Unkulele

>>>I couldn't justify buying one based on the sound samples I'm hearing.<<<<

That was my feeling. In all the videos, including those in which the instruments are plugged in, they sound like wispy little toy ukes with no resonance. Am I missing something, or is there no difference between the sound produced acoustically and the sound these produce through an amp?

My Unkuele

Hi, I'm a new user. I got my Unkulele a couple weeks ago(I ordered it March 20th and got it April 24th), and I have mixed feelings about it. It looks really nice at first glance. But upon closer inspection, I found that the frets were crooked, there we many blemished to the wood, the neck is EXTREMELY thin, some places were thickly coated with finish(which makes it smell strongly) and the strings aren't evenly placed. Also, although it is a baritone, it is about the same size as my Lanikai Tenor because the bridge is placed further down.

Now for the sound. Acoustically, it isn't too bad. It resonates very well and even though the frets are off, the intonation isn't too atrocious. But plugging it in is a completely different story. The passive transducer pickup whatever sucks. I have to turn my amp or my PA up all the way just to hear it and even then the bass is so high you can barely hear the treble no matter what you do. I was hoping to play it at a gig two days ago but my band and I just couldn't make it loud enough. I'm planning on buying a preamp or getting a pickup(although because the f-hole isn't underneath the sting that may not work. Also the thing buzzes all the time. It's not from the frets or the nut, or the bridge. I don't know where it's from, but the buzzing won't stop.

Even so, I can't say I hate it. If you are willing to put a lot of work into fixing it up, you could end up with a pretty cool looking uke. I'm not all that happy with it, and next time will be buying from Lanikai or Kala again, but I'm still going to keep it, if not just for looks.

Thank you for taking time to provide reviews! ~

The guy who owns that is guitar teacher for my friend's kid. She passed me his site a while ago and I thought they looked a little odd to me, so I never ordered one. Interesting feedback, thanks!

Still waiting for a post from the Unkulele guy to respond to the negative reviews.

I think I'd rather spend a few bucks more and get something with a brand name on it, even Mahalo 20 dollar ukes have the scale length pretty close.

Uneven frets, thick top coats, bad pick ups, unexplainable buzzing, strings unevenly spaced, nut hand carved with a butter knife, it all sounds very dodgy IMO.

Be interesting to put a tester on one and see what the moisture content of the timber is, i suspect they are made from old packing cases.

I just received my jazzbox uke today... Extremely disappointed. Sounds very tinny and not in a good way. I plan on sending mine back, its to bad i really wanted to like this uke. If anyone is planning on buying one i'd think twice.

Interesting.

A few weeks ago my husband was cruising ebay for antique stereo equipment, and this guy was selling some along with his unkuleles, so hubby wanted to show it to me.

IIRC, the feedback about his ukes had some less than favorable comments.

thank you!

Thanks to those who bought the unkuleles and reported on them.

I feel like if the unks were better, but were even just a bit more expensive, they'd be a massive hit. There's a real shortage of electrified 4-string instruments, both of the budget variety and the "Cadillac" variety.