New Year, New Uke!
I've mentioned (numerous times!) before on this forum, I got one of these as a Christmas present (I didn't even know I wanted another ukulele til I played this in the shop!)
Here's my tuppence worth and attempt at sounding knowledgeable and opinionated:
SOUND:
This was the first thing that really made the uke stand out- the sound is bright and brash and bold as brass if you attack it in the right way and it kicks out a terrific volume for such a tiny bodied instrument. Obviously if you use a gentler approach you'll get different results but 'bright' is the order of the day here, which is my sort of tone (long time Telecaster player). The only other instrument I found in the shop that sounded better was a £230 Lanikai tenor uke, at was twice the price tag on this.
LOOKS:
Slightly oddball, granted. If the neck were any longer or the body any smaller it might look like a giant matchstick. It has some particularly nice binding around the side and on the back and I do like the look of the angled body. One gripe: the fretboard widens as it joins the body, about half an inch either side- I don't really like that, but it's purely cosmetic (I didn't notice it until I played it on Christmas Day). Oh, and the little 'button' tuning pegs are cool.
FINISH:
Nice gloss and the frets are bound (is that the right word?) so the side of the neck is nice and smooth. The fret markers are slightly misaligned either side of the centre of the fret board, but I had to look pretty close to spot that. And: 'that's nitpicking, isn't it?' (N. Tufnel)
PLAYING:
Sounds good up and down the neck (and in the ears too). The note at the 12th fret sounds slightly sharp compared to the harmonic but I don't notice it when I'm playing chords. (Lowering the bridge slightly might help this??). It's slightly top heavy and with a tenor neck so the small body doesn't quite sit on my knee in the same way as, say, a concert but instead nestles quite nicely on the inside of my thigh, classical style.
OVERALL:
I've spoke a lot about a few minor niggles, but compared to the quality and volume of the sound they're insignificant in my humble o. Great sounding little instrument!
Bigdog: yeah, the SLNG has a Concert neck. I got them mixed up when I saw this.
stevepetergal:
Not sure what constitutes a radiused fretboard, but it seems pretty standard to me. I barely notice a fret board unless it's flat