Calypso
Member
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2014
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 0
First of all, I'd like to thank the members of UU who posted about these ukuleles. I've read so many positive things about them, I felt confident enough to buy this little gem from Taisamlu on ebay.
This instrument sounds amazing! It has such a singing, sweet sound. It's the first acacia uke I've owned, the others are mahogany/laminate and while they sound great, this one just sounds so very different.
Build wise, it's immaculate. The grain is so sweet, I decided against fancy inlays on the body. This has abalone around the body (front and back) and the sound hole and it's beautiful. The tree of life style motif on the fretboard is gorgeous and doesn't really come out in the pictures. When the light hits it just right, it's a riot of rainbows. The nut and saddle are buffalo bone. And it came with a hard case which is always a bonus.
The neck is quite slim which is good for me - small girly hands and not very long fingers. Frets are dressed immaculately. The rosewood on the board is so dark it's almost like ebony and is smooth as silk.
I've heard that ukuleles from Taiwan/Vietnam are quite heavy, and maybe some of them are, but this one certainly isn't. It feels no heavier than my laminate Fender T-bucket and lighter than my Luna 8 string.
The only downside to this ukulele was very high action. The first few frets were okay but it measured 5mm at the 12th fret so something had to be done. I've never lowered the action on a ukulele before, so this was a first for me. But Google helped and it only took me 20 minutes to loosen the strings, extract the bridge, mark it and sand it down. Job done and no fret buzz - now it's a joy to play. I'll leave the Aquillas it came with on for a while but I've got a set of Worth Clears which I'll probably put on relatively soon.
My pics just didn't come out well at all so I'm using the seller's images - which I feel okay doing because this is the exact ukulele I got. I checked it, grain for grain. It's the last of the line, it seems. These images are so much better than mine (my phone camera's a bit... meh).
This instrument sounds amazing! It has such a singing, sweet sound. It's the first acacia uke I've owned, the others are mahogany/laminate and while they sound great, this one just sounds so very different.
Build wise, it's immaculate. The grain is so sweet, I decided against fancy inlays on the body. This has abalone around the body (front and back) and the sound hole and it's beautiful. The tree of life style motif on the fretboard is gorgeous and doesn't really come out in the pictures. When the light hits it just right, it's a riot of rainbows. The nut and saddle are buffalo bone. And it came with a hard case which is always a bonus.
The neck is quite slim which is good for me - small girly hands and not very long fingers. Frets are dressed immaculately. The rosewood on the board is so dark it's almost like ebony and is smooth as silk.
I've heard that ukuleles from Taiwan/Vietnam are quite heavy, and maybe some of them are, but this one certainly isn't. It feels no heavier than my laminate Fender T-bucket and lighter than my Luna 8 string.
The only downside to this ukulele was very high action. The first few frets were okay but it measured 5mm at the 12th fret so something had to be done. I've never lowered the action on a ukulele before, so this was a first for me. But Google helped and it only took me 20 minutes to loosen the strings, extract the bridge, mark it and sand it down. Job done and no fret buzz - now it's a joy to play. I'll leave the Aquillas it came with on for a while but I've got a set of Worth Clears which I'll probably put on relatively soon.
My pics just didn't come out well at all so I'm using the seller's images - which I feel okay doing because this is the exact ukulele I got. I checked it, grain for grain. It's the last of the line, it seems. These images are so much better than mine (my phone camera's a bit... meh).