Steel Ukuleles

Down Up Dick

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Hey, any steel ukulele players out there? If so, whadaya think--good? --Heavy? -- Loud? I think the sound is a little "tinny" or metallic, but I could maybe get usta it. A local music store is supposed to have 'em, and I'm interested enough to try one out.

If you have one, do you play blues on it? How's it sound? :eek:ld:
 
Which ones are you talking about? MyaMoe? another brand?
 
If you are talking about the $300-$500 Chinese made ukes that have a variety of brand names but all look like a Recording King RU-998 Metal Body Resonator Ukulele, you get what you pay for.
I had one, spent an additional $500 putting on decent tuners, repairing the setup and installing a pickup. When I was done, I was still disappointed in it.
A National Resonator that costs around $1300 or a John Morton (even higher), on the other hand, is an outstanding musical instrument
 
If you are talking about the $300-$500 Chinese made ukes that have a variety of brand names but all look like a Recording King RU-998 Metal Body Resonator Ukulele, you get what you pay for.
I had one, spent an additional $500 putting on decent tuners, repairing the setup and installing a pickup. When I was done, I was still disappointed in it.
A National Resonator that costs around $1300 or a John Morton (even higher), on the other hand, is an outstanding musical instrument

Second all of that. I don't own one but a National Reso has been on my wish list for a long time - they have a very sweet sound, not brash and metallic like the aforementioned knockoffs.
 
If you are talking about the $300-$500 Chinese made ukes that have a variety of brand names but all look like a Recording King RU-998 Metal Body Resonator Ukulele, you get what you pay for.
I had one, spent an additional $500 putting on decent tuners, repairing the setup and installing a pickup. When I was done, I was still disappointed in it.
A National Resonator that costs around $1300 or a John Morton (even higher), on the other hand, is an outstanding musical instrument

$1300 sounds pretty steep. If I was gonna spend that much, I buy a blackbird. :eek:ld:
 
Sometimes you can find a deal on a used one. In 20 years, would a National be worth more than a Blackbird? I think so.
 
I've played a lot of reso ukes. My fave is my Argapa wood-bodied one, but a couple of metal Nationals have really been tempting. I tend to prefer the steel bodied ones to the brass ones, but that's just my preference. Unfortunately, my experience of the 'cheap' ones (£200-£300) is that they are disappointing. You can get lucky and get a decent one, and you can, if you know what you're doing, tweak and modify them to be much better, but if you're really into the reso sound, then something more expensive will probably be the way to go.
 
Del Rey really makes that resonator sing. It is a specialty instrument,but if I could play half that good I would justify the expense.
 
Thanks for all the info, Bill1, I think I've pretty much changed my mind about getting a Steel unless I decide on a National which I of course really do like.

I'll just have to be satisfied with my Gold Tone and Lanikai banjoleles for noise. :eek:ld:
 
I can't play like Del Ray - I can't even play one note as well as she does! - but I have a Steel National Resophonic Triolian (Thanks again, Jon!)

It plays so nicely! I think I need the action a little higher than the way Jon set it up, but you can really play anything on it - blues is good, but so is rock, Irish music, folk songs...
You are limited by your imagination.


I have played a Recording King at a "musical instrument petting zoo" - didn't like it. And I played the Luna Resonator at a local music store. Didn't like it, either. I've enjoyed the Beltona, Mya Moe, and Kala resonators I've played, but the only two steel I've ever played and liked were Nationals. I'm leaving the door open, but nothing is walking in.

-Kurt​
 
Resonator ukuleles have the volume of banjo ukes, but with more sustain.

The East-Asian ones (brass, most often with a nickel plating) are generally not worth much. Loud: yes, playable: yes; very good: no. Recording King, Kala, Johnson, Regal, Gretsch, Luna, Ashbury, Kala fall into this category.

It's true that it's a high step up pricewise from there. From there it's a leap up to the 1000-and-above category. Stuart Wailing makes one-offs as well for a mid-way price, but they're quite heavy and not to everyone's liking.

In the upper bracket, there are antique ones, NRP ones (steel, wood, brass), Fine Resophonic ones (in a modernistic style, or the very rare inverted spider cone ones) and a host of bespoke luthiers: Argapa, DonMo, Beltona, Mya-Moe and Argapa have been mentioned, Ron Philips makes the Del Rey ones but they're very rare. Paul Beard makes wood-bodies ones. Pete Howlett makes very good ones as well, in an art deco style.

'Steel ukulele' is not a very good term. I thought at first it might be about playing lap style (with a steel bar, as in 'steel guitar') or having steel strings on a ukulele. Resonator describes the instruments better, regardless of the body material (either brass, german silver, steel or wood) and the cone system (forward facing 'spider' cones, backward facing 'biscuit' cones or the handful of 'tricone' instruments with a backward facing trio of small cones).

As with banjo ukes, resonators require some attention to set-up: if you restring them with care, the intonation can become far off, buzzes and rattles develop and the cone might collapse - even on very high quality instruments. The main tricks are that the bridge is loose and can be twisted (even with the push of a pencil end), tension of the strings should be perpendicular/downward, and the cone can't handle uneven pressure (so restring string by string, or outside strings followed by inside strings).

But they are great instruments, with unrivalled dynamics (soft to loud).
 
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