What do you think of this Uke/Luthier? (Video) [OBSCURE MASTER LUTHIER SPOTLIGHT]

Here's a master Luthier I just came across, I think his uke sounds unique and interesting, what do you think?:

Video Link:
Jeffrey Yong's "J'uke" Ukulele - performance by William Kok covering "What Makes You Beautiful" by New Direction

I don't think he's well known in the Ukulele community, but he should be.
He's from malaysia, this surprising accomplishment is from his wiki page:

His skill in luthiery has been mostly self-taught. In 2006, his full Monkeypod OM Guitar won the Blind Listening Test at the Guild of American Luthier's convention as the best sounding guitar in terms of tonality, timbre and sustain. With two of his guitars in the top three. Other's in this category were notable luthiers like, Erwin Somogyi.

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He also teaches luthery, so if you're in the area, he might be someone to consider learning from, he's been doing it for decades.

Certainly has a beautiful sound. Interesting comments on video about guitalele's and mandolele's. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Phil, I agree. I didn't want to bias people, but no one else has posted, so I feel free to say I think it's got an amazing sound, it's up there in my top 5 Ukuleles I've ever heard recordings of, and I've heard a lot. (I haven't heard many live yet though)
It's got a different kind of sound, probably partly due to being non-traditional wood (monkeypod or mango most likely) and partly because his experience came from building guitars, it is in some way reminiscent of guitar sound. I like variety of sound, so to me it's a huge achievement when someone makes a unique sounding uke, which is also successfully beautiful sounding. It's an expansion on what is possible in a uke.

It sounds good but I have doubts about judging sound by listening to a Utube video being played on my computer. I remember listening to a jazz uke guy who had miked his uke and swore that he didn't alter the sound although all the comments from listeners suggested that he did. The sound was like nothing I'd ever heard from a uke. But how to judge? All that aside though, it seems the fellow makes great sounding instruments as judged in blind tests before discriminating judges. Kudos!

Yeah, and this clip appears to have some reverb on it -- it doesn't sound like a purely dry sound sample.

flailingfingers said:

It sounds good but I have doubts about judging sound by listening to a Utube video being played on my computer. I remember listening to a jazz uke guy who had miked his uke and swore that he didn't alter the sound although all the comments from listeners suggested that he did. The sound was like nothing I'd ever heard from a uke. But how to judge? All that aside though, it seems the fellow makes great sounding instruments as judged in blind tests before discriminating judges. Kudos!

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It's true that clips can be misleading, but I am skeptical that there's added reverb, because there are moments where his strum doesn't trigger sustain, which is not what you typically get with synthesized reverb. I think it really has that much sustain. It's not an unbelievable amount, it's not drastically more than the sustain on my mainland mango concert uke, but it is noteworthy. Which is not a surprise when sustain is one of the categories his monkeypod guitar won for. Jeffrey Yong's been working with malaysian woods like monkeypod and mango for decades.
I have listened to hundreds of clips, and to me, this sounds fairly straight up, but I could be wrong, and it's good to remember that is a possibility.

FlailingFingers, I'd appreciate the link to that jazz uke video, to hear what you're talking about.

Warbulele said:

FlailingFingers, I'd appreciate the link to that jazz uke video, to hear what you're talking about.

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I'm on it. Been a while so need to search….

Certainly has the "bell like" tone of a high end uke. I don't think you can re-create that with effects.....hmmmm.

who wants to buy one to find out for sure?!

Thanks for your input Phil, also your YT comment was informative, I appreciated learning that about mandoleles and guitaleles.

LOL Stevelele.
To be fair, it wasn't my intention to suggest anyone buy one. I was trying to highlight a luthier that people might be interested in, for whatever reason. In my opinion, this clip stands out, and I have heard a lot of recordings.

If I were in the market for a pro luthier uke in that price range(way out of my reach), Jeffrey would be on my short list, but you're right, you'd need a way to verify what they sounded like, or a return option.
He could send one to NAMM or a big Ukulele fest one year, so it could be recorded by a third party. But he'd probably be more interested in doing that if there was some encouragement. If it turned out that the recording wasn't adulterated, and what you thought was synthetic reverb was in fact the Ukulele itself, that would be a big compliment, that someone was incredulous that it could have so much reverb.
You could be right, but I wouldn't have posted it if I thought there was anything fishy about the recording. Still, if it is adulterated, I apologize for presenting it as an impartial example of his ukes. Either way, I hope you enjoyed William's ukulele cover, I did.

The uke sounds good but way too much sustain. I like the quick decaying notes, which ukes are known for

Warbulele said:

You could be right, but I wouldn't have posted it if I thought there was anything fishy about the recording. Still, if it is adulterated, I apologize for presenting it as an impartial example of his ukes. Either way, I hope you enjoyed William's ukulele cover, I did.

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I sure didn't mean to intimate in any way that the recording was adulterated or "fishy". I meant to say that by the time a recording comes over Utube to my laptop sound system (tiny built-in speakers) that I don't really trust the result. That's my problem. Nothing to do with any original recording. Sorry if I sounded suspicious.
PS_ Warbulele- Still looking for that Utube video..no luck yet.

FlailingFingers, I was more responding to Stevelele's comment, "who wants to buy one to find out for sure?".

I totally get that it's not a great way to hear an instrument, so the video is just FWIW. Some people might want to pick his brain, and he teaches luthery, so if they're in SE asia, they might consider learning from him. It's not just about being 100% certain this uke sounds exactly like this.
Having heard a lot of recordings of ukes on YT, I've come to be able to gather a certain amount of info even from poor recordings.

Noongdam - that is where we differ. I want a uke with good sustain. Also, I want different kinds of ukes to exist, for different moods, performances, etc. The more variety, the more ukes can play together and still be providing something unique to the performance.

The uke has a nice tone. But the intonation does not sound right. It seems out of tune. You'd think that if he is showing off his instrument he'd put some effort into making it spot-on in tune. The "reverb" may actually be a flanging effect, which can make it sound out of tune. But I'm not sure in this case.

My $.02.

Thanks KnowsPickin, I'll take another listen to see what you mean.

Just to clarify - the video/performance is not by the person who built it. It was built by Jeffrey Yong, and the performer/video uploader is named William Kok. I have no idea if they have any connection, but they aren't the same guy. I have seen Jeffrey in a video about his non-traditional tonewood guitars, he looks very different from William.

I don't know about his ukuleles but Jeffery builds a kickass guitar if that's worth anything. He's very clever and innovative. One of my heroes for sure.