One type of ukulele that hasn't featured that much on the Got A Ukulele Reviews section are Baritone scale instruments. In fact there is only one other in the form of a model from Pono. Many thanks to the folks at Mahalo instruments for helping redress the balance by sending me a baritone model to review. The Mahalo U320B series baritone in fact.
This Mahalo is an entry level instrument, a fact given away by the RRP of about £70 complete with gig bag. That makes it one of the cheapest baritone ukes I am aware of. So what are you getting for your money?
The U320B is standard in shape and design. It's a double bout instrument made from laminate woods with a mahogany outer veneer. Fairly standard looking, but that makes it inoffensive and instantly recognisable as a ukulele! Made in China, although I am calling it an 'entry level' it is not the most entry level ukulele in the Mahalo stable, but I am sure you knew that. As Baritones go - this is certainly 'entry level'!
The laminate body appears to have single pieces on top and back (something you can easily do with laminate that is not so possible with solid wood because of the inherent strength) and the mahogany finish is actually quite nice with a fair amount of stripe to it and a deep orange brown colour. It's also not overly thick like so many entry level Chinese laminate instruments. It looks like a wooden instrument and isn't trying to be something else!
The sides are made of two pieces joined at the base and the back is not arched. The edges where the top and back meet the sides are unbound but I quite like that as the contrast of the edge of the laminate in a paler wood kind of looks like binding and gives it a detail that may not otherwise stand out.
The body is finished in a gloss / semi gloss finish. That is to say it is indeed glossy, but not a mirror finish and the pores of the mahogany veneer show (and feel) through the coating. I think it looks and feels a little cheap myself. Kind of like a plastic coat and it doesn't feel very tactile in the hand. I'm not saying the finish is overly thick, it isn't. It's just not to my tastes.
A look inside shows a remarkably tidy build with no pools of glue or wood shavings and notched kerfing where the sides meet the top and back.
The top has no other decoration save for a screen printed gold sound hole rosette that sits under the gloss. Again, this looks a bit cheap to me (but it is only £70!)
The bridge is rosewood and a slotted type for easy string changes. It is also covered in the same gloss which I really don't like. The saddle is plastic and compensated.
For the body then, I am pretty pleased with the quality control and general construction. We have no pooling or flaws and certainly not splits or cracks. I just really don't like the gloss!
Up to the hardwood neck, this is made from three pieces with a joint at the heel and one up the neck towards the headstock. It too is finished in (you guessed it) the same gloss.
Topping the neck is a rosewood fingerboard. It's nice and even in colour, though looking a bit dry. Better than many fingerboards I see though. The edges are unbound meaning you can see the edges of the frets through the edging paint. Position markers are provided facing out at the 5th, a double at the 7th, a single at the 10th, a double at the 12th and singles at the 15th, 17th and 19th spaces. Thankfully the dots are repeated in singles on the side of the neck too. The frets are nickel silver and we have 20 in total with 14 to the body. They are dressed nicely with no sharp edges. Not bad at all.
Past the plastic nut and up to the ubiquitous crown headstock we have a screen printed Mahalo logo and my next big gripe with the instrument - the tuners. They are the dolphin shaped geared tuners that Mahalo use on so many instruments. The buttons are black plastic and far too big for a ukulele but the tuners themselves feel really cheap. Turning them is a bit rough, they have a grind and get stiffer at certain points on the turning circle. Tuning kind of jumps up in places. To be fair, they do hold tuning when you get there but they are not enjoyable to use! If this was my instrument they would be replaced quick smart.
Completing the deal - strings appear to be Aquilas on the B and E strings with wound strings on the D and G. I don't mark instruments up down for strings as I figure most people will experiment anyway. They are however perfectly passable strings. Also for the price comes a really nice padded gig bag branded with the Mahalo logo embroidered into the front pocket. The padding is good and the zips are really strong (complete with Mahalo logos). One of the better padded gig bags I have seen for some time.
So in summary - a £70 baritone at a rather incredible price, especially for one that is built pretty well, even if I don't like the gloss or the tuners. Throw in the gig bag and you are looking at quite a bargain here. So what gives?
Well, to hold it feels nice - not overly heavy and nicely balanced. I don't like the gloss under my fingers but that is just me.
The setup was pretty much spot on and this plays accurately out of the box with no need to meddle with the saddle or nut. OK so far.
Strummed, the sound is rather one dimensional and not actually that loud. Louder than many cheap ukuleles on account of that extra resonance from the big body but not as loud as many other baritones I have played. It plays accurately enough, but it doesn't set me alight. It can get a bit muddled on strums and you can find it hard to pick out individual notes, but that is not surprising for £70 either. What I really don't like is the kind of echoey boxy sound it projects - almost like it is rattling (I checked - nothing is loose!). It's just a fact of £70 laminate construction I guess - the woods are not singing - it strikes me that the strings are doing all the tone work and the sound box is doing all the amplification - that's ⅔ of what a ukulele should do, but it misses the final third in any sort of sweet tone.
Fingerpicked it is much nicer, and you can get some clear tremolo on individual notes, but I still wouldn't call the sound sweet. Still its functions far far better than many other entry level instruments I have reviewed in smaller scales and plays more accurately too. I think that baritones are naturally more forgiving than other cheap ukuleles because of that extra resonance - they kind of automatically sound like a more serious instrument. I suppose you only notice the lack of bell like tone on them when you play them against other higher end versions of the same scale. Unfortunately, I have!
But hey - it's £70 you know? So who is this aimed at? You see - I don't see a lot of beginners going to baritones for a first ukulele. I am not saying that never happens, but it's rarer. This would actually suit them down to the ground and dare I say it would be a better musical instrument than many of the entry level sopranos and concerts. But they don't tend to because of the different tuning and the fact most beginner tabs are in C tuning. So what about more seasoned players? If you are already playing a more serious ukulele (and I am thinking here of something £150 up, perhaps solid wood) and you are toying with a first baritone? If you are used to sweeter tones in other scales I think this may disappoint you and you may do better with a higher end baritone. Certainly something equivalent to a £150 solid top concert ukulele should cost you MORE in baritone scale not less - and this would be much less.. On the other hand, £70 is not a huge investment and I have enjoyed noodling with it on the sofa so perhaps that is the target - someone wanting something cheap to dabble in baritone scale for a while. I wouldn't personally buy one, but that is not what these reviews are about.
