UkeStuff
Well-known member
Today our latest shipment of Caramel Concerts came in (all six were set up perfectly, although as the fretboards dry out in our non-humidified air, I'll have to sand down the fret edges when they pop out), and also included was one of the Caramel Sopraninos that I had ordered for myself.
When I saw the Ohana O'ninos, I knew that it would be fun to have one of these around (play it for student birthdays, as a distraction in presentations that I give at conventions), and at $28 shipped, it was worth the investment.
It is a super small laminate instrument, and it sounds like it. That said, I'm not sure what sound quality you are truly going to get out of any Sopranino, and as I am going to leave it tuned to GCEA, it is possible that tuning it up could result in a much brighter instrument. I could also try other strings (Aquilas are stock)
My one comparison ukulele (at home) is my Stars and Strips Ukadelic, which actually sounds pretty good with fluorocarbon strings. There is really no comparison, as the Ukadelic now sounds as good as my concerts.
Where I am surprised is at the construction. The zebrawood laminate is the same as the rest of the Caramel instruments we have purchased, but the binding is different (black, and the face has two thin white lines going to the black), the neck feels really nice (better than the other Caramels which were not bad), and the engraving around the sound hole is more "flowery" than other models we own. The tuners are the typical Caramel open geared tuners that work well enough. There are no side markers, and oddly, the "double" front marker is at the 7th fret. There are 12 frets in total. From what I can see, assembly is clean inside, and there is no Caramel label on the inside of the instrument.
For a ukulele that is mainly a novelty item, this is well worth its $28 cost (that includes shipping--it took about 20 days for this set to reach us). If you have been thinking about a sopranino, and the cost of the Ohana is prohibitive--don't hesitate to order a Sopranino from Caramel.
Here's a picture comparing the Sopranino to my Ukadelic:
When I saw the Ohana O'ninos, I knew that it would be fun to have one of these around (play it for student birthdays, as a distraction in presentations that I give at conventions), and at $28 shipped, it was worth the investment.
It is a super small laminate instrument, and it sounds like it. That said, I'm not sure what sound quality you are truly going to get out of any Sopranino, and as I am going to leave it tuned to GCEA, it is possible that tuning it up could result in a much brighter instrument. I could also try other strings (Aquilas are stock)
My one comparison ukulele (at home) is my Stars and Strips Ukadelic, which actually sounds pretty good with fluorocarbon strings. There is really no comparison, as the Ukadelic now sounds as good as my concerts.
Where I am surprised is at the construction. The zebrawood laminate is the same as the rest of the Caramel instruments we have purchased, but the binding is different (black, and the face has two thin white lines going to the black), the neck feels really nice (better than the other Caramels which were not bad), and the engraving around the sound hole is more "flowery" than other models we own. The tuners are the typical Caramel open geared tuners that work well enough. There are no side markers, and oddly, the "double" front marker is at the 7th fret. There are 12 frets in total. From what I can see, assembly is clean inside, and there is no Caramel label on the inside of the instrument.
For a ukulele that is mainly a novelty item, this is well worth its $28 cost (that includes shipping--it took about 20 days for this set to reach us). If you have been thinking about a sopranino, and the cost of the Ohana is prohibitive--don't hesitate to order a Sopranino from Caramel.
Here's a picture comparing the Sopranino to my Ukadelic: