I owned one of Toby's ukes for a while, and I thought it was lovely. Beautifully made and wonderful tone. A carved archtop instrument is a completely different animal and does not sound like a flattop uke. They tend to have a forceful, cutting tone with a lot of emphasis on the midrange. Archtop guitars gained popularity in jazz bands in the earlier part of the 20th century because they were audible and stood out tonally without needing to be amplified. Toby's instruments are essentially small archtop guitars, and exhibit similar tone. If you understand what you are getting in an archtop ukulele, I think you'll be very pleased with Toby Chennell's instruments.