So it leaves me a bit confused and feeling a little sorry for it really because it really isn't terrible. In fact as an entry level instrument it's pretty good, I'm just not sure who it's aimed at.
Ah, the ukulele world. Never really changes when it comes to the opinionated armchair experts who love to use their keyboards to dictate what other players should and should not do... Don't use a strap, don't use a pick, don't play this, don't play that... One of the most common I see is the strong opinions on how often you should change your ukulele strings. Why all the fuss?
Interestingly, the most opinionated views tend to be those that like to force a view that ukulele strings last FOR EVER. Sure you also get those who tell you that your really should be changing them every week but the most animated and forceful arguments tend to come from people with an aversion to the concept of 'new strings'. Well at risk of letting the cat out of the bag in this rant too early... the frequency you change your string is entirely dependent on how much you play the instrument and when YOU feel like you want to change them. And that's it.
But lets just focus back on those that like to jump in to any debate on this subject and state that they have 'happily kept strings on for years and they are absolutely right... '. It is usually stated in a 'I'm right and everyone else is wrong' kind of way, and usually (I suspect) because they are either too lazy to change strings or they don't really know what they are listening out for to make them consider changing them. That, or perhaps they just like being different and / or controversial..
Back in the days that ukulele strings were strung with natural materials (Cat gut - incidentally - nothing to do with the inner workings of actual cats - but actually innards of sheep or goats), there were reports of people who kept those strings going for years (literally). I have never played gut strings so I can't really comment but perhaps it is true. That's cool if it is I guess, but also kind of irrelevant to 99.9% of todays ukulele players who will never use gut strings. What is also true is that most strings today are made of nylon or fluorocarbon material and that is a synthetic product. It's also a fact that such materials when held in tension for a period of time start to harden and go brittle as a natural consequence of the material they are made from. That can lead to snapping but also a loss of one of the very functions you want for a string - a vibrating resonance. So in my view, the 'strings last forever' argument is an extremely unlikely one to hold true with most of todays modern strings. Sure enough, someone will pop up and tell me they have had strings on an instrument for 10 years. Great.... Good for you..... But for the vast majority of people that really isn't going to happen is it? And please don't tell me that strings get better with age as I saw in one discussion. That is just pseudo science that you can in no way prove to be true (quite simply because there is no way to fairly compare strings of ten years ago with strings today - your technique and the resonance of the instrument will also have changed in that time making the comparison unfair at best and mainly pointless).
So stepping back from the extreme viewpoint on changing frequency, what about the people who suggest string changes every couple of years only. Absolutely fine with me. If your strings have lasted that long and still sound ok to your ears, then why not? I think the reality for most people is they will likely snap one before that time period elapses or they will just get bored and want to try another brand, but if you are happy with them, that is really all that matters. I suppose what I say to that is, 'how are you judging that you are happy with them'?
At the other end of the scale we have the people who obsess about perfect tone, accuracy and freshness and suggest changing ukulele strings on an almost weekly basis. Again, if you have the time, money and patience to be restringing your uke every week (and dealing with the stretching and settling down that involves) then be my guest. Its not for me to tell you not to do that and equally not for anyone else to tell you that you are wrong either.
Yet rather like the strong views on string brands themselves, some people really like to tell other players, usually beginners, that what works for THEM is the only answer for YOU. All other viewpoints are null and void because they know best.. The reality is we are all different, we all play different instruments, we play different styles with different attack angles and a different strength of strumming. We may have different picking techniques, different hardness of fingernails or use different picking implements. We keep instruments in different environments, we play them in different environments, we store them in different environments. Some of us dutifully clean down ukulele strings and necks after even five minutes play, and some put their ukuleles away still soaked in beer and blood from the show the night before. There are just too many variables for there to be a one size fits all answer to this issue.
Personally my re-stringing regime has changed. Last year I stopped performing regularly with a band, so my instruments now not only get less play, but they get less HARSH play. When gigging, I tended to play a lot of hard, thrashing, rock stuff on the ukulele. Couple that with gigs lasting for two hours, often in sweaty clubs and often with the inclusion of the occasional spilled beer or blood from a broken nail and my ukuleles would often finish the night pretty grimy. In those days I would change strings every couple of months or so (or more frequently). But that was because they were taking a massive hammering. These days I don't really have a set pattern and change them when I feel like it. But how do I know I want a change?
The usual tips I give people apply here:
1. Are you noticing any change in tuning accuracy (intonation) down the neck?
2. Are the strings starting to buzz when they didn't before?
3. If you run a finger under the strings can you feel notches where the frets have started to wear the strings down.
4. Have you snapped a string, and replaced it with a single (meaning you now have a mix of new and old strings)
If the answer to any of the above is 'yes' then you may want to change the strings. It's not a hard and fast rule, but a guide that works for me. And note.... the time period these things can start to indicate a change is needed will vary based on YOU. There may be other reasons for a change of course - you may just 'fancy it' - and there is nothing wrong with that either!
Strings are really not that expensive, and rather like tyres for a car they are of course MEANT to be changed, not kept for as long as possible in some sort of perverse stamina contest. Whether that means you want to change them weekly, monthly or yearly, that is entirely up to you but don't be afraid of changing them. And please, please don't be afraid of changing them, even though you are having tuning issues just because a chap in your club told you that 'strings last for years'.... A change can actually breathe new life into an instrument that you were finding uninspiring. Hey a string change can also just give you a change in voice even if they didn't need changing.. And guess what - if the old strings were not actually that old, you can save them and use them again!
