Anywho, does the wood used in a electric solid body have much effect on the sound? In the chambered? I'm seeing a lot of wood types on say the Pono electrics but I'm thinking this might be more of a looks thingy. What do you say?
And really I want to get a electric guitar type sound so should I skip the Pono's and Godin's and go for something like the Vorson which uses steel strings?
Are there any other steel string ukes being produced commercially rather than on special order?
I realize the quality difference and I plan on taking any Vorson I might buy right to a luthier and put up to $100 into it to get it tweaked and playing right.
The wood used on a solid body electric guitar/uke does not affect the sound of the instruments.
What will affect the sound are the quality/type of the pickups and the quality/type of strings.
That being said, it is good to have good quality wood - something that is durable, looks good and is not too heavy.
Here is a video by a guitar expert and maker who explains why tonewood does not affect electric guitar tone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svmOQuNC1Uw
If you really want electric guitar style sound, then you will definitely want to go for a steel-string electric with magnetic pickups.
I have owned literally every Risa steel-string model there is (Soprano and Tenor single-coils "bean" model, Soprano and Tenor humbucker Les Paul style model).
They are flawless instruments made in Germany. I highly recommend them. They are in a quality level of high-end electric guitars. Every part of the Risa's are high quality. High quality custom pickups, tuners, electronics, etc. They sound fantastic too. I consider them the standard for steel-string electric ukes.
I have also owned an Epiphone Mandobird, which is a 4-string electric mandolin that can be tuned like an ukulele. I don't really recommend these. They sound great, but the fretboard is extremely narrow as mandolins are. It was not very comfortable to play.
I also owned two Jupiter Creek steel-string electrics. They are well made and are quite inexpensive. Alas, the maker is no longer alive and the only ones you will find now are second-hand. However, since they are now no longer in production, I wonder whether this would affect the price and whether people will be willing to part from them. That being said, compared to the Risa, they are very simply designed (bare basics, no eye candy) and do not have a truss rod (which Risas do).
I believe a truss rod is very handy in any steel-string instrument, even ukulele. It allows you to have more control over how well the instrument is setup.
Another steel string "ukulele" I owned is the Eastwood Warren Ellis signature tenor guitar.
These are fantastic instruments, but you will have to tune it like a Baritone ukulele (DGBE) because the scale is longer.
I recommend the Risa steel-string electrics very highly.
That being said, I have a Vorson (Les Paul style) on the way. I impulse purchased it after a stressful day at work, and it was quite cheap.
If it arrives any time soon, I will let you know my thoughts on how it compares to the other steel-string electric ukuleles I have tried.
At the moment, I expect it to be of fairly good quality. Perhaps some of the parts will be cheaply made ones (tuners, pickups), and I suspect that I may change out the strings nearly right away. It has a truss rod and an adjustable bridge, which is a good sign. I suspect that it will be in the same quality level as a Squier Stratocaster electric guitar, if not a bit better.
The other electric instrument I have to compare it to at home is a USA-made Gibson Les Paul electric guitar (which I adore). We shall see.
I am personally capable of doing setups on electrics, so I will not have to take it to a luthier.
I don't suspect that the luthier will charge to much to do a basic setup on your Vorson. Perhaps take it in for a string change (I like Elixir strings. On a tenor electric ukulele, I would use the DGBE strings from an electric set to tune up to GCEA. If you want to tune the electric uke to DGBE, use the ADGB strings from an electric guitar set. Use a 9-gauge set for light tension and a 10-gauge set for medium tension).