Donner vs. Enya

We bought multiple versions of both brands in multiple sizes and flavors.

This won't be a review, just a couple of quick impressions.
BTW, Gotaukulele.com has reviewed one example of each brand and Barry Maz does it well.
[mmurl]http://www.gotaukulele.com/p/ukulele-reviews.html[/url]
Donner pros;
1 1/2" nut! This is great for me.
Slot bridge.
The models we bought have side dots.
Decent quality.
Good sound for and economy instrument. I'd buy either at retail price.



Donner cons;
Usually needs some work on set up. Not a huge issue for me.
Strings are so-so.


Enyas pros;
All of ours had a good enough set up.
They can sometimes be had for cheap.
Good quality.
Good sound for and economy instrument.
Great gig bag!
Nut is 36mm, wider than our Kalas.

Enya cons;
Bridge that uses a though the body string tie. Not a big deal for me.
No side dots.
Strings are so-so.

Both ukuleles have abundant accessories, but are of low quality.
The exception is the Enya gig bag which is GREAT.

Specs on string spread width;

Enya HPL camp soprano-
nut= 1.42" 1s fret= 1.10" 12th fret=1.37" bridge=1.64"
36.00 mm 30.0mm 35.00mm 41.64mm

Donner DUS-1-
nut= 1.5" 1st fret=1.21" 12th fret= 1.46" bridge= 1.75"
38.0mm 30.0mm 37.0mm 44.5mm

Good points.
The Enya bridge may be a plus for some, and for others a huge negative.
Same goes for wide nuts and or string spacing.

I do have a nice set of calipers, give me a day to get that nfo.

Well, ubulele, you just may be onto something. Maybe it's because I'm such an amateur, but I couldn't care less about nut width. All I know is, I don't want my hands slipping off the fretboard, and I don't want a neck that's so wide and shallow that it cuts into my hand!
Seems to me that neck depth and shape is much more important than the width of a silly nut....and how close together/far apart are those string grooves anyway?

Ubulele, 100% agreed on nut width. On my reviews (only a few) I measure the nut width and then the spacing between the strings at the first fret. Many “wide” nuts (generally 1 or 2 mm) have the same spacing at the first fret as “thin” 34mm nuts. Maybe people like more space between the 1st and 4th strings and the edge of the fretboard?

Bought Enya concert from Amazon when they had a Sale for prime members. Total cost shipped $19.19. Bought two of them so I could give one as a gift. At full price I think it’s still a really great deal. The build quality is very nice and the set up is very slightly high for me. Not worth doing anything about for me.

I agree the case is surprisingly good. I really like the tuner it comes with. When you are in tune the whole display goes bright green. I reach for the Enya branded tuner before my snark or reverb tuner. Also came with the kind of strap that goes around your neck and has the hook at the end. Also has two strap buttons installed which is rare at this price and something I like.

I like the strings through the body method as I believe it increases the downward pressure of the strings to increase sound. Having changed strings several times with that kind of set up I see it is just as easy as anything else. When you take off one string you’ll see how it’s done.

Also agree bazmaz does really excellent reviews. I’ve subscribed on YouTube and recommend you do too. His review of another Enya product had me feeling safe enough to buy this deal that seems too good to be true.

I don’t know how they could make any money at this price either on sale or not.

I know nothing about the Donner.

Adding to my earlier post.

Checking the Enya turner against my others I find that it isn’t as accurate. I still like the way it works and I normally check intonation and fine-tune from there anyway. It’s going into rotation with my others to see what my preference will be if any.

While I still have both of the ukes I changed one of them to Martin strings and found a noticeable difference for the better with the Martin strings.

The frets on both of the ukes exhibited a roughness on string bends that felt like very fine sand paper and I definitely found that annoying. Also thought it can’t be good for the strings. So while I had strings off for the change I used 0000 steel wool and buffed over them lightly and that quickly made them smooth.

I have 3 of the enya. The first was sent to me free to review and was solid mahogany. I was very impressed considering the price and the nice gig bag. When I saw the crazy low price deal on the laminate I bought two of those. Why 3? I teach ukulele classes and like to bring spares. If I have a student with limited funds and no uke or a really bad one I sometimes give them a uke. After a while I run out of spares.

The enya is a little quirky and the strings are just ok at best. But they are plenty good to learn on. Better than the makala and diamond head and other junk my students show up with. Yes some makala are ok but not that cheap either. Getting 2 of the enya for $20 each was a great deal. The tuner is terrible and the strap button in the wrong place.

Original post amended to include some specs on string spread and spacing as well as nut measurements.
More to come as time allows and when our loaners come back.