Lekato Concert Ukulele

In my bid to feature more value ukuleles this year, let's take another trip down the Amazon. This is the Lekato Concert Ukulele.

Lekato are one of those Chinese brands on the 'Zon' that make a dizzying array of music stuff, from cables to effects pedals, from drums to amplifiers. Oh, and they make ukuleles like this one. As per the introduction this is a value ukulele, so yes it's cheap. And no, I don't recommend buying ukes on Amazon, especially not the cheaper end ones due to the roulette game you are playing on quality, but one thing they do is garner loads of questionable five star reviews and therefore lots of sales. It would be wrong for Got A Ukulele to ignore these when so many people buy them, and I do these to give some impartial thoughts of my own. I also saw a review of this from another uke reviewer whose opinions I respect, so thought it worth a go myself.

SUMMARY VIDEO REVIEW

The Lekato concert is an all laminate ukulele that they specify as mahogany, but i'd bet could be Khaya (African mahogany that isn't actually mahogany). It's in a regular double bout shape and is extremely plain in the wood grain offering not much excitement. And I'm afraid they commit that cardinal sin in their product listing of calling this 'Solid Wood' and elsewhere 'Solid Wood Veneer'.... No, it's not solid at all, it's laminate. They also claim that it has a 'unique body' because it has a slight curve to the back. No, that's not unique at all... Don't you just love marketing description nonsense...

The bridge is a slot style with a nice shape made from a material that is not specified. It is wood, so something hard and stained yet still actually looks somewhat artificial. It is very tidy though and holds what looks (and feels) like a plastic straight topped saddle. Interestingly, hidden in their specs it suggest bone, but I am certain this isn't. Spacing here is 41mm.

The finish is an open pore satin, complete with some gobbledegook on their listing about some sort of special polishing they use. It looks pretty standard to me, though to be fair it is thin and extremely tidy. It means the instrument feels like wood rather than something artificial and I can't really fault it on this point. What I do massively dislike though (another purely subjective one from me) is the laser etched sound hole decoration. This one looks particularly naff and cheap to me. Another gripe is the lack of dressing of the top and back edges which are positively sharp on your hands and inside the forearm. It's uncomfortable.

Inside is in good shape with notched linings, regular looking braces and no mess that I can see.

The neck wood is not specified but could be the same as the body wood. That is jointed at the heel and headstock, with the heel getting a small mahogany heel cap. Strangely, despite me saying the open pore satin on the body feels natural, the neck wood is more highly polished. It's not quite glossy or grippy, but feels oddly different to the rest of the uke. It's also typically far eastern with a broom handle back profile and a narrow 34mm nut with 27mm spacing. That's certainly not to my tastes.

That is topped with unspecified wood for the fingerboard which, again, I suspect is something paler that has been stained. Maybe it is rosewood, but it's very scruffy and dry looking in places and needs work. It comes with 18 frets joined at the 14th with the 18th looking very odd to me fitted right at the end of the board rendering it useless. Very strange. They don't have the absolute worst fret dressing I have encountered, but despite being edge bound I can feel some of them so they also need work which simply isn't right. Small pearloid position dots face out at the 5th, 7th, 10th and double 12th and they are repeated down the side with an extra 15th side marker.

The nut looks like bone to me, so I am not sure of the mis-match with the saddle and leads to a fairly interesting asymmetric shaped headstock. The Lekato logo is laser etched into the top and is super plain - essentially just the most basic of fonts and I think this looks cheap too.

The tuners are not what I want to see as they are sealed chrome gears better suited to a guitar not a ukulele. Their tensions are not even either and one is much stickier than the other. Oh, and one is slightly on the wrong angle...

Finishing it off are a couple of strap buttons, unspecified strings (that they call 'carbon nylon') that have a pinkish hue (so may be Titaniums), a branded thin gig bag, a tuner, spare strings, picks and a strap.. Well that's what you are supposed to get... my box didn't have the last four items.. The joys of Amazon. But I did say it was cheap and this is on Amazon at £52.99 (dynamic pricing - may change from one day to the next). Not a lot at all and attractive to beginners. But can you do better?

So as you can see, for a drop shipped instrument this is another mixed bag. There are both some subjective negatives for me, but some objective ones too. Yet the overall build and finish is pretty sound in the body. The string setup needs a touch of work (saddle is a bit high), but I have seen worse. Sadly, saying that I am getting a fizzy buzz on the 2nd and 3rd strings. With a high action I assume that may mean some uneven fret crowns... Sigh... It's also not the lightest concert I have played at 510g, but that isn't heavy. Sadly there is a slight dip to the neck on balance, likely caused by those tuners.

On the basics the volume here is astounding - this punches like a field gun so no complaints on that front. Sustain is a bit more average though, but at least there is some.

My first reaction though is just how stridently bright it is. Sure, it's a jangly instrument but it's off the scale to the point of irritating to listen to, particularly on higher voiced chords. Yes I know some people like the bright sound, but this is getting towards nails on a blackboard stuff to my tastes when strummed where it starts to sound jarring on my ears. Fingerpicking tones it down a little, but the high notes are still uncomfortable to listen to and the note volume does drop off up the neck too. If I can find a positive it's that despite the setup work needed, it intonates ok (even if there is a bit of buzz...)!

Tone is always the difficult one to pin down in reviews and it's very much personal opinion, but for a 'mahogany' instrument... well this sounds like a spruce topped sopranino... There's just no range to the tone and certainly little bass. Very one dimensional even if it is accurate and loud. You are free to disagree of course!

As I was going over this instrument I was hoping that it would deliver a little better on sound as the rest of it was not wholly bad. Yes there are some gripes on the finish but they are sortable, and the general build of the body is very good. And no, it's not a lot of money, but I can't live with that shrill sound myself. It works as a uke I guess, but you have a lot of choice around this price point that I'd go to first.

Meh..

LEKATO CONCERT ON AMAZON UK

LEKATO CONCERT ON AMAZON USA

UKULELE SPECS ROUNDUP

Model: Lekato Concert

Scale: Concert

Body: Laminate mahogany

Bridge: Unspecified slot bridge

Saddle: Plastic

Saddle spacing: 41mm

Finish: Satin

Neck: Unspecified

Fingerboard: Unspecified

Frets: 18, 14 to body

Nut: Bone

Nut width: 34mm, 27mm G to A

Tuners: Sealed gears

Strings: Un-named - possibly Titaniums

Extras: Strap buttons, gig bag, tuner, spare strings, picks, strap

Weight: 510g

Country of origin: China

Price: Around £50

UKULELE PROS

Generally a sound core build

Tidy body finish

Great volume

Cheap

UKULELE CONS

Nonsense marketing description

Not a fan of laser etching which cheapens it

Sharp body edges make it uncomfortable

Poor fingerboard condition

Sharp fret ends

Needs setup

Almost strident in brightness

Heavy guitar style tuners

UKULELE SCORES

Looks - 7.5 out of 10

Fit and finish - 7.5 out of 10

Sound - 5 out of 10

Value for money - 8 out of 10

OVERALL UKULELE SCORE - 6.9 out of 10

UKULELE VIDEO REVIEW

GOT A UKULELE IS NOT PAID BY BRANDS OR SHOPS - YOUR KIND DONATIONS ARE WHAT KEEP THE SITE GOING! THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

SAY THANKS WITH A BEER!

BECOME A GOT A UKULELE PATREON

OR THRU PAYPAL

THANKS!