Laka VUS100B Bamboo Soprano Ukulele - REVIEW

Back into soprano ukulele territory this week and an interesting uke material I have reviewed a few times before. This is the Laka VUS100B Bamboo Soprano.

Laka are a brand that i've always had a bit of time for yet have confused me. I've reviewed a couple before that have done quite well and played some others I liked. At one time they also made the Joe Brown signature model which was really rather good. On the other hand for a brand part of the large JHS stable, they just don't seem to have that many around or find themselves in many of the specialist stores. Still, this one caught my eye as bamboo is another material I have reviewed a few times before and again it's always done quite well with me.

SUMMARY VIDEO REVIEW

So this is all bamboo, and when I say all, I mean most parts of it bar the tuners and the strings. On the topic of 'solid bamboo', I talked about this at length in my review of the Kala KA-BMB bamboo uke. The very nature of bamboo means it is grown in thin strips and needs to be laminated laterally, so I am not sure the word 'solid works' in the normal sense of the word. And this one, built in a double bout shape annoys me in this regard. All the product listings I see refer to this being 'full bamboo construction' which leads one to think solid. But it's actually down to the other parts being bamboo and not the body construction. Looking inside the back and sides are clearly laminate with a different wood on the inside and the soundhole edge also suggests a laminate top. I do quite like the general look though and this seems well put together but why can't brands just be HONEST in their descriptions... I have nothing against laminate, but just make sure you tell us that is what it is.

The bridge is also made of bamboo and despite being tiny it's not actually a slot bridge, but a tie bar. I'd much prefer the former, but that is hardly a big gripe. It's tidy too though screwed in place with ugly screw covers. That holds a black ABS saddle with a straight top. String spacing here is 43mm.

With the Kala KA-BMB I said that I liked the contrast from the black logo, nut and tuners against the very pale uke and suggested it could take more of it such as a sound hole rosette to give it a bit more interest. With this Laka I think the black has gone too far the other way for my own taste. So together with a black sound hole ring which works nicely they also added black binding to the top and back which pushes it a bit much for me. It looks a bit too stark against the pale uke, but again, that's not a huge criticism. The body is then finished in a satin which is done nicely.

Inside we have standard looking braces and notched linings. There is a fair amount of glue seepage though and you can see that inside faces are not strips of bamboo but some regular ply. Looking at the top soundhole edge though shows you that this is built from thick laminate. That's not great.

The neck is made from yet more bamboo with joints at the heel and halfway down the neck. Because of the way bamboo joints they are really quite obvious. This too is satin and feels nice in the hand but has a moderately chunky profile and a skinny 34mm nut with 27mm spacing. Not my kind of neck, but largely standard for far eastern sopranos.

That's topped with more bamboo for the fingerboard which looks a bit mis matched in colour down the length - again - an issue with using variable bamboo. The edges are heavily bound in black which notches up the severe look to the body binding another degree. I don't like it at all. And despite that binding the frets are on the edge of being too sharp and looking closely are scruffily dressed. You get 15 of those with a standard 12th fret join. Black fret markers face out at the 5th, 7th, 10th, double 12th and 15th but you get nothing on the side.

Beyond the black plastic ABS nut is a simple shaped headstock carrying the Laka logo and an oh so stereotypical Hawaiian style motif in a laser etch. Ugh.. Still, it's not a slot head on a soprano I suppose.

The tuners are not rear facing which is a no-no for me on a soprano and, whilst unbranded they look to be half decent open gears.  They work ok too.

Finishing off the offer is a thin branded gig bag and a set of Aquila strings. Prices for them on the street seem to be all over the place with many stores listing them at £129, but if you shop around there are some large discounts. I'm reviewing based on the more common £129 which is more than the Kala Bamboo soprano and I think too expensive, particularly for a laminate..

So a mixed bag so far. Generally a good build and finish (bar those frets). Stark decoration that is not working for me and misleading product description and price..

The setup out of the box on this example is pretty decent to be fair - a nice low action at the 12th and nothing I would change at the nut. It balances ok but feels kind of chunky for a soprano at xxxx. No doubt those thick body woods are not helping.

On the basics, the volume here is pretty good, but I have heard much punchier sopranos. Sustain is also on the better side of average which is something on a soprano. It's not a totally dead duck on the basics.

Tone wise i've always found bamboo ukes to be clear and brighter sounding and that's the case here. Sadly though I am finding it a bit one dimensional overall. There is good clarity to the strummed tone which is a positive and it isn't getting muddled, but it's just not creating much of a spark. Very much a one trick pony played this way. It works, it's accurate, but... meh..

Fingerpicking brings out the reediness of the tone more and isn't hugely pleasant to me. Yes, again, it plays accurately but some of the notes come across a bit strident to me. There's no shimmer or interest I can sense.

So a very mixed bag from Laka with this one. Yes it's built reliably, though you could say it's over built. Some of the decor doesn't work for me, but that is very subjective. I remain annoyed by the misleading product spec and the price is highly confusing. Most of all though I find the tone very one dimensional.  Put simply, whilst this is not a total howler, there are plenty of other ukes out there that you will do better with. Be careful.

https://www.jhs.co.uk/

UKULELE SPECS ROUNDUP

Model: Laka VUS100B

Scale: Soprano

Body: Laminate Bamboo

Bridge: Bamboo tie bar

Saddle: ABS

Spacing at saddle: 43mm

Finish: Satin

Neck: Bamboo

Fingerboard: Bamboo

Frets: 15, joined at 12th

Nut: ABS

Nut width: 34mm, 27mm G to A

Tuners: Unbranded open gears

Extras: Gig bag

Strings: Aquila

Weight: 480g

Country of origin: China

Price: £129 RRP

UKULELE PROS

Generally good build and finish

Half decent tuners

Fairly good volume

Reasonable sustain

UKULELE CONS

Stark decoration

Scruffy frets

No side markers

Skinny nut 

Overly bright and one dimensional tone

Misleading product spec

Please shop around on price

UKULELE SCORES

Looks - 7 out of 10

Fit and finish - 8.5 out of 10

Sound - 7 out of 10

Value for money - 6 out of 10

OVERALL UKULELE SCORE - 7.1 out of 10

UKULELE VIDEO REVIEW

© Barry Maz

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