Anyone heard of Hudson?

Tommi

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Hi all,
I was looking around eBay UK and noticed some Hudson ukes from Wales. Has anyone heard anything of them? Are they any good?
cheers
Tom
 
Cranes in Cardiff (capital of Wales) stock them. I've never played one but a guy at the uke club here said they were pretty good. That said, he wasn't playing one! No-one else there had one either. Sorry not to be more informative. Maybe you could get one and do a review?

There are two big music shops in Cardiff - Gamlins, who are very helpful and informative (no Hudsons) and Cranes, who are cheaper. Draw your own conclusions ...
 
Are Hudson the same as Johnson? I read that somewhere... on a forum I believe. But ukehunt suggests they may be Kala clones... see the Crane's site
 
Thanks guys,
They sound ok, they have a solid spruce top and mahogny back/sides. There is also a more expensive model with Spalt Maple back/sides. They come with a gig bag or hard case. The pictures on the Cranes website look pretty good.
I'll look into it some more and report back so if anyone else is looking for info they can have it.
Peace
 
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I have recently purchased a Hudson uke from Cranes of Cardiff, figuring that my modest increase in proficiency justified an upgrade from my cheapish first instrument (a laminated concert Tanglewood).

After trying a few models I opted for an all solid mahogany soprano HUK-MS (marked up at £119, although I negotiated a discount). I immediately slapped on a set of Aquilas and must say I am very impressed with the instrument; warm tones, great playability and nice finish. My only gripe would be that the geared tuners appear a bit cheaper than the rest of the uke, although they are perfectly functional. The spruce top soprano was really tempting, but my personal preference was for the rich sound of the mahogany over the brightness of the spruce. There are plenty of other options in the range.

As has been stated previously the Hudsons look like clones of Kalas, presumably originating in the same factory, but that has got to be a good thing, right?

I would definitely recommend the Hudson brand and am trying hard to resist giving in to my UAS again. However, that electro acoustic concert is really tempting......
 
tenor

I ve purchased a spruce top tenor and wonderd if more expensive strings would help the action which I find a bit high
 
I've played the Spruce and Maple electric tenor, the all Mahogany concert (electric cutaway) and the Spruce and Maple concert. They were all pretty good. They're made in China, not Wales, and Crane's have a whole range of instruments with the same brand. I was impressed, but not blown away; I certainly wouldn't throw one out of bed, but my recommendation from that test was a Moana all maple soprano, which absolutely knocked my socks off. That's at the top of my "to purchase" list, and the Hudsons, while very competent, aren't. I've also got their tenor guitar here, which is pretty darned nice.
 
I purchased a Tenor Hudson yesterday. Got it for £85 with a small discount. I'm so impressed with it. I'm only 6 months into playing the uke, but this instrument felt better than any of the more expensive ones I tried. The GHS strings are ok and it has a wound c string. Hardly any buzz. Tone is warm.

My only gripe is that it came with a soft bag - I'd have preferred a hard case, but I shouldn't complain as I believe the instrument is great vlue for money.
 
I've done some (re)search on these, and I found them in a very reputed music store, together with the Aloha-brand. To give an idea: the shop also sells Fenders,Dobro's, Recording Kings and is wellknown nationwide.
At the shop they also said that the Hudsons and Aloha's appear to be made in the same factory as the Makala/Kala brand. I took one of the Aloha-cheapo's, and did a search: they are 100% the same as the Makala's besides the strings, that are one step down. Maybe some difference in the tuners, but I could not spot it - and most of these things need a twist with a screwdriver so no harm. I put on some D'Addario strings and it sounds very nice for it's price.

Seems that they are only marketed in mainland Europe and UK though.

I've since been lurking on a Hudson spruce, the price is I believe unbeatable. It comes at about € 90, including a swap to Aquila string done at the shop, a set-up and a solid softcase. To give you an idea: similar cases are also sold separately, for half the price of the uke.

I think that's a big bang for your buck...

So, if you come across a Hudson or a Aloha and you're looking for a good start, and not looking for hot exotics, they're big players in newbie-league.
 
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I bought a cheap soprano Hudson. not bad, but I have troubles getting it in tune. after 5 minutes it gets out of tune.
maybe to cheap? thinking of getting other strings on it...
 
Just bought a Hudson electro-acoustic tenor uke from amazon for 'open mic' use..changed the strings as I normally play Baritone so went with a DGBE set..anyhow so far I'm pretty impressed with it ..it has a built in tuner and the pick up is an active one..it worked well on the initial open mic.
 
I have a Hudson Tenor...

I have now had my Hudson Tenor Uke for a couple of years and I love it! As well as sounding great it looks beautiful. Its an electro-accoustic. I just had a look on Crane's website, but they no longer sell the one I have - it cost £225 2-3 years ago and I think it was worth every penny.
I realise this is too late for the original post, but maybe if someone else happens along this thread it might be useful.


May :D

p.s. It rarely goes out of tune - a wee tweak every now and then is all it takes.
 
I have a Hudson HU10-C concert ukulele. It is certainly not the prettiest ukulele in the world - in fact it is very plain - but it plays well and i don't regret buying it. Intonation is good after having the action lowered a tad. My verdict on it is that it is a good, basic laminate starter ukulele but it does benefit from having a setup done (As do most of the cheaper ukulele's).
It came with Aquilla strings and they seem to suite it well but i plan to try some of Ken Middleton's clear water strings on it soon.
All in all not a bad buy for £55 from Cranes in Cardiff. It has given me many hours of enjoyment and doubtless will continue to do so.
Probably i am in a minority in that i like playing laminate ukulele's simply because they are cheap and it is not the end of the world if they get the odd ding.
 
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I've owned a Hudson HUK ST6E 6 string spruce topped tenor for 5 weeks now and I love it. I've hardly picked up any of my other ukes since getting it.
As a regular visitor to Cardiff I wandered into Cranes out of curiosity and couldn't resist the bargain price they offered it to me for. It came with GHS strings and I wasn't keen on the configuration of g octave C E octave A but I already knew I wanted Low G octave C E Unison A from trying other 6 string ukes. I fitted Living Water strings to this configuration and I'm knocked out by it.
Everyone in my uke club wants to try it and comments on the fullness of it sound. It came with a basic lightly padded bag but being a little longer than a 4 string tenor has meant I can't fit it in one of my preferred Boston bags but I'm almost there in finding a good case for it.
Really great ukes and really great people to deal with at Cranes.
 
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