NUD - Caramel Bass Uke experience?

Anyone purchase one of these yet?

I got two this week, along with two zebra wood tenors, and two zebra wood baritones. The tenors and baritones are being added to my school "fleet" (flock? family? horde?) to replace more expensive instruments that did not hold up well, and in regards to the tenors, I'll refer you to Baz's always excellent reviews, and Choirguy's equally thought-out and relevant responses. They're different tools for different occasions, and there's times when taking the chance on a known inconsistency can be worth it, but you should go in with eyes open. Baz is a great eye-opener.

Back on topic, I took a chance on two bass ukes from them because I teach 6th-8th, and have created a "fretted orchestra" that incorporates uke, guitar, and bass. (Brag moment...they just got to play for Craig Robinson of "The Office" fame, including accompanying him singing "Billie Jean"!) The problem is, often the bass player is, well, not a full size bass player, yet some local teachers push them to play much larger bass guitars than they can reasonably play with a consistent rhythm. At first, I thought one of them just didn't have a good sense of rhythm until they forgot their bass for rehearsal and borrowed my Kala U-Bass.

Suddenly, they could play with consistent rhythm.

Way too much backstory, I know, but that's what brought me to taking a risk on two $165 Caramel Bass Ukuleles.

They're pretty...the finish quality on these two are great, the acoustic and electric sound is awesome...and the intonation is a half step off at the twelfth fret. <face palm>

Oy. Looking into it more, but I think this is well beyond any setup that can be done. I've emailed the company, but looking at their warranty policy, I think I'd have to pay shipping back. Might be just worth yanking the frets and going fretless...

As I said, I went in eyes open, even after wonderful experiences with the zebra wood Sopranino and butterfly soprano. The Rosewwod tenor was okay, but good enough for the price.

If you're looking at one of these, be aware!

**************
Music Teacher, geek, ukulele, guitar poser
Enabling my UAS through classroom instruction since 2011

ukuleleforteachers.com

Good story, good basic review, thanks.
(I've been considering a Caramel bass uke, but I think I'll wait a while.)

Make sure to e-mail their support address. They have been very responsive, and if you can specify what is causing the problem, they can address it in manufacturing.

Should this be solved before shipping? Undoubtedly yes. Pay a real luthier to analyze the instrument and to make suggestions--some that might even lower production costs.

But...if they are willing to address issues in future batches--that is good, too.

Let us know how they respond when you contact them...good or bad.

Keep up the great work in your school!

Choirguy said:

Make sure to e-mail their support address. They have been very responsive, and if you can specify what is causing the problem, they can address it in manufacturing.

Should this be solved before shipping? Undoubtedly yes. Pay a real luthier to analyze the instrument and to make suggestions--some that might even lower production costs.

But...if they are willing to address issues in future batches--that is good, too.

Let us know how they respond when you contact them...good or bad.

Keep up the great work in your school!

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I emailed the contact page - may have missed if there's a specific support address. From my knowledge, and the one guitar tech I showed it to, I think this is a fatal flaw - the only way to solve it would be to relocate the bridge entirely, which is certainly not worth doing on a $165 instrument. It'd be much more worth just making it fretless, i my mind.

My hope is that they will fix the issue on the model and send two more without asking for these back, or if they want them back, they pay the shipping. I think it's a bit much to ask that when the instrument is defective (not just that the customer doesn't like it), to have them pay to ship it back.

By the way, it was good to meet you at ILMEA this year - if you recall, we had a short conversation with Ryan regarding these and Mainland ukuleles...enjoyed your presentation, too!

I do remember! And you ran a ukulele training a month or two later, if I remember correctly--it is a bit off topic, but what is the interest level in those sessions?

Choirguy said:

I do remember! And you ran a ukulele training a month or two later, if I remember correctly--it is a bit off topic, but what is the interest level in those sessions?

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Interest level has been very high; last summer, I did one for ILMEA (Illinois Music Educators Association) that was a two day clinic, and probably had about 43 people each day. There's been a school district that had me come and do an institute day for their general music teachers, and we're looking at another summer clinic, if we can nail down dates.

In my experience anyone playing a fretted ubass with a typical piezo bridge shouldn't expect great intonation. Without having adjustable saddles it's just the nature of the beast. That's why I suggest people get these super short scale basses with the fretless option. Kala likely gets it closer than the others but even a simple string change can throw that off. I have a hadean omega in olympic white and I defretted that myself after being frustated with a 5-10cent deviation at the 12th fret. I just couldn't take it.

Update: they contacted me the following day after I emailed them, and offered to give me a US shipping address to return them. They also said they'll pay shipping.

BNolsen - I know the intonation isn't going to perfect (have a Kala), but a half step is a bit extreme! I agree, though, about fretless...if they weren't going to pay to send them back, I was considering just that...yank the frets and fill the slots to mark the fret locations. Only challenge there is that the purpose of these particular instruments are for young'uns...fretless might be challenging.

By the way...I noticed one if the big differences between the caramels and my Kala is the fret size. The caramel frets seem to be a much lower gauge than the Kala...

Thanks for sharing. I have actually been pondering adding a Uke bass to take to local jams. After reading certain negative reviews on the Caramel brand (bass & regular ukes), I think will avoid them. I'm currently looking at the Pako by Islander which is a fretless design.

Well, to be clear, I think the best way to sum up my experiences with Caramel Ukuleles so far (3 tenors, 2 baritones, 1 soprano, 1 sopranino, and 2 basses) is that when they're good, they're really good, especially for the money. These basses are the first time that I've really encountered true "duds." The sopranino is VERY good (though a friend bought one that it seems wasn't quite as good), and the butterfly soprano that I bought is superb. The tenors are so-so.

I think if you've got the spare change, and go in knowing what you're getting, they can be a heckuva buy. It's the realm of all cheap instruments - quality control is...inconsistent. Frankly, however, I've encountered a lot more "duds" in the Lanikai brand. The question always is...what's the purpose and expectation of your purchase...

With the last post, I'll suggest to look at the Rondomusic.com Hadean bass ukes, they have acoustic and solid body, 21" to 23" scale for under $200. They get pretty good reviews. I have 6 solid bodies that I've modified. They stand behind their instruments and returns are easy to New Hampshire.

Likely the 23" will be a better scale ... as long as strings aren't a problem for that scale length...

bnolsen said:

Likely the 23" will be a better scale ... as long as strings aren't a problem for that scale length...

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I always use Road Pahoehoe black strings that come in 21 and 23" scale, I find them better than the Aquila Thunderguts, which are sticky. The Pahoehoe are always available from the Road Toad site, and I've bought them from my local Sam Ash.

Update:

I asked Customer Service if by returning the instruments, I would receive an exchange for instruments that the bridge was located in the correct place, or just a refund. They replied with, "We would fully refund you, I think our products maybe can't saitisfy with you."

Again, I appreciate that they will fully refund, and pay for shipping. I did reply asking if they recognize that there is a design flaw, so that I can advise others whether or not to purchase this instrument in the future. I'll post any updates from them.

Definitely will look into the Hadean bass ukes...I've heard of them before, and was looking into them. Unfortunately, the way our school and music booster program works, it makes things much more difficult when ordering from more than one vendor, and I was already ordering a couple of instruments from Caramel, so I decided to take a shot at it.

Mostly had posted to see if anyone else had experienced Caramel Bass ukuleles, though, to see if they had a similar experience or not...anyone?