Flea and Fluke Owners: Pegheds and Fretboard Upgrades? Yes or No Opinions Appreciated

i have a flea and I adore it. Without trying to be too contentious, I am of the view that the stock price for the Flea / Fluke with friction tuners and plastic fingerboard is already a little on the high side for what you are actually getting. As such, I was of the view that by the time you add on rosewood etc, it makes the uke ridiculously expensive for what it is - and pushes you into territory where some really nice wooden ukes are available.

I therefore went for the vanilla set up, and dont regret it for an instant. Pegs and fingerboards dont change the sound...

I would "possibly" think of rosewood if buying the tenor neck fluke, only so you can go wound low G without damaging frets - but again - at that price points there are lots of other nice tenors out there.

pauljmuk said:

i have a flea and I adore it. Without trying to be too contentious, I am of the view that the stock price for the Flea / Fluke with friction tuners and plastic fingerboard is already a little on the high side for what you are actually getting. As such, I was of the view that by the time you add on rosewood etc, it makes the uke ridiculously expensive for what it is - and pushes you into territory where some really nice wooden ukes are available.

I therefore went for the vanilla set up, and dont regret it for an instant. Pegs and fingerboards dont change the sound...

I would "possibly" think of rosewood if buying the tenor neck fluke, only so you can go wound low G without damaging frets - but again - at that price points there are lots of other nice tenors out there.

Click to expand...

You're not being "contentious" at all. I was one of those who opted for the Pegheds (yeah they work great) and ended up wishing I hadn't and had flipped fo a les expensive option. Recently I did the psychotic thing (I previously warned about not selling trading a Flea very recently) because I could not get beyond the price/quality ratio of the Flea soprano as a strummer. Maybe I'm being contentious here, but I think the Flea soprano as a strummer is overrated, and the zero fret, string spacing works against that IMO (another contentious thread). For a trade I ended up (most would disagree, laugh disparage) with a $200 trade for a Lanikai S-T and case. I was reoccuringly kind of meh about the Flea soprano strumming (esp. with 5th fret chording), would have thought differently with a concert Flea and am happy now. BTW, I think the Flea soprano fingerstyle is superb. The Flea soprano (I came to this conclusion) is a unique kind of mini-tenor really...and for playing out I would recommend less expensive options or go for a concert Flea, just to get that 5th fret better (no not a fretting issue for me, BTW).

Ask 100 Flea/Fluke owners, and you will probably get 50 yes and 50 no answers. I like my plastic fretboard and regular friction tuners, but I can understand why some want an upgrade.

Click to expand...

I should have listened to SweetWaterBlue a month ago...

Still don't know which way I'll go on the options, but the cowboy Flukes, and the bubblegum and poiple tenor Fleas make my UAS start twitching.

Thanks for all the responses.