igorthebarbarian
Well-known member
I had been jones'ing for a new laminate soprano. I wound up picking up a Martin OXK in a trade with a local uker (Danno). And I just ordered a Famous FS5-G off Amazon, with free two-day shipping for $268.
http://www.amazon.com/FAMOUS-KIWAYA...qid=1437090755&sr=8-2&keywords=famous+ukulele
The "Famous" brand appears to be the budget line of Japanese Kiwaya. I have not yet had the chance to play a Kiwaya but I am guessing they are very close. HMS has a similar Kiwaya but it's $100 more (before shipping/case).
The Famous is very lightweight, and very pretty. It came with a uke strap/lanyard-style that I wouldn't want to use on this nice looking one for fear of scratching it, but if I have a beater, I guess it would be nice. It came with a pitch pipe which is useless since everyone has a tuner, or a tuner app on their phone. And it came with the world's cheapest uke bag. But the ukulele itself is very nice so far.
The tuners are geared which actually doesn't add much weight (one thing I worried about). They seem to hold pretty well.
The action is nice and low. I anticipated that from everything else I'd read. I would say the action is perfect (might be too low for some people perhaps).
It came with some sort of purple-ish fluorocarbon strings, that I just swapped out for Martin fluocarbons. So far so good. I would definitely recommend this if you're looking for a good high-quality laminate soprano.
Pics to follow
http://www.amazon.com/FAMOUS-KIWAYA...qid=1437090755&sr=8-2&keywords=famous+ukulele
The "Famous" brand appears to be the budget line of Japanese Kiwaya. I have not yet had the chance to play a Kiwaya but I am guessing they are very close. HMS has a similar Kiwaya but it's $100 more (before shipping/case).
The Famous is very lightweight, and very pretty. It came with a uke strap/lanyard-style that I wouldn't want to use on this nice looking one for fear of scratching it, but if I have a beater, I guess it would be nice. It came with a pitch pipe which is useless since everyone has a tuner, or a tuner app on their phone. And it came with the world's cheapest uke bag. But the ukulele itself is very nice so far.
The tuners are geared which actually doesn't add much weight (one thing I worried about). They seem to hold pretty well.
The action is nice and low. I anticipated that from everything else I'd read. I would say the action is perfect (might be too low for some people perhaps).
It came with some sort of purple-ish fluorocarbon strings, that I just swapped out for Martin fluocarbons. So far so good. I would definitely recommend this if you're looking for a good high-quality laminate soprano.
Pics to follow