Will Grove-White Wonkylele Soprano Ukulele - REVIEW

Well heres a ukulele i've been dying to take a look at since I saw that he had started building them. This is the 'Wonkylele' by Will Grove-White.

It seems churlish of me to have to introduce Will, but he is perhaps most well known as playing in the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain for over thirty years, performing around the globe at places like Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall. What may not be so well known is that he's been a life long lover of making things with wood, originally making wooden automata from his own workshop. So having hung up his Orchestra ukulele (though he still performs solo), in 2023 he launched his venture of working with ukes in a different way by making them himself! Taking advice from luthiers such as Pete Howlett, Dave Morgan, Andy Miles, Ken Timms, Liam Kirby, Marco Todeschini and others the first Will Grove-White Ukes started to take shape. Fair play to Will - he took advice in the right way and from some revered names most of which i've been lucky to feature. And this one is perhaps the one I see turning heads the most from his builds. The Wonkylele. I've been watching the development of his ukes on his socials for a while now and itching to get my hands on one.

SUMMARY VIDEO REVIEW

Let's get this out the way first. It's probably fair to say that the ukulele world is, in itself, rather quirky by nature. You may not want to admit it if you take things too seriously, but remember Will played in an 'orchestra' at the Royal Albert Hall wearing dinner suit and tie, and I can't think of much more quirky than that! Knowing the man he likes the amusing and quirky side of life too (check out his nose flute videos!).  So a quirky uke seems to fit him and the scene perfectly. But how to describe it? Well, I think the pictures do that job better than anything, but this is a soprano scale instrument (also available in concert and tenor) that is... well..... wonky! And that isn't to say it's just a regular uke with a neck bolted on off centre for the heck of it - these have been built from the ground up to accommodate that neck and bridge position as I come on to further below. The body of this is made from all solid woods, walnut in this case and looks great for it in the almost figure of eight vintage shape. It has two pieces for each side and they are nicely bookmatched too. The grain is really attractive with lots of interest and almost a quilted look in places. Lovely. Naturally being a luthier making commissions he can and does build from a variety of other woods too. I love the shape and finish here though I fully accept that traditionalists may not agree! I say 'embrace the wonk' though!

He's used ebony for the slot style bridge (and uses offcuts from a local frame maker to make use of waste) and is very nicely finished and fitted with a straight topped black Corian saddle and has a string spacing of 41mm.

The finish on the body is hand rubbed Tru-Oil and has been done extremely nicely and feels great. He's also experimenting with other finish options. There is no other decoration on this one other than an inlaid black and white sound hole ring, but when your statement is ''the wonk" I don't think you need it. Overall this looks like a very traditional ukulele in the Martin style, just with a bit of a lean...

Inside is very tidy with regular think looking braces and notched linings. What you will also find with all Will Grove-White ukuleles is that he hides a miniature figurine sitting on one of the braces. You know I said quirky? That's fun and unique!

The neck is made from reclaimed oak and is hand carved from what is largely a single piece with just one small stack I can see on the tip of the heel. That's a very hard wood and a heavy one too which I hope doesn't upset the balance. As I say above he can fit the neck in an unusual way because he uses a violin style joint that is set into a notch carved in the upper bout of the body and inner block and supported by a slight extension of the back piece over the back of the heel called the 'button'. Clever. And this one tilts to the left as you look at it designed for right handed players - and he can do the opposite for lefties. The neck has a nice shallow back profile that I prefer and a, roomy for a soprano, nut width of 37mm with 30mm string spacing. Excellent.

That is topped with more ebony which is in great even colour and condition. There are a few tooling marks here and there, but i'd expect such things on a hand made uke. It terminates in an olde timey style extension similar to that I've seen on Wunderkammer ukes. I will say the same thing as I did about those instruments - if you are giving me extra fretboard, then give me an extra fret! Minor point! The board is not edge bound but they are all dressed well and you get 12 of them. Will is also a man after my own heart on fretboard decoration and tends not to put any outward facing dots on and just a single side dot at the 5th. He can, of course, give you more but I am perfectly happy with this minimalism!

Beyond the Corian nut is another very old time style headstock that looks straight out of the 1920's. That's faced in ebony too and I love how thin it is front to back. Classy.

For tuners Will goes with Gotoh UPT which are simply superb. Knowing his love of the traditional look (which seems an odd thing to say on a wonky uke!) these make perfect sense. The benefit of geared precision with the look of friction pegs. Great choice.