And if you want to try to max your strings out and keep them on for 10 years, then be my guest. Just stop telling the rest of us that you know something magical that we don't and that we are all wrong.
For me - I'm off to change my strings... or maybe I'll do it tomorrow / next week / next month / next year....
Time for a look back at 2015 through the eyes of Got A Ukulele. This is a feature I try to run at the end of each year, but missed it for the end of 2014 as you may recall I was stuck in a hospital bed! Been looking forward to getting back to normality though!
So 2015 started relatively slowly, but has been a great year for the website. It has now had over 8.9 million page views and the backbone of the site, (the reviews) have gone from strength to strength I think.
Let's look back at some of the highlights!
JANUARY
As I say, a slow start, but I had to start with a delayed review of one of my favourite CD's of the year, from Mr Phil Doleman - Old Is The New New. Also on the review bench was a look at one of the most marvellous instruments I have had.. and one that was delivered to me in a hospital waiting room by the Luthier in question - the Tinguitar solid tenor ukulele...
As a blog that likes to cover ukulele offerings for all price points February saw reviews of a couple of bargain ukuleles. The first one was an absolute stinker in the form of the Stagg US10 Soprano, and the second was a far better offering In the form of the Alic soprano.
In May I reviewed my first ever Baritone ukulele on the site in the form of the Pono MB-e. I also wrote a piece on ukulele humidity and how there is a lot of bad advice in this area.
I also caused quite a stir with my post about using Fishing Line as ukulele strings and the month ended with the rather fabulous Grand Northern Ukulele Festival, featuring the likes of Aaron Keim, The Mersey Belles, Manitoba Hal, Chee Maisel and Mike Hind.
A quiet month ( a man needs a holiday!) but I did get to review a tenor instrument from PSI ukuleles and also give you a round up of ukulele albums that had been on rotation in my CD player.
AUGUST
A mix of review - from the sublime soprano from DJ Morgan Ukuleles to the most controversial review I have ever done - the Epiphone Les Paul Ukulele. That latter one led to more comments and complaints than any other I have done, ranging from telling me I was just plain wrong to saying it was a nice sounding instrument. On reflection - no, my view is unchanged. It's absolutely terrible.
I also returned to the rants with my confusion with why people claim the ukulele is magical, and I finally got around to featuring a ukulele player I have wanted on the blog for ages - Ukulele Russ. Ending the month was a look at the Luna Tattoo Concert.
NOVEMBER
From the ridiculous to the sublime in November. The Vintage VUK20 was one of the worst instruments I have ever tested, and the Beltona Tenor resonator was one of the very best. Oh, and the pUKEs released a new single which is always a good day!
DECEMBER
Always a busy month in life generally, but we ended the year with yet more reviews. The Mahalo 2500 Kahiko, the Kala Travel Concert, and finally one of the fastest read review posts I have ever put up for the oh so pretty Cocobolo tenor.. A smashing instrument. The end of the year soured slightly by some trolls thinking that one mans ukulele reviews are akin to the Cuban Missile Crisis... but... ah well.. the ups and downs of a public website I suppose!
2015... 88 posts... 2.6 million page views this year.... over 8.9 million in total....
Those were the highlights of my year. My thanks once again to readers and supporters of the site and brands who have kindly loaned me instruments to write about. It really is rewarding, and the site it has been a lot of fun this year. I have plenty more ideas in the pipeline for 2016 and instruments already stacking up on the review bench from the likes of Deering, Cordoba, Mahalo and Aiersi already.. All is left is for me to wish YOU all the very very best for the coming year in whatever you do. Hope the site remains of interest!
Regular Got A Ukulele readers will know that I don't flood this site with videos, and really only tend to share them when they stand out to me. James Hill videos normally do that for me.
But I am sharing this for reasons other than the technical standard on display (which, for me, is rather wonderful).
You see, I like James because he pushes some boundaries with what the ukulele can do. Some may not like the music (I'm a Hendrix fan, so I like it just fine - even if James has mis-spelled the name of the track he is covering). Some will say 'you shouldn't play that on a ukulele... And that is really one of the main reasons I am sharing it. You see, I am a strong believer that no matter what the instrument, taking it out of the comfort zone of most people is a HEALTHY thing to do with it. It shows others that the instrument is not so limited, and that has to be a good thing.
The ukulele does, in my view, suffer from being typecast, of people assuming it is a one trick pony, of people assuming that it is 'only' for happy Hawaiian stuff. I say not. I say watch and listen to James Hill.
If you don't like the tune, admire the skill of his playing. If you don't think this should be played on a ukulele... well... it's a musical instrument - they don't come with rule books.
(And if you are interested, James is playing a Mya Moe ukulele)
Well what a year, time now to relax with the family and loved ones. Maybe play a ukulele or two!
With readers around the world and from many different cultures, it's probably unwise to try to cover them all, so if you have a celebration I missed, please add it in the comments below.
Regardless of your background, have a great fun break and me nice to each other.
Ukulele review time! Next up, a brand that has created quite a buzz on ukulele social media. A musical instrument all the way to me on test from Nicaragua, take a look at the Cocobolo Tenor ukulele.
Taking its name from the wood all their instruments are made from the Cocobolo brand is a hand made offering and brainchild of US graduate Kevin Keith who set up the new Cocobolo instrument business in Nicaragua. Just the way they look has generated a lot of interest, so I was delighted to borrow one to take a look.
This tenor model is one of a range of instruments from Cocobolo, from soprano to baritone, 6 strings and custom order options, and arrived with me in standard spec to give you an idea of what you automatically get. Lots of elements can be changed, but this is what you get if you click buy on the standard tenor model. It retails at $399 US too which is a great price I think.
So lets take a look. We have a traditional double bout shaped instrument hand made from all solid Nicaraguan cocobolo wood. cocobolo is a tropical hardwood renowned for its striking colour and grain patterns. And those grains are used to great effect by Cocobolo.
