Ukes that ring up the neck

One characteristic of my Moore Bettah ukes is how much of a ring the uke has on the A and E string (GCEA) post 7th fret all the way to 14th and beyond. It is spectacular! My other ukes sound any where from adequate to great. Surprisingly my TinGuitar soprano and Cocobolo super soprano too have an amazing presence and ring post 12th.

Which brand of ukes have you’ll found anecdotally to be really good up the neck?

I tend to play finger-style over just strumming and find myself up the neck for many songs.

Despite my technique, I’m able to get both my Kanile‘a and Rebel ukes to really ring out up on those higher frets.

The Kanile‘a continues to ring out with harmonics when I’m fingerpicking up to around the 14th fret. I’m sure it could do more if I were better!

My top 5 up the neck: 1. Moore Bettah, 2. Pegasus, 3. William King, 4. Goat Rock, 5. van Pelt

My Pono and Kremona 'ukuleles drop off a lot after the 12th fret. However, all my Romero Creations instruments ring like a bell up there, all the way to the 18th fret. My Kanile‘a GL6 pops well above the 12th fret as well.

Ukes I’ve played that ring well up the neck: (I’ll start by repeating Steve’s first 2)

Moore Bettah
Pegasus
Hive
Pete Howlett
Beau Hannam
Toda
aNueNue Light Bird
Compass Rose

Cocobolo....

kerneltime said:

One characteristic of my Moore Bettah ukes is how much of a ring the uke has on the A and E string (GCEA) post 7th fret all the way to 14th and beyond. It is spectacular! My other ukes sound any where from adequate to great. Surprisingly my TinGuitar soprano and Cocobolo super soprano too have an amazing presence and ring post 12th.

Which brand of ukes have you’ll found anecdotally to be really good up the neck?

I tend to play finger-style over just strumming and find myself up the neck for many songs.

Click to expand...

Of all my ukes, there’s something about the neck, frets, and spacing of my Iriguchi that give me a consistent response.

My Collings UT1 is amazing up the neck - fast, rings like a bell, to my ear perfect intonation on every string all way up ukulele. The rest of my ukuleles sound great in open position, but tend to choke up as I go up fret. It is too bad Collings doesn't make ukuleles anymore. By the way, I've never played a Moore Bettah, Compass Rose, American Martin or Kamaka...

tom

kerneltime said:

One characteristic of my Moore Bettah ukes is how much of a ring the uke has on the A and E string (GCEA) post 7th fret all the way to 14th and beyond. It is spectacular! My other ukes sound any where from adequate to great. Surprisingly my TinGuitar soprano and Cocobolo super soprano too have an amazing presence and ring post 12th.

Which brand of ukes have you’ll found anecdotally to be really good up the neck?

I tend to play finger-style over just strumming and find myself up the neck for many songs.

Click to expand...

I've been watching this thread for a few days and kind of feel like I should point this out:

IMO, this has less to do with a certain brand and more to do with an 'ukulele itself being "good." Clear, musical notes up the neck are a characteristic of a GOOD 'ukulele. If a Moore Bettah sounded like cardboard past the 7th fret would it still be a good uke?

Certainly an experienced builder will check this box on most instruments, but I think it's far more instrument-specific than, "This brand always rings up the neck." Kamaka builds a GOOD 'ukulele. But I seriously doubt if all their ukes ring true in the higher register. So even a "good" brand can create a BAD uke.

Which is why it's so important to play as many 'ukuleles as you can. kerneltime might have the superior Moore Bettah in this regard. Or not. I might. We wouldn't know until we tried them side-by-side.

Just my 2 cents. Trust your ears. Be skeptical of hasty conclusions.

Brad Bordessa said:

I've been watching this thread for a few days and kind of feel like I should point this out:

IMO, this has less to do with a certain brand and more to do with an 'ukulele itself being "good." Clear, musical notes up the neck are a characteristic of a GOOD 'ukulele. If a Moore Bettah sounded like cardboard past the 7th fret would it still be a good uke?

Certainly an experienced builder will check this box on most instruments, but I think it's far more instrument-specific than, "This brand always rings up the neck." Kamaka builds a GOOD 'ukulele. But I seriously doubt if all their ukes ring true in the higher register. So even a "good" brand can create a BAD uke.

Which is why it's so important to play as many 'ukuleles as you can. kerneltime might have the superior Moore Bettah in this regard. Or not. I might. We wouldn't know until we tried them side-by-side.

Just my 2 cents. Trust your ears. Be skeptical of hasty conclusions.

Click to expand...

I kind of agree with you, thus, asked for anecdotal experience. You have owned a couple of MBUs from different years (from what I remember from the podcasts) and I am sure you have seen variation. Kanilea revamped their bracing and I am sure the new ukes in general sound different with the new bracing vs the old... there are a lot of variation here.. I have played multiple MM and Compass Rose and the sound profile varies.
That said when ordering a custom uke the fact that multiple owners recommend a builder for a certain characteristic gives you higher confidence that the uke you order will be in the same ball park. Of all the ukes I own I was able to try before buying only a small number. So anecdotal experience counts for me.
On a side note I love Les Stansel’s selling process, drive up to where he lives, try the ukes and buy the one you like.. he does hold on to a uke for a year before selling so you might have drive back to pick up the uke you had selected when it is ready to be sold I bought one when I was there and bought the one Kimo bought later.. and they do ring up the neck in baritone sort of way.

I can confirm that Pegasus does ring up the neck!
Some new additions to this list.
Grimes: Simply amazing!
Collings: The dog hair UT2 is bright and rings up the neck, very clear and articulate.

My KoAloha KTM rings as does my Harmony Baritone. Others, no so much. The right strings seem to help as well.

My Collings UT1 and UCK1 both ring like a Salvation Army bell up the neck