Quick review: Vorson Solid Body Steel String Ukulele

My new Vorson arrived last night. For $140 this little thing is incredible! This will be a quick and dirty review on some of the basics. I plan to do a more in-depth video review when I get a more Ubuntu friendly webcam (if anyone can suggest one btw, please do!)

First Things First:
Model: FTLUK3FM
Size: Tenor
Body: Tele style
Strings: Steel
Pickup: Single Coils (I believe they're custom but I can't find any definitive answer)
Tuners: Geared (No name listed)
Controls: Volume, Tone, and Pickup switch
Frets: 19

First Thoughts:
-----Man this neck is sturdy. I imagine its because of the truss rod, and it feels a micron or two wider than the average ukulele neck. Obviously you'd want any ukulele to have a sturdy neck, but this one feels rock solid. I could probably beat down a brick wall with it.

-----I'm not sure if its residue from the strings or some issue with the fretboard finish, but my fingertips have been picking up this black powdery stuff from fretting it. There's less and less each time, but even after 3-4 hours it was still picking up. It washes off with soap and water, at least.

-----At this price, obviously there would be some cosmetic issues. These were not as bad as I thought they would be. I expected a few light scratches or hairs or poor polishing, but so far all I've found is two small drops of extra finish about 3mm in diameter. One on the back and one by the top strap button.

-----Much to my surprise, it came packaged with re-entrant tuning. I expected low-g tuning because most steel strings I see seem to be strung that way. I played with it a bit, and then strung it low g. Both ways sound wonderful. You can use standard electric guitar strings DGBE and they'll tune to standard low gCEA. If you want high g my recommendation is to get an extra high E string and use that.

-----Intonation is good. The difference between open string and twelfth fret octave is about 5 cents over, but the bridge is adjustable so this can be corrected. Haven't attempted that yet

-----Tuners could be better. They do they're job fine, but when tuning they can "jump" and it makes it difficult to get precise tuning. After a few moments I adjusted better to them, but it would definitely benefit from some better ones. I'm thinking Grovers when I have the cash.

-----Lets talk about amping. I've got my eye on a Blackstar Fly 3 for this baby, but right now I've just been using a Danelectro Honeytone Mini Amp. Clean sounds are nice and clear, though the lower G and C strings seem to have a bit more punch than the E and A. Even still, it handles riffs and blues well. Distortion is great, but more tweakability would be nice. That'll come with a better amp, though.

-----Make sure you get a strap for it. The weight of the neck is a little off putting if you're accustomed to standing and playing, so a strap will help relieve the awkwardness. Plus it helps with the look!

-----The sustain from the pickups is PHENOMENAL. This thing can sing!

All in all I'm greatly impressed with how this purchase turned out. I can't wait to get some videos up with a proper amp and some effects to give you guys some sound reference. I'd gladly recommend it to anyone interested in a steel string uke that isn't able to put forth the money for a RISA or KAMOA.

If you're interested in buying, try Amazon or Zzounds. Apparently, Walmart also sells them.

Welp, thanks for reading, hope this was helpful, and happy uking!

Really wish someone in the UK would stock these things. They seem like a lot of fun.

Last week I got one just like yours, Capt. Amazo, i.e., Tele-style. But I only paid $127 (including free shipping) by pre-registering my email address at American Musical Supply and waiting for AMS's 10%-discount "welcome" reply w/code.

Note: The pickups are two single-coils, not humbuckers (which are paired single-coils that "buck hum" i.e., neutralize interference.) The Vorson's selector switch gives the usual choice of bridge pickup or neck pickup or both.

The black stuff on your fingers is from the crappy stock strings; disappeared after I swapped them out for D'addarios, including a flat-wound .026" low G.

I too found only minor flaws with the finish: two nearly invisible gloss-coat drips on the inner side of the upper bout's cutaway. Otherwise, the Vorson seems impeccably built, which I rather expected from noting that Vorson makes "pro"-level lap steel guitars w/MSRP of $630; also, Vorson boasts that its engineers are all musicians and it uses only quality woods and components, etc. Seems to be true.

Yep, an incredible bargain for an instrument with four fully adjustable saddles, a truss rod, solid electronics, fine build quality, preinstalled strap pins, etc. I only wish they'd also copied Fender's in-line-tuners headstock design, which I think they should have done since two of the three available bodies types are Fender styles. (Unlike back-of-headstock photos on an early Vorson msg string at UU, the tuner mounting screws on mine are all properly symmetrically aligned.) Agree that the tuners do their job fine though it does take a steady hand and light touch to avoid the "jump" you mention.

After lowering the action a bit using the included Allen wrench, I got the 12th-fret intonation perfect on mine using a small Philips-head driver on the bridge adjuster, but the E string goes a bit sharp at the first fret unless I fret it very lightly, which I'm hoping is because it's currently strung with .011-gauge string instead of the .014" light-gauge E spec recommended by RISA for its tenor solid-body. If that slightly heavier gauge doesn't eliminate the first-fret sharping, I'll try .016" for E, as per RISA's heavy-gauge specs, before considering a nut slot adjustment: see PhilUSAFRet's post at http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...rson-Tenor-Solid-Bodies&p=1605772#post1605772

I'm glad you're enjoying your Vorson as much as I'm liking mine! I'm glad I discovered this one as other solid-body tenors were too costly for my tastes. The Vorson is a sweet little axe!

RAB11: That sucks, bro! Have you tried seeing if any shop will special order it for you?

Ramart: Thanks for the correction on the pickups! I've edited the post. I also wish they had gone with something more in line with the body style for the headstock, but I am glad they at least did something more than a simple squared headstock. That string forum post is incredibly helpful, too.

Ramart said:

...After lowering the action a bit using the included Allen wrench, I got the 12th-fret intonation perfect on mine using a small Philips-head driver on the bridge adjuster, but the E string goes a bit sharp at the first frets unless I fret very lightly, which I'm hoping is because it's currently strung with .011-gauge string instead of the .014" light-gauge E spec recommended by RISA for its tenor solid-body...

Click to expand...

Follow-up on my first-frets sharping problem: Yep, the too-light individual strings being bundled by American Musical Supply and Zzounds as "D'addario Electric Solidbody Uke String Set" were the culprits; they don't work with the Vorson and will cause intonation issues. After I restrung mine with D'addario strings meeting RISA's specs for its solid-body tenor (see link in my preceding post), it was simple to adjust the intonation so it's spot-on all up and down the neck.

For anyone wanting a very well made steel-string electric tenor uke modeled after the Telecaster, Stratocaster, or Les Paul, I think the Vorsons might be the sleeper bargains of the year. I've played mine through a few different Fender amps, but have settled on a Vox AC1 Rhythm mini-amp (abt. $50; recommended) that in turn outputs through its headphone jack to a 2.1-channel Altec Lansing computer speaker set. Its tunable subwoofer makes a big difference in tone.

Thanks that was useful. I love mine but I have been having intonation issues; I've been sure that its the strings I'm using. I put some on that are way too light.

I just picked up the telecaster verson for my 8 year old son and a yamaha thrc 10 amp, total was 300 shipped altogether. It really is amazing . Intonation and action are great and the electric uke was 120 shipped ! I find myself cranking the ACDC and it's really going to blow my son's socks of. I did restring it with DH lite, the first 4 strings of the set, I beleive are 10 to 17 ( low wound G) . Our music teacher was also very impressed. Also tried the amp out with my acoustic electric monkey pod and it really is quite lovely.

Donny