Finishing it off are your choice of strings, but Will has gone with Aquila on this. That's his personal choice and refreshing to hear as I see so many people dismissive of Aquila completely missing the fact that many professionals use them for performance. And for this spec you are looking at £825. So that's not an impulse price of course, but one needs to remember that this is hand made in the UK and not in a Chinese factory. I upset people years back I said Ken Timms ukes were under-priced (and they went up!), but I stand by that. Look at it another way - even before the bill of materials, tools, power etc, if this takes about 20-30 man hours to make, that's between about £30 to £40 per hour. You'd pay your Plumber twice that and not question it. So no, it's not 'cheap' I suppose, but I think it is fair for something hand made and we should be very careful about telling builders to 'work for less'. For some other perspective it's less than you would have paid for a Howlett and about the same price as a Wunderkammer Ike today.

So quirks aside I know when Will first put these out some people thought that it wouldn't work and was a bit of a gimmick. I was possibly in that camp myself. Would it be comfortable? Would that bridge position affect projection? They are fair questions I think when a builder goes outside of the long established norm. Lets deal with the first one.. the comfort...  My word this is comfortable to hold. Whether you are playing rested on the knee or holding it without a strap there is something about this arrangement that makes the uke just 'fit' into your arms extremely well and naturally. It looks like it shouldn't but I can assure you that it does! It's very nice to feel in the hands too on account of the finishing and really light at only 410g. The balance is excellent too. A first tick in the box!

Sound wise, I am a big soprano fan and like mine to have a cannon like punch and bark that allows bouncy percussive play. Which brings into question my other worry on the bridge position. And we have another tick in that box too because the projection and bark from this is just super! I've got no issue with the punch at all. Sustain on sopranos is always that bit lower due to the small body, but it is possible with well made instruments to create more than you may expect. Things are a bit more down the middle here on sustain, but it's really not bad. I suspect string experimentation could mix things up here.

Tone wise this is largely influenced by the wood of course and I tend to prefer mahogany sopranos due to the darker woodier tone they impart on what is otherwise a naturally brighter uke scale on account of the size. I haven't actually reviewed a great many solid walnut ukes but they do tend to have something of a woody tone, but with a slightly wider frequency range picking up more highs whilst being well balanced.  This one is certainly a bit more on the bright side than a mahogany soprano, but it's rich and interesting. It ticks the main box for a soprano for me in that it has a bouncy rhythmical tone when strummed in old time patterns and is very enjoyable played this way with a very clear sound. This is less of a pure fingerpicking instrument for me though still very clear played this way only with a slight drop in volume I can perceive (which may again be changed with strings choice). But it's still very accomplished. All in all it's a little more laid back than some sopranos I have had my hands on and more on the Kiwaya side of things to my ears than to Martin - but it's still a fine sounding sop!

All in all I am obviously aware that the look of this one may be a 'wonk too far' for some uke players, but I personally love the playfulness. I've no issues at all with the build and finish and it's pleasing to see that this wasn't just a case of 'wonk over substance' because it plays like a great bouncy soprano should. That comfort is a real surprise too so it leaves me thinking that the only reason you'd not want this is if the look turned you off. Everything else is top drawer. And, of course... he makes regular ukes too, but, you know... live a little!

Very much recommended! 

Embrace the wonk!

https://willgrovewhite.com/

UKULELE SPECS ROUNDUP

Model: Will Grove-White Wonkylele

Scale: Soprano

Body: Solid walnut

Bridge: Ebony slot bridge

Saddle: Corian

Spacing at saddle: 41mm

Finish: Tru-Oil

Neck: Reclaimed oak 

Fingerboard: Ebony

Frets: 12

Nut: Corian

Nut width: 37mm, 30mm G to A

Tuners: Gotoh UPT

Strings: You have a choice. Aquila on this one

Weight: 410g

Country of origin: UK

Price: £825

UKULELE PROS

Mad looks (not for everyone? I love it!)

Great looking tonewood

Great build and finish

Extremely comfortable to play

Light

Great tuners

Great projection

Classy soprano bouncy tone

UKULELE CONS

Looks not for everyone I suppose

UKULELE SCORES

Looks - 9 out of 10

Fit and finish - 9.5 out of 10

Sound - 9.5 out of 10

Value for money - 9 out of 10

OVERALL UKULELE SCORE - 9.3 out of 10

UKULELE VIDEO REVIEW

© Barry Maz

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