It is finished in satin (thumbs up from me) and is indeed striking. The swirl in the wood on the top and sides makes it look like it has been painted. When your realise that it is actually the wood, you realise what a nice material it is. It kind of glows red / orange in the light with black and yellow swirls. Quite beautiful really.
The sides follow this pattern, and are particularly swirly on this model at the base.
The back is slightly arched and trimmed down the middle join with some lighter coloured wood strips. It's a nice touch that sets it off.
At the base we have a similar trim strip on the butt and it comes fitted with a silver strap button as standard. Nice.
One thing I would mention at this point is that this example is not book matched. That is to say the two pieces of wood that join on the top (and on the back) are not mirrors of each other as you normally find. I think it was done like this on my example to exaggerate the huge swirls on the front, but a look on the Cocobolo website seems to show that a majority of their instruments are book matched, with some using the striking lighter sap woods to great effect. Purely personal choice but if I was buying one of these, I would specify a book matched model myself. That is not a criticism, just personal taste.
Saying all that, the swirls on this are hard not to like.
A look inside shows a reasonably tidy build. The kerfing is notched and the bracing is nice and minimal. The interior bracing is made of Honduran mahogany. There are glue spots however if that sort of thing bothers you. Otherwise the body of the instrument is extremely nicely put together with no finish flaws, gaps or odd bows or buckles. I'd also just point out that it has a wonderful wood shop smell!
The bridge is made of cocobolo also and is a fairly standard designed tie bar affair with a solid bone saddle. The saddle is slightly arched to match the fingerboard (a feature I will come on to!).
The neck wood is Honduran mahogany and made of three pieces, with a joint at the heel and in the headstock. The heel of the neck is capped with more cocobolo.
Topping the neck is a fingerboard also made of cocobolo. I've not seen a fingerboard made of this wood before, but it does work with the body. Like the body, it too is a deep red and full of swirly grains. Some of the grains and knots in the fingerboard do have a slightly rough finish to them though. Nothing major, but I know some people are particular that their fingerboards are as smooth as glass.
One thing that did please me was to see that the fingerboard has a radius. That is to say it is not dead flat like most ukuleles but is very slightly curved. It's a 12" radius and I do like those on instruments as I find they feel incredibly natural in the fretting hand. Nice to see and it explains that arched top to the saddle I mentioned earlier!
The frets are steel and we have 17 in total with 13 to the body. That's an unusual join point but Cocobolo explain that they find this gives the ukulele a sweet balance. We shall see. One thing that did surprise me a little was that the frets are bar style without domed crowns. That is an extremely traditional fret wire style seen on the oldest Hawaiian ukuleles, but personally I find them uncomfortable on sliding up and down the neck as they jar on the fingers a little. I would personally spec more standard crowned frets myself. Incidentally the fret edges are smooth as you would wish and the fretboard edges are unbound.
I am also told that inside the mahogany neck, they employ a strip of cocobolo wood to add to the strength of the neck. Kind of a non adjustable truss rod. Whether that is really necessary I cannot say (I don't tend to think ukuleles need truss rods) but I am not complaining. The whole of the neck, like the body is finished in the same satin coat.
We have fret markers in mother of pearl dots at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th and 12th fret spaces and thankfully these are repeated on the side too.
The nut, like the saddle, is bone and sits below a crown shaped headstock. The headstock is faced with a cocobolo piece complete with a central trim to match the back. There is no makers logo on the headstock and I think the ukulele suits not having one. In fact I think it would spoil it. Unusually the back of the headstock is also faced in the same cocobolo wood. I have never seen a facing on the back of the headstock before, but I think it looks great and adds an unusual touch to the instrument.
Tuning is provided by the ever reliable and top quality open geared Grover brand tuners with silver buttons. No complaints from me here, as these are my tenor tuners of choice.
Completing the $399 deal is a set of Aquila strings. What else?
So I will say this before we get into the real nitty gritty. This is certainly one of the most unusually pretty instruments I have had the pleasure of reviewing on this site. I really mean that. Yes, I would prefer a book matched top, but know they offer that for the same price. But irrespective of that, I just adore the red glow and swirls that adorn almost all of the instrument. I kind of find myself staring at it.
To hold it is nicely balanced, and not overly heavy, in fact just about right for a tenor. Comfort is assisted by that nice satin finish and the rather wonderful fretboard radius which makes fretting so natural. I suppose the only thing I would change to compliment that radius would be to make the nut a little wider, but I have big hands so that is more a personal view.
But pretty woods and comfort mean nothing at all if the instrument is a dead duck to play. I tend to partly judge instruments based on my reaction when I first hit a chord on them. With nice instruments I tend to smile. With really nice instruments I often say 'wow!". I can honestly say that I did both with this Cocobolo.
The first thing that grabbed me was the sustain. It rings and rings and rings and you can feel the vibrations transferring through to your ribcage from the back of the body (always a good sign). In fact I can feel the vibrations in the crook of my fretting hand. It feels like the instrument is alive! Couple this with decent volume too and you are off to a good start.
But aside from those elements, it has a really interesting clarity of mixed tones. It's a warm sound, but each string stands out and doesn't sound confused or muddy. It really took me aback to be honest as I freely admit I wasn't sure what to expect. Fingerpicked and it turns bell like with the high A really cutting through and giving it a shimmer. It's all good really and a joy to play.
Certainly not a case of style over substance, this Cocobolo has a lovely substantial tone that is hard to dislike. Couple that with striking pretty looks and a good build quality and I think this is a winner. And that price - really, that is a great deal for what you are getting I think. I'd need to change those bar frets though..
I've had experience of the Kala 'Travel' series of musical instruments for quite some years now, but only recently managed to get my hands on one to feature on the Got A Ukulele reviews page. Say hello to the Kala KA-SSTU-C Travel Concert.
