Aqua Ukuleles

I stopped in the local music store today, which carries a number of brands (the usual Kala and Lanikai, plus Fender, Martin, aNue Nue, Gretsch, and a few others), and it has been a while since I stopped by. I was pleased to see how much of their stock had turned over since I was last there.

That said, they had a few Aqua ukuleles in stock...which I believe are a subcompany of aNue Nue (would that be their Makala to Kala type connection).

I had not seen any discussion about Aqua ukuleles, and even a search only showed one recent mention of an Aqua (dating back to June).

This isn't a major issue, but I was wondering if anyone else knew more about the Aqua line.

P.S. That local store is Brickhouse Music, in River Falls, Wisconsin, where I bought my Tenor Outdoor Ukulele. The other store I frequent is Groth Music in Bloomington MN, which also carries Kala, Lanikai, and Martin, as well as some Magic Fluke ukuleles. I'm sure there is another brand or two at Groth as well.

I've seen the Aqua line in stores in Australia. I've picked them up and played them and they didn't stand out in any way to me so I moved on.

They're not bad, they're not good, they just are.

Anthony

EddyFinn has just come out with a new line of all plastic ukes in soprano and concert sizes. They have white Aquila strings, four different colours for the tops with all black back and sides.
The concerts are with a slotted head and a single side port on the front bout, and a cutaway body. The sopranos have a conventional round sound hole and a cutaway body. The string attachments at the tail is with no visible knotting. Yes, neck and frets are also plastic. Sound? Warm and blended rather than cold and crisp like a banjo, with about a two second sustain. Suprisingly in tune up the neck with the same sustain to the 14th fret.. up to 17 in tune, but no sustain. Both have geared tuners with the worm being steel and the stringpost gear being brass. Each side mounted tuner is separate. Nut width is 34.5mm and outside string to outside string is 26.11mm. The are calling them All Terrain Ukes ---Beachcomer and Beachmaster. A subdued red, an OSU orange, UofO green, and a bright cobalt blue

Since I am both a kayaker and a road cruising motorcyclist, Either one meets a need. They also come with a very nicely padded gig bag with two zipper sliders;a zipped front outside pocket, a hand and single adjustable shoulder strap.

The Eddy Finn plastic ukes are the same as the BugsGear Aqualele and are built, no doubt, from the same factory. Mim carries the Aqualele and posted a video comparing it to the Waterman.

http://bugsgearukulele.com/bugsgear-aqulele-travelukulele.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTkCSIt8JZo

Just for the record, the Aqua ukuleles were a brand of wood-based ukuleles. They weren't plastic: