Flea or Fluke?

I'm having a very hard time making up my mind. I have a cutaway mahalo which I've played since the summer but I'm sick of buzzing strings and the thing going out of tune after 20 minutes of playing. I think it's going to go to the kids to play with.

So I've been surfing around and I've decided either the flea or fluke as a replacement. I greatly prefer the looks of the flea to the fluke (probably get either one in their "lava" colour). That being said, I'd love to try out a larger tenor uke over the soprano I'm used to- I think the flea is larger than my current uke though. Now to complicate things further- I've learned all the chords in D tuning- I understand you can't tune a tenor in D tuning so I'd have to relearn everything from the ground up. It's not a bad thing, just one more thing to do. It seems like I'm just spinning my wheels here and there's no real right answer for me. So I'm putting it out there- those of you that have both (or have tried both)- which did you like better? What do you think are their strengths and weaknesses? Anybody got any high resolution pictures? One other thing- why does the body/fretboard look black in some photos and brown in others?

Yeah, the pictures on the Flea Market Music site of the single-color Fleas/Flukes are notoriously awful.

There are some great photos of a green Flea over on Ukulele Review. They sure helped me when I was deciding to buy one myself (I even got the same color!)

I hadn't heard about not being able to tune a tenor to D. Strikes me as a bit fishy. Hmmmm... In any case, if you want to switch over to C tuning, it's really no biggie. You don't have to learn any new chord shapes. You just have to match those shapes up with a different letter name. (In a pinch, I suppose you could capo the 2nd fret until you got the hang of C tuning.)

While I own a Flea, I've played a Fluke too. They're similar instruments. The Fluke was noticeably louder, probably due to the larger body size. Like you, I much prefer the look of the Flea. And, of course, if you wanted the Tenor scale length, you pretty much have to go Fluke.

The standard Flea/Fluke plastic fretboard is indeed black. If it shows up brown in a photo, it's probably just a crappy photo. (Of course, if it shows up brown and has metal frets, then you're looking at the "upgraded" fretboard. But you probably knew that already.)

JJ

I have not tried out a Fluke in person, so I can't really comment from anything on those, except their YT sound. Let me do the easy question first - why do some of the plastic fretboards look brown in pictures? I had the same question before I bought my Flea. Everyone in this thread told me it was just the light in the photo, and they were right. Once I got it it looked very black under all the lighting conditions I have exposed it to. You can see pictures of the it in the Fluke Group Gallery. Here is one of them:



Now, on to the more controversial aspects. I personally prefer the Flea, because I think it sounds better than a Fluke, at least on YouTube. You should weight that opinion heavily with the fact that I love soprano ukes more than I do concert and tenors. Some say it is also easier to hold. Others say the opposite. I like the way the Flea looks better. All those are subjective opinions, so you may like the Fluke better. The Flea is a bit smaller, although I got mine with a concert neck (a $10 option). The concert is something like 1.5" longer, but has the same body as the soprano.

Since you like the looks of the Flea, I suggest you get a Flea, with a concert neck. It's surprising how much more space there is between frets when you compare a concert to soprano neck, yet the overall length of a concert Flea is only about an inch longer than most sopranos, since it has the same size body as a soprano Flea. This makes it an extremely portable uke - I fly with mine in my carry-on bag frequently.

As rugged as Fleas and Flukes are, I'm sure they would have no problem with D tuning in any of their sizes or models.

SweetWaterBlue said:

Here is one of them:

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That is one beautiful ukulele. Almost looks like a tuxedo. Those pictures you left the link to really are a big help. I think I'll call tomorrow and order the flea with the concert neck. Thanks for the help! Those aren't the stock strings though, are they?

Cesium said:

Those aren't the stock strings though, are they?

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Those look like Aquila strings. The stock strings are black - I think they're Hilos, and to me they're pretty dead sounding. I've tried Worth Clears, Worth Browns, and Aquilas on my concert Flea, and the Aquilas are my favorite.

The Magic Fluke Company will install Aquilas for you at a small additional charge, if you specify that when you're ordering. They are extremely nice people to deal with!

Thanks Cesium. It does kind of look like a tuxedo. Strings are Aquilas.

I played both soprano and concert Fleas as well as a concert Fluke last week at a semi-local music store. I thought the Fluke sounded really good, but I'm with you. I much prefer the LOOK of the Flea. Also, while I suppose you'd get used to it, the Fluke seemed awkward to hold (at least to me). But I really liked both the Fleas. I would like to get one sometime soon!

I got one of each.

I just received my Tiki Bark pattern concert flea and am loving it.

I'm actually going to try to learn some real songs. I played alto sax when I was much younger; but, all my tinkering in later years on clasical guitar have been mostly with songs I created.

I love the sound and usability of the flea. Keep it next to my bed. Working on my scales and some basic songs.. but still rocking out with some chords/pickin's that.. well.. just sound good.

I'm pretty new to music and know almost nothing about music theory. What's the benefit behind learning scales? Is it just to familiarize what areas on the fretboard sound like? Is it to help substitute picking for chords?
The bark cloth flea is a nice design!

Cesium said:

What's the benefit behind learning scales? Is it just to familiarize what areas on the fretboard sound like? Is it to help substitute picking for chords?

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This is why