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.
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.
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