Time for another ukulele review in the form of a new entry level model from Mahalo. The 2500 'Kahiko' model soprano.
Now I have not had the best experiences with the Mahalo brand and have been quite vocal about them (see my review of the Flying V Ukulele here) and that is mainly because I think their quality control has been poor. Whilst some people get good ones, I have come across far too many bad ones with fatal build flaws and I am not a fan of playing 'Russian Roulette' when buying musical instruments. But let's not pre-judge this one and take a look at it.
The 2500 Kahiko range is a new development for Mahalo in 2015 and represents what they call the 'best value ukulele in the world today'. Kahiko is a Hawaiian word for a Hula Dance, so it would appear that still, ukulele brands, even those made in China (as this one is) cannot quite let go of that Hawaii thing... Best value in the world? Read on.
The Kahiko series is made in the far east, and comes in a range of translucent colours (red, blue, white and brown), with this review model being the brown variety. The instrument is made from laminate Sengon which is an Indonesian soft wood. Being a soft wood, I am certainly glad it is made from plywood Sengon! The finish is translucent and is satin to the touch. Being thin and translucent does show off the grain of the outer wood veneer and I think it works quite well actually. It's not going to win any prizes for flamed wood grains, but for me it is far nicer than the flat thick coatings seen on so many other entry level ukuleles at this sort of price - it actually looks like wood! I like the open pore look to instrument and am not a fan of satin finishes that look artificial. It should however be said that the open grain is a feature of the outer Sengon veneer as it is not a wood with a tight grain. No matter - it looks better than most at this price!
The body is traditional double bout in shape, and I do rather like the curved base rather than the more traditional flattened off shape on so many other ukuleles. There is no other decoration on the body and I actually like it for that fact as I think the cheap addition of a screen printed sound hole rosette would only end up looking cheap. The laminate wood is on the thick side, but it is neatly finished all over. The front and back are made of single pieces and the back is completely flat. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by the body.
The bridge is an unspecified orange hard wood and is a slotted variety which is a boon for beginners as they avoid the tie bar bridge knots. It is glued and screwed in place and is fitted with a straight and non-compensated plastic saddle.
A look inside the instrument shows a very tidy finish for the price. Being made of thick laminate, it is not braced, but equally it is not plagued by wood shavings and glue splurges. The kerfing is not notched but otherwise there is not much more to write about the inside!
Up to the neck and Mahalo specify this as Sengon wood as well. Really? A soft wood for a neck? Oh well. It is made of three pieces with a joint at the heel and one nearer the headstock.
On top of the neck is laid a hardwood fingerboard, very reminiscent of the Vintage model ukulele I reviewed recently. It feels harder than the Vintage though and seems to have some sort of rubbed finish on it whereas the Vintage is bare wood. It's complete with 12 brass frets which is fairly standard for an entry level soprano. There are no outward facing position markers, but it does come with side markers. That is a first for me! No complaints though as they have included the markers that matter.
The edges of the fingerboard are not bound but rather painted in black. I think it looks rather stark against the paler wood of the rest of the instrument and would have preferred they left that off. Not a huge complaint though and some people might like it.
Past the moulded plastic nut we have a fairly generic shaped headstock with the Mahalo logo applied in screen print. I don't much like the Mahalo logo actually and I think it looks cheap. Of course, this instrument IS cheap, but I just think it is time Mahalo re-branded. I think it detracts from the instrument and kind of makes it look like a toy. Just me?
Tuning is provided by open geared tuners that are stamped 'Mahalo'. They are certainly cheap but better than many I have seen at this price point and work well enough. Being a soprano I would rather have seen friction pegs, but at the lower price end of the market, cheap ukuleles mean cheap friction pegs and there is nothing worse. As such, this was probably the sensible choice for Mahalo and the beginners that this instrument is undoubtedly aimed at. The peg buttons are overly large for my liking but I have seen much worse.
Completing the deal are a set of clear nylon strings which are frankly horrible and a cloth gig bag / cover branded 'Mahalo' which offers little to no protection other than keeping dust off it. Strangely, I have seen even worse bags than this one, but still, you do wonder why they bother! Price wise, I have seen these vary quite a bit anywhere between around £23 to £28. Real bargain basement stuff. The 'best value in the world today' as Mahalo claim? Well.. one of the cheapest, certainly. But I don't measure 'value' purely on how cheap an item is. It needs to deliver.
So it's a cheap laminate ukulele but actually I can't find any build flaws, scratches or issues that usually plague instruments at this price point. Yes, it's plain, but it looks like a wooden ukulele to me. I like the shape and I like the finish. But how is it as an instrument?
To hold it is comfortable enough and extremely light. Something that often plagues cheap end instrument is they are overly heavy. I think the Sengon laminate is helping here. It feels nice in the hands and doesn't feel 'cheap' like many others do.
Set up out of the box needs work. Both the nut and saddle are too high, and whilst the nut height is not massively throwing out notes at the lower frets and intonation is generally 'OK', beginners will find the height of the strings uncomfortable to learn on. Bear that in mind if you are thinking of picking one of these up.
Sound wise, I was not expecting great things, and, frankly, didn't get them. The strings are the real let down on this instrument giving it minimal volume, and a real plinky plonk sound with little sustain. A string change would certainly help here. Now people may say, 'well you can apply that thinking to the Vintage you reviewed badly' and of course you can. The difference there though was that the Vintage was plagued with plenty of other build issues that I am not seeing on this one. But I don't sense that underneath that it is a wonder instrument. That choice of Sengon may well make it light, but I am not convinced it will make the most resonant laminate either.
It's hard for me to say much more really. Watch the video below. It's certainly not the worst sounding instrument I have played, but it's definitely not the best either.
For an absolute beginner you can choose better than this one I think, but strings may close the gap a little. I quite like the look of it and the finish is pretty good actually. It still doesnt beat the likes of Makala Dolphin or an Octopus as my favourite bargain priced instruments but compared to entry level Mahalo instruments of old, this is a huge improvement!
