I am excited to present this review to my fellow UU forum ukers. After 11 days of shipping from Nicaragua, I received my concert cocobolo uke. The uke was shipped without a case but was carefully packed. The exterior of the package took quite a beating, but the insides and uke showed no evidence of mishandling.
Features: Concert sized ukulele handmade from Nicaraguan Cococbolo with a spectacular grain pattern. Solid cocobolo make up the front, back, sides, headplate, fingerboard and bridge with front pinstripe binding. Fifteen fretwires are radiused and seated smoothly against the neck. The nut and saddle are made of bone and the neck width is approx 1.5 inches. The neck is thin and perfectly smooth with abalone shell side markers. Tuners are Grover Sta-Tite, with Aquila Nylgut strings.
Action/Fit/Finish: For me, it has a perfect setup with no buzzing and strings situated close to all frets. I am not quite sure if the finish is a satin polymer or oil rubbed – all surfaces are extremely smooth and soft! There is no evidence of glue- out on the exterior and interior. The first fret has a very slight sharpness on one side, but as described earlier the rest of the fret ends are smooth and not protruding from the neck. The instrument is well balanced as the weight of Grover tuners is unnoticed.
Sound: In my humble opinion: rich, somewhat mellow and quite loud with super nice sustain.
Overall: I am super pleased with this instrument. Kevin, at cocoboloukuleles.com was great to work with. He sent me photos of the various ukes to choose from and kept me well informed about the shipping status.
The price ($399) is incredible. In my collection I have 2 ukes in the $1000 range (Martin and Koaloha) and I feel this cocobolo sits right up with them. The ease of playing is fabulous and I really like the sound. Now, I am not a uke expert reviewer as some others appear on the UU forum but I think this uke is super. The cocobolo grain pattern is stunning, the silky smoothness of the finish is hard to keep my hands off of, and the sound is wonderful (eventually I will probably switch to Worth strings). After watching the many videos of Birth of A Mya Moe which shows the skill and labor involved in a handmade ukulele it is obvious that this cocobolo is extremely well built with the labor of love!
I especially love the radiused frets. I now own a tenor and this concert with radiused frets and definitely find it easier to form chords on them. I don't believe it is very common to find instruments in this price range with radiused frets; which makes this brand of uke that much more desirable (at least for me). I strongly recommend all UU forum ukers to try out this type of fret boards- and...., I almost forgot...., check out the cocobolo color grains in this instrument - so cool!
(I have posted a quick youtube with boo boos and all!)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt-wLdSA78Y
Sorry pics are sideways.
Features: Concert sized ukulele handmade from Nicaraguan Cococbolo with a spectacular grain pattern. Solid cocobolo make up the front, back, sides, headplate, fingerboard and bridge with front pinstripe binding. Fifteen fretwires are radiused and seated smoothly against the neck. The nut and saddle are made of bone and the neck width is approx 1.5 inches. The neck is thin and perfectly smooth with abalone shell side markers. Tuners are Grover Sta-Tite, with Aquila Nylgut strings.
Action/Fit/Finish: For me, it has a perfect setup with no buzzing and strings situated close to all frets. I am not quite sure if the finish is a satin polymer or oil rubbed – all surfaces are extremely smooth and soft! There is no evidence of glue- out on the exterior and interior. The first fret has a very slight sharpness on one side, but as described earlier the rest of the fret ends are smooth and not protruding from the neck. The instrument is well balanced as the weight of Grover tuners is unnoticed.
Sound: In my humble opinion: rich, somewhat mellow and quite loud with super nice sustain.
Overall: I am super pleased with this instrument. Kevin, at cocoboloukuleles.com was great to work with. He sent me photos of the various ukes to choose from and kept me well informed about the shipping status.
The price ($399) is incredible. In my collection I have 2 ukes in the $1000 range (Martin and Koaloha) and I feel this cocobolo sits right up with them. The ease of playing is fabulous and I really like the sound. Now, I am not a uke expert reviewer as some others appear on the UU forum but I think this uke is super. The cocobolo grain pattern is stunning, the silky smoothness of the finish is hard to keep my hands off of, and the sound is wonderful (eventually I will probably switch to Worth strings). After watching the many videos of Birth of A Mya Moe which shows the skill and labor involved in a handmade ukulele it is obvious that this cocobolo is extremely well built with the labor of love!
I especially love the radiused frets. I now own a tenor and this concert with radiused frets and definitely find it easier to form chords on them. I don't believe it is very common to find instruments in this price range with radiused frets; which makes this brand of uke that much more desirable (at least for me). I strongly recommend all UU forum ukers to try out this type of fret boards- and...., I almost forgot...., check out the cocobolo color grains in this instrument - so cool!
(I have posted a quick youtube with boo boos and all!)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt-wLdSA78Y
Sorry pics are sideways.
Last edited: