A traditionally shaped fluke/flea?

etkre

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 19, 2009
Messages
83
Reaction score
1
Location
Athens, Oh
I like the durability and sound of flukes and fleas, but i'm not too fond of their wacky shapes. Is there a traditional hour-glass shaped uke with the construction/durability and good sound of a flea or fluke?

I don't mean to offend any fluke/flea lovers, it's just not my style.

Thanks!
Eric
 
The Ovation ukes are similar (plastic back) with an hourglass shape, but you hear rather mixed things about them. I've never played one.
 
I own a Kauai KUC-70B Concert Ukulele which has a spruce top (solid) and
a compound 'rounded' soundbowl,which is also marketed as a 'Clearwater'
model in some areas. Soundwise and volume wise, just played acoustically
there is little to chose between this model and a Flea/Fluke. I was after a
Fluke recently but owing to the high prices here in the UK, I compared one
that a friend owns with my Kauai,and decided to leave well alone and to stick
with what I had!
 
Thanks guys! I'll look into those. Along the same line, are there any all plastic ukuleles on the market today?
 
The one Applause/Ovation I played was MUCH more quiet than a Fluke or Flea - no comparison at all. I'd have no use for it, unless it was plugged into an amp.

The Ohana looks promising, though.
 
I like the durability and sound of flukes and fleas, but i'm not too fond of their wacky shapes. Is there a traditional hour-glass shaped uke with the construction/durability and good sound of a flea or fluke?

I don't mean to offend any fluke/flea lovers, it's just not my style.

Thanks!
Eric


I have never seen one, but the fleas do a good impression of the pineapples. I really like my flea it just keeps truckin. I do wish they had a better top but that's been resolved lately with the koa and spruce stuff.
 
I haven't seen one yet, but Mike Upton from Kala said, because of cost concerns, the Makala Dolphin is switching to a wood/ plastic combo. These new models are already appearing on the shelves.

From his email to me:
The differences are the uke body (except the wood top) is a injection molded Material. The Bridge is graphite. With labor and material cost increases we chose this construction to keep our end-user price and quality The same. The playability is the same great quality. The sound should be almost un-changed. At this price I challenge anyone to find a better Ukulele pound for pound. Price remains the same thru 09.

The plastic parts are painted like the rest of the uke, so it looks the same as the old Dolphin. I got to tell you, after seeing how nice the wood Dolphin was, as far are playability and sound verses cost, I would give the new plastic/ wood combo a try.

–Lori
 
I haven't seen one yet, but Mike Upton from Kala said, because of cost concerns, the Makala Dolphin is switching to a wood/ plastic combo. These new models are already appearing on the shelves.

From his email to me:


The plastic parts are painted like the rest of the uke, so it looks the same as the old Dolphin. I got to tell you, after seeing how nice the wood Dolphin was, as far are playability and sound verses cost, I would give the new plastic/ wood combo a try.

–Lori

Sounds like a great truck/boat ukulele. Wish they'd keep the body black plastic like an Applause/Flea/Fluke. No more rosewood dolphin bridge? :(
Is the fret board gonna be plastic too? Will it be a round back? I'm more interested in a Makala Dolphin than ever before.
 
i go back and forth on the fluke fleas -

i have a hand painted tiki king fluke from 04 that is hands down the best sounding uke i have at this point (including my new kanilea concert which to be fair hasn't opened up yet...) but i hear you on the crazy shape thing!

it gets a little old answering questions about my lute, or mandolin from strangers that aren't "in" on the fluke phenomenon... but really, they're built like a house made of bricks and they really do sound quite good (especially after about 5 years of playing!)

k
 
oh, here's a pic of my crazy old fluke...
 

Attachments

  • myFluke.jpg
    myFluke.jpg
    89 KB · Views: 549
Top Bottom