Caramel CC401 Mahagony Concert Size

I am a ukulele newb, so this whole review is suspect, biased and probably factually wrong. ;-P

Caramel (Formerly Rubin) CC-401 ordered from Amazon. ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011QZQ06U/ )



It arrived in 8 days, not too bad. It was beat to heck but it did seem to make it OK, if only just barely, LOL.

The action was maybe a touch high, but not outside the "User preference" range. It was a fat 1/8th inch at the 12th fret, and the fret at 3/check at 1 nut action test revealed about 1/32". Very playable, but a touch on the high side by my tastes.

Intonation is slightly sharp at the 12th fret according to the built in tuner (How handy is that?) but it just barely "waffles" in and out of the sharp side and mostly registers it as on pitch. My ear couldn't tell you about it, but I have never been great at that.

All of which seems nice BUT.... the slot on the bridge was wide by .012" which allowed the saddle to tilt. I fixed this myself by simply gluing in a strip of veneer then refitting the saddle. Since the intonation was very slightly sharp I chose to glue the strip in to the headstock side of the bridge. It didn't really help intonation, at least to extent I could measure it which isn't very much, LOL. I was just using the built in tuner. It did seem to increase the body and volume with it corrected.

That was by far the most glaring fit/finish issue that I could see. The binding and bookmatch line don't center correctly on it, but otherwise the binding is tight and seems well fitted.

Overall, I'm very pleased. It is definitely a "Real" instrument and not a wallhanger. It is mostly well made, and sounds pretty good. It has a full bodied sound, more so than I would have expected from a cheap(ish) ukulele. (Especially once the bridge was fixed.)

Now that I'm done fixing the saddle, I may drop the action slightly.... but it wouldn't be a whole bunch. I tend to be heavy handed anyway.

So there ya go, a review on the "new" Caramel brand. I haven't tried the electronics other than the tuner, I don't have any kind of amp. (Any suggestions for a mini-amp?)

TLDR: Decent uke, great value but may need some fine tuning.

More pics, if interested.

That's kinda neat, 1st time I've seen a built in uke tuner....that's some nice looking wood, I wonder why they chose to mess it up doing the woodburning?

I just can't stop buying these Caramel/Rubins, have the zebrawood tenor, the acacia soprano, mahogany sopranino and got this one for my brother, he doesn't know yet. They're just Chinese laminates but they're built more like a Makala than a Hilo or a Diamond Head, they come in all these cool finishes and they pack alot of features into them for real cheap, so cheap you can buy a few. They can shred metal on my tiny old Gorilla amp and my Makala electro-concert can't, plus the Caramels are louder so any cheap but reliable amp should work ok. I dunno why they burn a design into the wood either, at least it's not a sticker, I think this may be their logo.

I kind of like the wood burning.... I am considering actually giving the entire thing a tribal tatt makeover with a sharpie, lol. I still am happy with the purchase. For the money it's been great for getting started and I don't have to worry about hurting it. (Not that I am in the habit of banging it around but I do have a 3 year old.....)

I have Aquilla Reds, low Gs on it and love the fullness and clarity of it.

I have purchased four Rubins and just got a Caramel Zebra Wood Concert. I'm trying that in low G but it may not work out. That little fat Caramel really booms the low notes.

I bought a Kala KA-CG mahogany concert and just wasn't satisfied. My local shop allowed me to trade it plus ~$30 for a Ohana CK-22 Spruce top Concert, and I was amazed at how much more instrument it is. Light touch is all you need for the back porch, but it's loud enough to play with guitars. The Ohana is smaller shouldered and hipped and so pale and plain but sound so good and plays so lightly. Comparing the Caramel and the Ohana is fruitless they are so different, but I like both of them.

I bought a sopranino and a concert with the butterfly sound holes and had to refinish them both, but for ~$40ea I Should have expected some issues. After refinishing them and decorating them a bit my local shop adjusted the string heights and they both ended up nice looking an sounding nice. My granddaughter and daughter like them so I was happy.

The Caramel is set up a bit better than the Rubins were. A slight lowering of the nut slots has it almost as easy to fret as my Ohana. The strings are still settling but intonation is acceptable +10-20 Hz to -10 Hz to the 12th fret. I doubt I'll hear that much difference.

For the price of one 'good instrument' you could buy three Caramels and have a lot of fun.
My OAS is calling for a cedar topped Ohana Tenor with (gasp) solid Rosewood body. ( oooh... oooh:drool


But I will refrain for now and play what I have... for now.