Need help solid body electric uke.

For anyone still looking & thinking of buying, I think the RISA solid/stick or RISA Uke'Ellie would be good candidates. :)

I like the design of the Uke'Ellie, it's kind of like a hybrid of a Flea (from Magic Fluke Company/MFC)) and a RISA solid/stick.

Never played one though, hope to one day.

I've got a few instruments from MFC that I am very happy with, but for a travel/silent/hotel-room uke, I'd probably want to get a RISA solid/stick tenor.
 
I like the design of the Uke'Ellie, it's kind of like a hybrid of a Flea (from Magic Fluke Company/MFC)) and a RISA solid/stick.

Never played one though, hope to one day.

I've got a few instruments from MFC that I am very happy with, but for a travel/silent/hotel-room uke, I'd probably want to get a RISA solid/stick tenor.

I have both soprano and tenor Uke'Ellies. They are very nice instruments. Well balanced, good quality electrics and play well. I use them in preference to an acoustic uke with a pickup and they sound good. The pickup is passive - no internal pre-amp so they are better played through an external preamp or effects pedal. A decent acoustic preamp will have at least a two band eq so you can shape your sound or you can use an eq pedal if you want more control over the sound. I'm happy with my Ashdown acoustic preamp, though.

For silent play in a hotel room I have a little multi effects unit - it's about the size of a cigarette packet and has a headphone socket. It works as well as many of the headphone amps on the market.
 
I have an older Eleuke Tenor w MP3. It's moderately ok (the knobs are fiddly to get a decent sound from it.)

Does anyone have an idea what are good strings? Aquilas are the default, I don't want to pay confiscatory shipping for Japanese Worth, so I 'm down to the fuss about wound low G or not.

eleuke.jpg
 
Oh I have fond memories of those old Eleukes to the point I kinda miss it.

As for string choice - your options are as subjective and varied as strings on any ukulele depending on personal tastes.
I always like how nylon sounds on those ukes, such as D'addario Pro-arte clear nylons. Black nylon also sounds nice.
But I like that mellower tone.

One experiment I never got round to doing on these Eleukes is replacing the undersaddle piezo with an "Artec" higher quality one to improve its properties.
 
Replacing the piezo. Hmm. Is it difficult? I see the screws and panel that probably would access it from the back. It's a nice instrument and could be improved. Meanwhile, thanks for all the answers. I'll probably put low g wound Aquilas on it again.
 
I am also thinking about buying a solid body uke. With headphones jack, I need something for quite practise.
On the cheapish sideanpp and available in Europe. Any reccomendations?
I was checking the Stagg uke and the Harley Benton 'eleuke', don't really know what to do :(
Thanks
 
Replacing the piezo. Hmm. Is it difficult? I see the screws and panel that probably would access it from the back. It's a nice instrument and could be improved. Meanwhile, thanks for all the answers. I'll probably put low g wound Aquilas on it again.

I have done the mod on similar instruments, but not specifically the Eleuke. It should be an easy plug and play of this specific brand of pickup to replace the existing one.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Artec-Under-Saddle-Piezo-Pickup-PP404U-For-Ukulele-44mm-/112325736834?
 
I'm still fond of the Eleukes. The Peanut is reasonably priced (I can't see paying over a 100 for a solid body uke unless it were to become my "serious" instrument.") The cute-looking solid body Aileen and Vorson (which look like mini electric guitars) do not have headphone jacks. So if you want headphone and around $100, the Peanut is a good choice or you can take a chance on a used Eleuke. My jazz model is used, and though I love it, I now have to replace the electronics. No biggy, but did add to the cost of the original purchase because there is a lot of fuzz and noise that needs to be repaired.
 
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I always liked my Eleuke jazz tenor, and am kind of sad I sold it. It was one of the older models, so no problems with QC. I see the new Peanuts are being advertised heavily again, but I don't know if they finally solved the QC problems they had a few years back. I do see Mim is carrying them again, so they must have sorted them out.



I played one of the RISA concerts at UkeRepublic a few weeks ago. You definitely feel the quality as soon as you pick it up.
 
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