Risa stick ukuleles my observations, ideas and possible tips.

kissing said:

I have been in contact with the maker of Risa (Rigk Sauer - take the first 2 letters of his first name and last name, and what does it spell?)

The design of Risa sticks is quite simple in a way... it's a stick with a passive Shadow Nanoflex installed in an aluminium bridge under a plastic saddle.

"If German engineers crafted an ukulele" *display Risa stick*

That's so true!

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Are you sure it's a Nanoflex? Mine doesn't seem to be, I think it's an very early model, with friction tuners and a straight saddle. Maybe they changed?

To me, it looks like one of their solid pick ups. I was thinking of replacing it as I'm not all that happy with the sound. I've toyed with the idea of putting a MiSi or bags in it...

What's the current opinion on the Risas, fellows? I gathered there were issues with the frets at least? How's the long term looking? I'm considering one for myself.

I bought one a year or two ago. Seemed really well made, and I really wanted to make it work. But I broke a string in one of the roller grooves tuning it up. I decided I just didn't want to deal with the issues created by the tight bend in the strings due to the design of having all four tuners on the top edge. Back it went. Love to have something like it though.

I took a file to mine, smoothed out the transition area where the strings bend underneath.

I have had a really long love-hate relationship with the Risa ukulele stick.
In the last 10 years or so, it has entered and left my collection so many times I actually lost count how many in total have come and left the collection. I've had the Soprano at least twice (or 3?), the Concert once and the Tenor 3 times (I think?)

Every few months/years when I don't own one (such as now) I get a strong craving to have it.
I am playing around the idea of getting the Tenor Risa stick again.

I'll list a few pros and cons I have come to know on the Risa stick over the decade.

PROS:
*Cool, simple design. Minimalist but very functional electric ukulele
*Great quality electronics - no batteries required (passive, Shadow) which is a plus for me. Works fine with my amps and pedal board setups.
*Well constructed in general, "Made in Europe" - every one I have owned came perfectly finished and great fretwork

CONS:
*The wood dents easily, especially the Walnut Tenor. Ironic as it is a uke that is implied to be tough and great for travel - but it dings a lot more easily than other woods. And when it dings, it is very easily on a crucial functional part of the ukulele, like the back of the neck (where you will be able to feel it) or on the fretboard itself, where it will be annoyingly noticeable to you.
*I haven't found strings snapping to be a major issue.. but some strings don't work well (eg: forget about Aquila reds).
*Plastic saddle - limits your options in adjusting the action. The action comes too high on the Tenor for my liking.
You can lower a bit by sanding the top of the saddle a bit, but must be very careful not to shave too much as replacement saddles are not easy to come by (you are at the mercy of Risa).... or laboriously making your own saddle out of TUSQ (you need to sand it very thin so it fits into the slot)
Certainly not recommended by the manufacturer - I had to take matters into my own hands to get a usable action.
*Plastic saddle - forget using any Wound strings!
*Plastic saddle - wears out faster than bone or TUSQ
*Bit expensive for what you get. I like them, but they are quite expensive - there is a lot of more affordable competition especially if you include acoustic-electrics, Eleukes, etc.
*Could hum a bit in amps plugged into mains power.
*"Sticky tuning" - sometimes tuning pegs unresponsive due to strings "sticking" at certain pressure points. Need to manually stretch with fingers.
*Strings stay in place at the "head" area as a knot wedging into a pinhole. Sometimes the knot gets stuck in the hole during string change, and it is an absolute pain in the butt to resolve. The strings "dig" into the wood at the pinhole, and I wonder how durable this is long term. Feels like constant wear and tear on the wood at that part.


For me, they are a bit of an acquired taste.
Despite all the cons, I still want one (though I am fighting the urge).

kissing said:

......Despite all the cons, I still want one (though I am fighting the urge).

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Well I rather want one too - just one without all the shortcomings. I suppose there isn't enough of a market for it, but one can easily imagine a version that does not suffer from all these issues, without costing substantially more.

Mine, (a concert & a tenor), seem to have survived OK, since getting them a few years ago, (I put a low G Aquila red on mine), you do need to be more careful when tuning the strings, but I've only broken one, when I first got it, & didn't know better to treat it more carefully than a regular uke, when tuning - but I haven't used them a lot, as I tend to prefer acoustic, but they are great if you want to play almost silently.

Ok, thanks, this is useful. Myself, I want a silent practice uke that is of decent quality. Pickup also. The Risa seemed high quality based on some reviews, but now it looks a bit different.

Maybe I'll return to the drawing board. BTW, Argapa Ukuleles has made a couple of very similar ukes, just with a soundboard and no pickup. He is a hc hand tool guy and a part-timer too, so no big volumes there. But I might ask him if he could do a concert with a pickup... But still I'm afraid it's not silent enough. Same with the semi-hollows - even though I haven't ever even held one.

Jupu said:

Ok, thanks, this is useful. Myself, I want a silent practice uke that is of decent quality. Pickup also. The Risa seemed high quality based on some reviews, but now it looks a bit different.

Maybe I'll return to the drawing board. BTW, Argapa Ukuleles has made a couple of very similar ukes, just with a soundboard and no pickup. He is a hc hand tool guy and a part-timer too, so no big volumes there. But I might ask him if he could do a concert with a pickup... But still I'm afraid it's not silent enough. Same with the semi-hollows - even though I haven't ever even held one.

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The Risa is high quality.. its just quirky. For the price of its minimalist and unique design, you get a number of tradeoffs.

The reason that I prefer it is that it's one of the very few passive electrics. I personally prefer an electric-only instrument to be passive, since if you are going to plug it in all the time, a battery could be a nuisance.

The Risa stick also has quite a character, especially the Tenor with its pearloid block inlays.

That being said, other electric ukes worth taking a look are Fluke SB, Eleuke and Pono (which dont seem currently available).

I’ve had my Risa tenor for two years with none of the problems mentioned. It’s great for travel, fits in my roller bag and I can play it anywhere without bothering anyone. I’ve applied a little guitar string grease where the A strings wraps around the barrel because I read of that strings breaking. For amplification I use my Line 6 Pocket Pod or the Vox AC30 both with headsets.

Another uke for fairly quiet practice that I own is a Mahalo Surfboard Uke, it has a pickup for amplification when you want to play it loud, mine is a concert, they also did a soprano.