Bugsgear Concert Aqualele

Just got mine (The IndieGoGo project), no pics or sound yet - but here's a short summary after about 10 minutes.

1) No sound hole on the top, but we knew that. The one on the side is more than adequate.

2) It is white - polystyrene, let's-build-a-model-car white. That was also expected.

3) There is an impression for the pick guard. I didn't want a pick guard, but there it is.

4) It is translucent, and the braces on the back are brown plastic. So... you see them.

5) The frets and fretboard are a single molded piece - no surprise. The neck and headstock are two pieces. The saddle is a separate piece of composite, meaning it is adjustable.

6) it is heavy, compared to my wooden concert ukes, but not uncomfortably so.

7) There are glue marks on the top, and where the back and sides are glued to the top, there are some rough edges, and some over-gluing. Not a lot of QA before it was packed up and shipped.

8) Not sure of the string type - Phillip said he uses a Chinese string, because he like them better than Aquilas for these these ukes - but it has a wound Low-G string.

9) The tuners are generic open-gear on a plastic slot head. I have no reason to believe that they won't work just fine - I had no trouble getting this thing in tune.

10) The final , and in my opinion most important thing on a Uke I spent less than $150 on... What does it sound like?

To quote George Takei:


"Oh, my."




It sounds nice. Real nice. Loud, but not strident, strumming and finger picking both work well.


I will try and get a video done in the next couple of days.

I don't know if I will stay with the low-G, wound or otherwise, but I will play with it for a while - it really does have a nice sound. And harmonics at 5th, seventh, and 12th frets.

Oooooh! Very cool. I thought the soprano ones sounded really good. This is good news.

so... the indiegogo wasn't a bust?
or is he just sending them to the people that paid?

with any plastic uke, I need to know how stiff is the neck.
can you bend it upwards easily in the direction of the string tension?
if so (and it's true of most), then the action will probably raise over time to the point where it eventually becomes unplayable.

spookelele said:

so... the indiegogo wasn't a bust?
or is he just sending them to the people that paid?

Click to expand...

I believe he's sending them to whomever paid.

With IndieGoGo, you pay when you pledge, as opposed to Kickstarter, where you only pay if it hits the goal. I look at my IndieGoGo pledges as supporting, with no expectation of return. When I get a return, I'm happy.

I really do like the sound of this. It needs be gone over with some steel wool, sure, but great voice to the instrument.


TheAbsurdman said:

with any plastic uke, I need to know how stiff is the neck.
can you bend it upwards easily in the direction of the string tension?
if so (and it's true of most), then the action will probably raise over time to the point where it eventually becomes unplayable.

Click to expand...

yes, you can bend it, but it takes effort - it isn't easy.

Here's a quick Cell phone shot:

Congrats! We (TBUS) have several of them, setup by Mim. They came in several colors. They feel light, and have a soundhole in the top, but offset. They sound kinda nice for plastic. I don't plan to buy one, but we're giving each library one to check out to their customers. We'll also use them for the workshops we're doing for new people, trying out the uke for the 1st time. I like it about as well as the Kala Waterman.

Thanks for posting about it.

I thought it was going to have F holes in the top.

Wouldn't a wound low G potentially wear away at the plastic frets?

Lincoln

using a wound string would probabaly be a bad idea on this uke.

All y'all can say whatever you want about the wound G - I have no opinion, other than it sounds fine to me.

Down the road, when I find a flurocarbon low -G that sounds good, and isn't too thick, I will probably change it, but for now I'm not worried about it.

That being said - here's the Sound Clip I promised.

Hope it's better than the original as I thought they were pretty ropey..

I just got one. I'll do a review in a few days.