Mixed views I guess, but there is 'something' about it that I quite liked actually!
Always puts a smile on my face when there is a new pUKEs release and what better than a ukulele band with a Charity Chrismas Single?
The pUKEs - credit Mark Richards
Another self penned track from the band with a superbly produced video (see below). What I love about the pUKES is that whilst they are ukulele driven band, when you listen to them they sound like a 'band', and a good one at that. They use the ukuleles as what they are meant for - to make music. The music THEY like, with not a Hawaiian twee derivative thing in sight!
Great tune, great driving rhythm, great vocals.
The single is available for pre-order on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/exmas-single/id1055100584 and the money raised is going to the Rock N Roll Rescue charity in Camden. Rock N Roll Rescue is a volunteer run music shop that directs it's money to a range of local charities including local food banks, homeless, kids and the like. It was set up by Knox of punk band The Vibrators and has been supported by the pUKEs for some time.
Have a pre listen and watch the video - not least as you get to see old mate and pUKE Paul Redfern dressed up as an old lady..
The single gets a launch party too - 6th December at the Dublin Castle pub in Camden.
And in other pUKEs news - they have a mini tour this December supporting none other than Bad Manners!
12 December NORWICH Epic (with Bad Manners)
13 December LONDON Under The Bridge (with Bad Manners)
18 December LONDON Under The Bridge (with Bad Manners)
20 December BRIGHTON Concorde 2 (with Bad Manners)
Be sure to grab the single - its a cracker and all for a great cause.
Something I am seeing a lot of these days is ukulele manufacturers being economical or misleading with their product descriptions.
The use of terms like 'all mahogany' as a means to give the impression that an instrument is made from solid wood annoys be greatly - so how can you check what you have?
I am rather excited to have this one in my hands, as it really does hold a special place in the range of ukuleles out there. It's also a ukulele I have wanted to own for quite some time. Hello to the tenor scale resonator ukulele made in the UK by Beltona musical instruments.
I am often accused of only reviewing 'expensive' ukuleles. I clearly don't (just go to the Reviews section and see...) so here we go with another one at the low price end. Say hello to the Vintage VUK20N Soprano.
I actually owned one of these years ago when I started the blog and it featured in my video comparing the sound of lots of instruments. It was pretty dreadful to be honest. Sadly, that was before I started writing up regular instrument reviews, and I had since given it away (along with a bunch of other ukuleles) to a charity. More recently though I have been keeping an eye on ukuleles on Amazon and picking out those that have unusually and consistently high user review scores. In fact this model regularly hits the billing as "number 1 best seller" on Amazon UK. So this one certainly fits the bill on that score, yet could I have been wrong about it all those years ago? Let's take a look.
The Vintage VUK20 is billed on Amazon as the 'Vintage Ukulele Outfit' (meaning it comes with a gig bag, a plectrum and a pitch pipe) although it is available in very similar forms called the VUK15 also. To my eyes, they all look very similar and are the same price too.. I was actually intrigued by the Vintage brand as I actually owned a guitar of theirs which was pretty damn good. In fact, their guitars have built a fairly solid reputation as good value and quality in both the acoustic and electric markets. Clearly they chose to dip a toe into the ukulele world. But did they take that decision seriously?
First up, let's take a look at some of the product wording from Amazon for this one. It is billed as being made of mahogany. Err, no, no it isn't. It's made of laminate plywood with a mahogany coloured outer that is spray painted. In fact it doesn't even look like wood as there very little grain showing at all. Pedants may suggest the plywood is made of mahogany pieces, but for me that does not make it a mahogany ukulele. The product descriptions also says it is 'wonderfully finished' and being 'for beginners wanting to spend that little bit more for superior quality'. We shall see. I'm not entirely what this is 'spending more' than, considering it costs just over £20 but there you go. Are people actually spending less than £20??
To be fair, the Vintage website is not quite so gushing, but describes the body as Sapeli Ply. It is certainly ply, but that is far as it goes... But that product description on Amazon must have come from somewhere, and considering it wasn't a third party seller, I'd wager it came from Vintage... For those interested, Sapele (note the correct spelling) is a cheap african wood reminiscent of mahogany and often mistakenly called 'African Mahogany'. So isn't actually mahogany in the first place, but not even laminate with a mahogany outer. It's Sapele... plywood. I would also note that on the UK Amazon store this has a massively high user rating and very few negative comments. Sounds too good to be true?
So as I say, a laminate body ukulele in a kind of spray painted satin gloss finish in a rather dreadful shade of brown. Mahogany does NOT look like this in any way and for that matter, neither does Sapele.. It's in a soprano scale and standard in shape with a double bout. It's made in China (where else?) and can be bought for about £23 in the UK. At first glance it actually doesn't look too bad on the construction front. Cheap certainly and rather bland to look at, but all seems to be in one piece.
It comes boxed with a suitably Hawaiian look to the packaging and arrived with me with one of the worst setups I have ever seen on an instrument. More on that later, but trust me, if you are a beginner, you will not be able to realistically play this from the get go if it arrives like this one did.
The laminate is extremely, in fact MASSIVELY thick and it feels overly heavy for what it is. As I say, generally speaking the body finish is ok, but there are a few scuffs and scratches in the finish here and there which isn't right for a brand new instrument of any price. The issue appears to be a mix of that soft plywood construction coupled with a thin finish with no resilience to everyday knocks. There is no body binding or decoration save for a simple white screen printed double circle around the sound hole. As simple as that decoration is, it is also applied slightly off centre. Annoying. The top and back are made from single pieces of laminate and the back has no curve to it. A pretty basic standard cheap soprano then.
