's the rounded back that really makes this ukulele stand out, made as it is from a moulded single piece of black polycarbonate. You may say 'oh, just like a Flea then' - but really this is more reminiscent of the backs of Ovation Balladeer guitars which used the same technique. What it allows for is a light weight, thin instrument with a distinctive projection. It's a tried and tested design in guitars so I was interested to see how it would stand up on a baritone ukulele.

The moulded back is actually a little bit shiny for my liking and I would have preferred a textured grain finish like on the Flea. As it is, I'd say this is a difficult instrument to hold against clothing because it's very slippy. Thankfully, it comes pre-fitted with a strap button which is probably the only sensible way you would hold this one standing up. Other than that though, the curve of the back is really tactile and pleasing and certainly will give you a ukulele that looks 'different' to the norm. I love the way the white edge binding contrasts against the jet black of the plastic and how thin it is at the tail end of the instrument.

Clearwater roundback baritone ukulele back


Also as part of the body, we have a cutaway to allow upper fret access, which I think adds to the classy look. It's a double bout design with quite a large square lower portion. I think I would prefer it looking a bit curvier at the base, but that's just personal preference.

Looking inside reveals very little other than a black sound chamber. Naturally there is no kerfing or back bracing to see as the moulded back is providing the strength. All I can report is the Clearwater manufacturers label!

Moving up the ukulele we have a hardwood (unspecified) neck made from three pieces with a joint at the heel and one at the headstock. It's finished in a satin coat too and has a darker rosewood looking veneer piece on the heel cap.

Clearwater roundback baritone ukulele fingerboard


Topping the neck is a rosewood fingerboard which looks to be in good condition and is nicely even in colour. We have 21 nickel silver frets in total with 14 to the body join and all are finished nicely with no sharp edges.

Clearwater are a little mean on the fret marker front, with outward facing pearloid dots at the 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th and 15th, with no side fret markers at all.

Unlike the saddle, the nut appears to be made of bone and possibly removeable too.

We have a fairly generic shaped headstock which is nicely edge bound like the top of the body and faced in what appears to be rosewood. The Clearwater logo (quite a classy logo, I must say) looks to be pearloid but it might actually be a transfer under the satin coat - it's hard to say. Either way I think the headstock looks really smart.

Clearwater roundback baritone ukulele headstock


Tuning is provided by unbranded silver closed geared tuners. They are common on ukuleles and these ones work and turn just fine. Yes, they are essentially guitar tuners, but being a large scale like a baritone means that they dont give the instrument a 'mickey mouse ears' look.

Clearwater roundback baritone ukulele tuners


I'm not entirely sure what strings the instrument comes with, but the B and E look like nylgut and the D and G strings are wound. They are for low DGBE tuning.

And, to top the whole deal off, you may have noticed in the pictures that there is an offset jack socket on the bottom of the instrument. That's right - it comes with a pickup too, and a passive one at that (meaning no unnecessary controls, battery compartments and the like - just how I like them!).

Clearwater roundback baritone ukulele jack socket


So quite a bit on offer here I am sure you will agree. A solid top, edge bound instrument with a moulded back AND a pickup...  What might surprise you is that these can be found online quite easily for about £100 - £120. You read that right. That is a complete bargain of a price for a baritone regardless of the build. And when you bear in mind it has a solid top and a pickup, well that price is frankly incredible.

OK, there is no carry case - you may have spotted the Clearwater bag in the photographs, but that is an extra - but still, it's a bargain and you can hardly complain for the price I suppose.

And in fact at that sort of price, I'd forgive it for quite a lot in the playing stakes. And that's where I continue to shake my head... in disbelief... in a good way. You see, it's really rather good.

clearwater roundback baritone ukulele strap button


First of all it's really nice to hold. Aside from that slippy back meaning you will want a strap, the instrument is light, nice to touch and nicely balanced in weight. And it really is a tactile thing. As review instruments on this site go, this one has had more of that 'go on, pick me up one more time' about it than many others have. That thin body may also asssist you in storage and travelling as compared to many standard baritones, this one is really thin!


Clearwater roundback baritone ukulele bridge


Setup was just fine for me, no complaints at all with the saddle or the nut and intonation is acceptable all over the neck. In fact the nut is particularly nicely done with strings sitting on grooves rather in deep channels.

Sound wise, it has a nice strong projection, good sustain and tons of bass. That plastic back will be helping it here, although strummed hard it can boom and echo a little, but it's a minor complaint. I suppose it's very slightly on the muddy side, but I find that quite a lot with baritones and think a string change could easily sort that I think. In fact I find that changing the strum position to the back of the soundhole opposed to the  end of the neck as is more traditional with a ukulele brightens it up significantly. At the end of the day, I suppose this is closer to a guitar than a soprano ukulele so I guess that figures!

