Ferangeli Custom Tenor

hungry4adobo

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Hi everyone!
So I have been saving a while for a new ukulele and have gone with the Filipino Builder: Ferangeli Guitar and Ukulele. They are based in Cebu, which in the Philippines is the guitar/ musical instrument capital of the country, which was brought over by the Spanish priests. I had looked over some of their custom ukes, and they really had some beautiful inlay work.
They had told me that production of the uke will take around 60 days.

For my own custom tenor, I had gone with an all solid Hawaiian Koa body, mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard, slotted headstock, Hand-buffed Nitrocellulose Lacquer finish, and koi inlay on the fingerboard and around the soundhole.

I did ask to have them send progression photos of my uke being built and will post the progression photos onto this thread as soon as I get them!

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Nice! I'm actually thinking about ordering a uke from Susing's Guitars in Cebu also. I can't wait to see the finished product!
 
That wood is stunning! Looking forward to see what comes next!
 
I live half my year in Cebu and have not yet found a uke i would buy there in 10 years of looking. They all look very attractive with tons of bling and inlay but are overbuilt and dull sounding in my experience. Caveat emptor...
 
Hi Everyone! Yeah I was really impressed with the woodset and I myself can't wait to see what happens. and Billten, I totally respect your opinion! Another person's trash could be another person's gold LOL! From my personal experience, my Mele uke which is made in the Philippines does not have a dull sound ( to me at least) so I have some faith. Also I did see a sound sample of a similar custom uke they had made, and I thought the sound was good! But again how can I defend something I have yet to actually play and hear myself! HAHA
 
Brod, i hope your uke blows your socks off! I just wanted to give my experiences from living and playing in Cebu for a long time. Do please give us an update once you get the uke in your hands, i'm very interested as its been about a year since i was last walking through the guitar makers in Mactan and maybe they have worked some issues out. Bahalana ta bay...

Hi Everyone! Yeah I was really impressed with the woodset and I myself can't wait to see what happens. and Billten, I totally respect your opinion! Another person's trash could be another person's gold LOL! From my personal experience, my Mele uke which is made in the Philippines does not have a dull sound ( to me at least) so I have some faith. Also I did see a sound sample of a similar custom uke they had made, and I thought the sound was good! But again how can I defend something I have yet to actually play and hear myself! HAHA
 
Oh and i should mention that i also actually own a Ferangeli mahogany classical guitar so i do like his guitar making skills...
 
Oh really! Yeah their guitars are a really beauty too!I just really hope this uke isnt overbuilt, but who know's we'll see! I will definitely record a sound sample once I get the uke. Also strings make a world of a difference, and I know forsure when I get the uke I am stringing up with La Bella strings. From some of the online works he has it looks like he uses Aquila strings? I wish there was more online samples of all the ukulele and guitar like many other companies do like Pono, Big Island, Mele, Kala,etc so that people can get a some what better idea of what each maker has to offer.
 
I'm going to the PI in July and intend on purchasing a Susing or Ferangeli concert. I do have a question, however. I plan on bringing a uke with me as I'm not sure as to when I'll be purchasing a uke. Does anyone happen to know if my uke will be affected by the humidity? I live in San Diego where the weather is a bit on the dry side. I'm afraid exposing it to the humidity will cause the wood to swell. On the flip side (pun intended), if I do purchase a uke there, will the lack of humidity here in San Diego really affect the uke since it came from a humid environment. Any help is VERY much appreciated.
 
I travel too and from Cebu with a uke twice a year. A few suggestions:
1. When you get the new uke, get a hard or a foam case to carry it in, or another option it to bring one from home that will fit.
2. Hand carry the uke on the plane, a few asian airlines give you a hard time about carry on ukes (mostly PAL) but so long as you are willing to remove the strings they will usually relent.
3. When you get to the PI and again home, leave the uke in its case for at least 24 hours so it gets a change to adjust to the local humidity and temp.
4. Humidify the goodness out of the uke for the first few months when you get home or it will crack. Adjusting from such high humidity in the PI to San Diego will be a transition that takes a while.
5. Always store your uke in the case with a humidifier and a meter, i try to never allow my ukes to drop below 40% humidity and above 60%. It does make a huge difference to the chance of the uke cracking and splitting.

YMMV but that's my experiences...
 
UPDATE!
So I was able to get in more pictures in from Ferangeli's, which this time include the wood sets that will be used for the neck, fingerboard, body, and sides!

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I'm going to the PI in July and intend on purchasing a Susing or Ferangeli concert. I do have a question, however. I plan on bringing a uke with me as I'm not sure as to when I'll be purchasing a uke. Does anyone happen to know if my uke will be affected by the humidity? I live in San Diego where the weather is a bit on the dry side. I'm afraid exposing it to the humidity will cause the wood to swell. On the flip side (pun intended), if I do purchase a uke there, will the lack of humidity here in San Diego really affect the uke since it came from a humid environment. Any help is VERY much appreciated.

Be sure to inquire and get an ukulele that was assembled in a humidity/ temperature controlled room. I know that both have models that are in the lower end of their range of ukes, that are not built in the humidity/temperature controlled settings which can result in immediate cracking if there is a difference in your own local environment. Id take billten's advice, just as extra precautionary measures so that your uke does not end up cracking or warping due to a lack of humidity.

Personally, I am from North County, SD and I havent had problems with humidity. But that can also be due to that I live 15mins near the beach. Just make sure to always have humidifier in your case and no extreme temperature differences, and Id think you will be fine :D
 
Build Update 4/20/2015

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Hi Everyone! Here in this post is an update of the progress of my ukulele so they are in the book matching process and this week will be adding the bracing! :D
 

Well they do offer basic models that are not assembled in a temperature/humidity controlled room.
If you look here : http://www.ferangeliguitar.com/about-us/pricing/
you can see that the low end models which are sold to the locals living there who want to get a decent instrument according to their budget are not assembled in the temperature/humidity controlled room, while as the higher end models are made in the temperature/ humidity controlled room.
 
Update 4/25/ 2015 BRACE YOURSELVES :p

Hi Everyone!
Just got my weekly update from Ferangeli on the progress of my ukulele and currently it is in the stage of side bending and applying the brace!
Next week they had said they will be working on the neck

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5/2/2015 Update

Aloha All!

Another weekly update from Ferangeli's! They had finished bracing the back and sides and will start the koi inlay work on the fingerboard & soundhole!

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