The bridge is a slotted type made from what Amazon claim to be rosewood. At first I thought it may well be, although looking closer, the strings are starting to split and gouge the wood. That would be very unlikely with a good rosewood leading me to think it is either not rosewood at all, or a very cheap piece of it. It is finished ok though I suppose, very simple and held in place by screws covered by a couple of pearloid cover plates. But the impact those strings are having on the slots worries me. On cheaper ukuleles those slots can split to be too wide for the knots rendering them useless and pretty much unfixable. I suspect that is what is going to happen to this one.
The saddle is plastic, straight and uncompensated. One of those cheap saddles that you know has not been shaped in any way whatsoever as you can still see the ridge from the plastic moulding machine running along the top.
A look inside shows it to be very plain. It is neat enough I suppose, but at the end of the day it's a laminate box. The edge kerfing is flat and on one side seems to be splitting with a chunk of wood kind of peeling away from the inside. What surprised me is that there appears to be no bracing at all. I know laminate is stronger than solid wood, but you usually see at least 'some' bracing to give some strength to the thin laminate pieces. But hey, when your laminate is this thick - Vintage clearly don't think you need it.. It genuinely is just a hefty plywood box then. I suspect the strength on the top under the bridge area is achieved by some extra sheets of plywood in that area. Exactly where you want resonance and vibration... Not good.
The neck is a fairly generic Chinese factory soprano profile and width. It's coated in the same finish as the body so it's hard to see how it is constructed in full, but I think it is made from three pieces with a joint at the heel and one at the headstock.Vintage claim it is made from Linden wood. Lime or 'basswood' in other words. You know, just because a brand uses the species name of a tree, doesn't mean it's any good for a musical instrument. And basswood is super cheap.
The fingerboard is made of......hang on, what on earth is that made of?? Amazon claim it's rosewood but it certainly isn't. I think it's a cheap slab of mahogany, possibly laminate that looks cheap, rough and unfinished. It's got an orangey colour and has an open grain that I don't like on a fingerboard. It looks like a piece of wood taken out of my garden fence. Looking at it more closely and there are quite a few indentations and gouges in the wood in various fret spaces. Taking a fingernail to the wood and pressing it leaves a mark. You see, there is a reason why denser and harder woods are used for fingerboards and Vintage seem to have ignored that completely. In short I think after a night of playing this, the fingerboard is only going to look worse. The softness, open grain and light colour also are likely to make it a magnet for oils and dirt from fingers and I suspect this will look dirty quite quickly. Quite honestly - horrible.
Set into the fingerboard are brass frets with a fairly standard 12 to the body. The edges are finished ok but the frets themselves look like they have seen better days (bearing in mind this is a new instrument). Most of them are caked in a fairly gunky looking rusty corrosion which is not really to my tastes at all. And surely I am not being fussy there? This is a BRAND NEW INSTRUMENT! "Would you like your ukulele frets corroded or non corroded sir?"
Position markers are provided at the 5th, 7th and 10th spaces in the way of inlaid pearly plastic dots. There are no side markers and the edges of the fingerboard are unbound.
Past the moulded plastic nut (in which we have something I would not describe as 'slots' more 'slight depressions' for the strings) we have a generic crown shaped headstock finished in the same brown as the rest of the instrument. Screen printed on is the Vintage logo in gold (and screen printed quite roughly at that with a fuzzy edge to the print like the transfer came from a bad photocopier).
Tuning is provided by open geared chrome tuners that are of the ultra cheap variety and move in the brackets when you turn them. The buttons are cream coloured plastic and way, way to large for an instrument of this size (unless you like your sopranos to look like it has ears like Prince Charles). They are each held in place by two small screws, but Vintage clearly thought that was overkill, so on one of the tuners, a screw has been missed. This means the whole tuner shifts on the mounting not just the peg. I'm sure it is probably in the packaging somewhere and probably didn't leave the factory like this but the inside of the screw hole looks sheared. No wonder it came out.. A fiddly thing to fix that will involve plugging the screw hole and resetting.. if you can be bothered.
Completing the deal is a black 'gig bag' (of which I have seen bin liners that are thicker), a pletctrum, a pitch pipe and a set of black nylon strings that you REALLY want to swap out (unless you like the feel of strumming rubber bands).
So.. dare I go on? How does it 'play' (I use that word with caution)? Well in the simplest sense it feels like a soprano ukulele I guess. It's overly heavy for what it is, and certainly over built. The feel of the body is not the nicest in the world and the fretboard, as well as being marked and scratched as I say above, actually feels rough under the fingers. The corroded frets are also noticeable against the fingertips. Some people talk about the smell from the sound hole in instruments in their reviews. I never have, but I did not need to get my nose anywhere near the sound hole to know what it smells like. A kind of synthetic, glue /chemical odour. Not enjoyable.
Action at the saddle is unacceptably high although that can be easily adjusted I suppose if you know what you are doing. Action at the nut though is one of the highest I have ever seen which means the notes throw sharp when fretted at the lower spaces on account of the string stretching required to make the strings engage with the frets. That isn't quite so straightforward for a beginner to fix. We are talking MASSIVELY high here. Bearing in mind this is aimed at beginners, and beginners spend most of their time playing chord shapes in the first positions (i.e. near the nut) - well you can see that this sort of setup doesn't make for a good experience. Sure enough, even simple first position chords sound out of tune when the ukulele is actually in tune played open. Classic high nut issue.
Taking a ruler to the neck I noted that the bridge is slightly out of place as well. Not by much, but enough to affect intonation and one of those things I put down to being more in the 'fatal' category of flaws in that it's much much harder to fix. So when it comes to the things that affect action the most - nut height, saddle height and bridge position, all three are flawed. One is easily fixed, one is a more difficult fix and one.... well, honestly, it just wouldn't be worth the bother..
There is something odd going on with the string spacing at the saddle as well. The C and E strings are further apart from each other than they are from the G and A strings. I don't think that is fatal, just odd and badly made. It's more normal at the nut end, so I think the slots in the bridge are cut incorrectly.
