ohmless
Well-known member
For background I have been playing for about 4.5 years and have had my hands on about 50 ukes during that time. Hopefully this anecdote can save an injury for someone if this occurs across the whole line.
I was interested in getting a soprano Fender Venice and tried one out at my local GC. Was hyped about them until I took it off the wall. An employee hurried across the store and warned me about this uke having fret wires that will cut the user. I gave them a feel and it was the worst fret job done by a factory of any uke I have ever touched in any price range. I completely understand why the employee warned me with so much concern. This isn't a matter of being picky but one of safety as they were so SHARP! It isn't a case of getting what you pay for as they had plenty of other 50-60 dollar ukes without that issue that sound equivalent to it(Makalas and Mitchells for comparison, fair to poor laminate sound) which don't need a setup.
I hope for Fender's sake that they improve the QC or filing that they do when installing these fret wires. It drastically changed my perception of that brand. Anyone else have a similar experience with this model?
Now I completely understand why new players are told to get their uke set up by a luthier or to look at ukuleles that cost at least $100.
I was interested in getting a soprano Fender Venice and tried one out at my local GC. Was hyped about them until I took it off the wall. An employee hurried across the store and warned me about this uke having fret wires that will cut the user. I gave them a feel and it was the worst fret job done by a factory of any uke I have ever touched in any price range. I completely understand why the employee warned me with so much concern. This isn't a matter of being picky but one of safety as they were so SHARP! It isn't a case of getting what you pay for as they had plenty of other 50-60 dollar ukes without that issue that sound equivalent to it(Makalas and Mitchells for comparison, fair to poor laminate sound) which don't need a setup.
I hope for Fender's sake that they improve the QC or filing that they do when installing these fret wires. It drastically changed my perception of that brand. Anyone else have a similar experience with this model?
Now I completely understand why new players are told to get their uke set up by a luthier or to look at ukuleles that cost at least $100.