Strummed or fingerpicked it's pleasing either way and I am really rather taken with it!

It's not a high end classy bell like tone, but then its a £100 ukulele with a plastic back... But lets just clear this price thing up. Yes, it is an incredibly good value instrument, but cheap does not mean nasty in this case. In fact two musicians I know who have played the biggest ukulele stages in the UK (Ian Emmerson and Zoë Bestel) have BOTH performed on stage with one of these Clearwaters.  And I think that is the point. It doesn't matter what name it says on the headstock or what it costs if it sounds good. And it does sound good!

Oh, and the pickup? Perfectly useable and balanced. OK, it will benefit from a pre-amp to shape the tone, but that's the way I prefer them myself so no complaints from me on that score. Unlike certain other pickups I have seen pre-installed in instruments recently - this one just works. Each string rings out and no muddy tone. As is should be! All I would say is I can't tell if it is a soundboard transducer or under saddle. There is very little body noise though, so I dont suppose it matters much.

In summary though - at this price, seriously, can you afford NOT to get one! It's a small price to pay if you want to take a step into baritone ukuleles and you would be getting a brilliantly functional instrument that far exceeds it's price. I've got much more expensive baritones, and really would like to keep this one. Just experiment with the strings!



UKULELE PROS

Price
Solid top
Build quality
Classy looks from pearl and edge binding
Passive pickup

UKULELE CONS

Slippery back
No side fret markers
Gig bag is extra

UKULELE SCORES

Looks -                   8.5 out of 10
Fit and finish -        8.5 out of 10
Sound -                   8.5 out of 10
Value for money -   9.5 out of 10

OVERALL UKULELE SCORE - 8.8 out of 10

UKULELE VIDEO REVIEW



27 comments :

  1. Bought my sister the tenor version for Christmas. The build quality is just as good, and it's a very nice sounding instrument. Have to say that I have been very impressed with the Clearwater roundbacks that I have seen and heard.

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  2. I've played a tenor Clearwater uke for a few months and very happy with it although now I've changed it to a low g string I only use it occasionally as I also have a Kala tenor resonator which is a delight to plkay.

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  3. I had one made by Ohana that looked exactly the same.

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  4. From what I've seen Andy - they are identical - but I don't think the Ohana had a pickup?

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  5. I'm a left handed player. Can these be made to accommodate lefties?

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  6. Don't see why not - just flip the strings. The cutaway will be on wrong side though!

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  7. Hello Barry,

    thanks a lot for this extensive review!

    I am seriously considering to get myself a baritone ukulele, and this one from Clearwater looks sweet :)

    For some time now I wonder whether it is possible to tune a baritone ukulele to GCEA, with a low G. This would be rather helpful, as the fretboard layout & chord shapes would stay identical when switching from my old concert uke to the new baritone uke.

    I found out that some people put diffent types of strings on their baritone ukes to achieve this:
    - Guadalupe Custom strings (GCEA tuning, one octave lower than standard tuning)
    - Southcoast Uke strings (20'' LL-WB: Light Gauge Linear Set - w/ wound bass)
    - Aquila strings baritone (DGBE - or plain for GCEA)

    Would you by any chance have an idea if this could work with the Clearwater UCW7B/PU? Which option would you recommend?

    Thanks & keep up the great work,

    Cheers,

    John.

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  8. Don't see why not - so long as you use baritone strings designed to be gcea

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  9. I an very pleased with mine. I solved the problem of the slippery back by attaching a piece of Velcro to the back and t works a treat. My only disappointment is that there is not a hard case produced for it.

    Roger

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  10. Just ordered one of these based on this review, thanks Baz! I'll never have any money lol

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  11. I'm very interested in one of these - but I live in a desert and I'm concerned about neck profile changes - does this have a truss rod or other reinforcing?

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  12. Mine came today and I'm loving it, sounds great plugged in as well, only 2 problems I can tell, one it's an slightly unusual shape so does not fit in an universal baritone gig bag, so I've ordered another!
    Also the strings as you hinted on are poop! After only a couple hours play they are fraying near the frets so ordered new living water strings. But it's a very sturdy great sounding uke. It's converted me some what...!

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  13. Living water strings in and what an improvement!
    I noticed today what you meant about the sound vibrating into your chest, very impressive.

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  14. Thanks for checking on the truss rod - I contacted clearwater as well and the confirm no truss rod. I really want one of these, but I'm really worried it won't last more than a couple years before it needs major work.

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    1. Yo compré el mío en 2007, y después de 17 años el mástil sigue completamente recto como el primer día.