Sound wise, the instrument is suitably boxy and one dimensional on account of that excess of thick laminate. It's got poor volume / projection and very little sustain. You can really tell it is not projecting well both with your ears (it is quiet) but in feedback through the body. Lively sopranos vibrate into your chest when you play them. This one feels dead. Hey, I know this is a cheap ukulele, but read my other reviews. You can get sopranos at this sort of price that sound MUCH better. It can be done.
And sure, those strings are truly awful and you WOULD want to change them, but you are not going to get much more life out of this thing regardless of what you string it with. In reviews of other instruments I have been less than impressed with, I quite often receive comments along the lines of 'but if you re-strung it, it would sing!'. Please don't assume that this ukulele is a killer instrument let down by the strings alone. It really just sums up what some people call a 'ukulele shaped object'. Sure you could also call it a 'wall hanger' (i.e. a ukulele for decoration only), but really - with this putrid shade of brown - I'd at least go for something prettier! You could spray paint it I suppose...
This one is heavy, over built, badly built and terribly set up.
Just a final point on ukuleles that get my bad reviews like this one. I know full well that some of the elements I have mentioned on this can relatively easily be fixed. Yes, the strings are bad, but they can be changed. Yes, the action is high but it can be lowered. Heck - you could even swap out the tuners, and some wire wool may work wonders with the frets. I accept all of that but bear in mind the sort of person who is likely to buy one of these. A beginner? A parent buying one for a child? Why should they go through the trouble of having to deal with these things, potentially at further cost in order to make the thing sound even slightly decent. Ukuleles in this state should never reach the customer (and probably wouldn't if you bought one from a good dealer) In fact ukuleles like this should never leave the factory in my view.. So why are these not in the hands of the places I consider to be 'good dealers'? Well probably because far too many of them arrive from China in this sort of state that they are just not worth the hassle!
And those, of course, are just the things that can be adjusted. The thick laminate woods, the boxy sound, the mis placed bridge, the terrible tone - those cannot be fixed very easily.
Some people are bound to say, 'but I got a good one Barry!'. Perhaps you did - that is entirely possible but I have seen enough at this price to know that the quality control is like playing Russian Roulette. You might have had a good one, but how many got a bad one? And there lies the problem I have with them. Why take the chance when there are better alternatives for similar money?
They are the preserve of Amazon and eBay stores, usually accompanied by 'user reviews' by people who have only ever played this one instrument and think they are 'great'. This Vintage is NOT great and I don't care how many five star reviews you will find. It's just a perfect example of everything I don't like about most instruments at this price point. For the record Amazon, I also don't see anything in it that is 'wonderfully finished' or of 'superior quality' as you state.
Yes - of course you could just 'send it back', but my advice would be to not put yourself through the waste of time in the first place.
And finally, reviews such as this also tend to cause some people to claim the 'snob' card and suggest that I only like expensive instruments. Regular readers of Got A Ukulele will know that is not the case. I just don't like 'cheap' being used as an excuse to make something that is awful and doesn't fulfil the basic requirements of a musical instrument. More importantly, it need not be this way. I understand that for many people money is extremely tight and this may be as much as they can justify on a ukulele. There are good options though. Take my advice - if this is your maximum budget level, get a Makala Dolphin, Makala Shark or an Octopus brand... The Stagg is not a ukulele you should trouble yourself with.
Not really any I can think of - I suppose it is 'ukulele shaped', and cool if you like the colour 'dysentry beige'
UKULELE CONS
Scuffed body finish and misleading product description
Horrible soft fingerboard
Corroded frets
Cheap tuners that are not screwed on properly
Bridge misplaced, and slots mis cut
Woeful setup out of the box at both bridge and nut
Terrible strings
Pointless gig bag
Depressing spray painted colour
UKULELE SCORES
Looks - 3.5 out of 10
Fit and finish - 3 out of 10
Sound - 3.5 out of 10
Value for money - 5 out of 10
Ah, the ukulele boom. Certainly still in full swing around the country and the world. But do you ever find the events are getting a little samey? Festivals large and small, club nights in most towns on any night of the week. And so on. Then something catches your eye that is just that bit different. Ukulele Speed Dating is certainly that!
Brainchild of Lorraine Bow of Learn to Uke fame I thought this was a really neat idea. Lorraine is known to many people and us a ukulele teacher in London. She started the Learn To Uke ukulele classes, Ukulele Wednesdays and KaraUke and figured that as ukulele playing is such a social pastime, and that many people are single - why not put the two together?
Lorraine Bow
Speed dating is nothing new I guess - but with a ukulele? A new one on me!
Ukulele Speed Dating is starting out on 1 December in the Goldsmith Bar and Kitchen in London SE1. It's going to start with a 45 minute speed dating session followed by a strum along until 9pm to meet more people.
Importantly, this is not just about dating. Whilst you may find the love of your life you may actually use it to find new ukulele friends. At that can't be a bad thing can it?
Lorraine is someone with a real knack for ukulele events so I am sure this one will go from strength to strength. I look forward to news of the first Ukulele Speed Dating wedding!
Been a while since I ran a promotion on my ukulele ebooks so by way of a pre-Christmas promotion, all of the Got A Ukulele beginners ebooks are on half price promotion in the Kindle Stores worldwide!
That means that the two original books (What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know and More What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know) can now be grabbed in Kindle format for only $1.99 (or £1.29 in the UK). The Chords book has also been price dropped.
The Omnibus edition (the collection of the first two books in one volume) is now only $2.99 (or £1.99)
These offers are a short term thing, so now may be the time to grab a bargain.
Think of them as costing ¼ of a pack of strings (or other such comparisons!)
You can grab each of the Barry Maz books on Amazon Kindle on the links below!
And its also available on the Amazon Kindle stores in Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan, Italy, France, Spain, Mexico too! Hurry - the price drop won't last forever!
If you enjoy this blog, 'thank you donations' for the free content are welcomed. Aside from the Google ads, I don't get paid to write this blog and for reasons of impartiality a not sponsored by brands or stores.