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  15. Yeah, not sure a couple of years is right - I know people who have had these for four and still play them - and if not - it's about the cheapest baritone I can think of!

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  16. Are these still available to buy - I've hunted online and am struggling to find somewhere selling them...

    Thanks, Peter

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  17. They certainly were before Christmas Peter as I sent someone a link to one - can only assume that the Christmas rush has pushed them out of stock for now.

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  18. ps - the company trading them in the UK are called The Really Useful Music Company - they have a website - you could try asking them direct when they are getting more in - they are still selling the soprano, tenor and concert versions of this.

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  19. I'll follow up with them. Thanks for your help, and thanks for running this site! Has been very helpful. Peter

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  20. My UCW7B differs from yours in all kinds of subtle ways - and one very obvious one! Subtle ways first: as far as I can see, the back to yours was a satin finish, whereas mine is hi-gloss. Second, the neck to yours came with no binding and no side markers, whereas mine comes with both (binding and markers). Third, your headstock is satin-finished with a triple (white-black-white) binding, whereas mine is hi-gloss with a simple white binding. Yours came fitted with standard bari DGBE strings, mine came fitted with baritone GCEA strings (which didn't suit it and soon went).
    The glaringly obvious difference is in the length of the neck. You didn't mention the scale length in your review, but I'm guessing (since you didn't comment) that it is the standard 19", whereas mine has a 24" scale length (although it has the same number of frets and joins the body at the 14th). The body is the same size, however (I've had the opportunity to compare it side-by-side with Ian Emmerson's UCW7B - which incidentally, also has slightly different appointments, notably a black headstock). Those extra 5" on the neck consequently translate into a bridge position some 2" (5cm) further from the soundhole than yours (i.e., there's a distance of around 4"/11cm from the base of the soundhole to the top of the saddle).
    Some people have suggested I was sold a tenor guitar by mistake, but the Clearwater manufacturer's label says "UCW7B' and the accompanying gigbag (which fits perfectly snugly) was also sold as a baritone gigbag. And it has no truss rod, so clearly not designed for metal strings.
    When I queried the scale length with Clearwater, they offered immediately and unprompted to take it back, but having had it confirmed it was a baritone, albeit a 'long-neck' baritone, I was happy to hang on to it. All that said though, that bridge placement does look a bit funny. I sometimes wonder if I should have taken them up on their offer - usually when I'm trying to pack it on to the back of my motorbike!

    Two other comments: first, on the cutaway. Ian Emmerson's made the observation that if you're going to have a cutaway, to allow access to the highest frets on the neck, surely the cutaway should butt right up to the neck, not jut out some 1.5cm (5/8") from it (the neck). I hadn't noticed that at all until he pointed it out; but now, like the funny bridge placement on mine, once seen, it really can't be unseen.

    Second: the pickup is just a little piezo contact spot mic, that looks pretty much exactly like the one in the Ohana TKS15E tenor ukulele you reviewed in March 2014. In any case, it's very weak. You really will need a decent pre-amp if you're going to attempt amplifying it.

    All that said, Ian maintains it's still his 'go-to' baritone', and once I'd got the right set of DGBE baritone strings fitted (the bari-GCEA strings were far too 'baggy', and acoustic guitar ADGB strings tuned up to DGBE didn't work either), mine got to sound really nice too - but don't forget that preamp if you want to plug it in!

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  21. Where can a Bag for this shape Uke be bought?

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  22. I had my eye on a Ohana BK-70 but read your review of that and this one and took your advice and acquired one of these Clearwaters secondhand. It came tuned DGBE which I didn't want but I have fitted a set of Ken Middleton's low GCEA flourocarbon strings and it is sounding good. Lovely warm and even tone across all strings but good projection and sustain from the roundback and spruce top. Keep up the good (unbiased) work!

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  23. Finally they came back in stock, and I now have one being shipped to me. Price has gone up to 148 pounds, and I did hesitate as I was chosing between this and a Cordoba 21B for basically the same price. Anyway, looking forward to give it a go! Thank you for a great site!

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  24. Finally they came back in stock, and I now have one being shipped to me. Price has gone up to 148 pounds, and I did hesitate as I was chosing between this and a Cordoba 21B for basically the same price. Anyway, looking forward to give it a go! Thank you for a great site!

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  25. I have had this uke for about a year now, I play it every single day. I have four other ukes collecting dust because of this one. I would agree with all the good comments here, everyone say's that the sound from it is great. It has had a few string changes since I bought it, so I can't remember which strings were on it, but it was tuned, D,G,B and E, so I had to relearn some chords. The pickup is indeed very quite, which is the only fault I can find with it. As to the top being too light in colour, I notice that mine has darkened down somewhat, and has now a nice rich tone.

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