Vietnamese Ukes???

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JoeC

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Aloha!

I've looking for a new ukulele to add the my collection (of one ukulele :p), and I'm seeing a lot of nice looking ukes on eBay from Vietnam. I was just wondering if they are fakes or crappy - or just a con??

They do seem to be very pretty and ornate instruments, and for pretty cheap, too... hence my suspicion!

Anyone bought a 'namese uke off eBay?

Joe
 
I bought a solid body vietnamese uke and really like it. The only thing I notice is that the A string sounds a little weak compared to the others through the pickup. Our Eleuke sounds a little better. I think you are asking about the inlayed acoustics. My Dad bought one of these and the quality seemed fine, however it did develope a crack. Vietnam (like Hawaii) is very humid and the ukes don't seem to like dry climates. Hope this helps.
 
you pay your money and take your chances.... you could buy one from Tudorp, he checks them out.
 
i never bought a vietnamese uke but, if it sounds to good to be true than it probably is to good to be true. If i were you i would save for a made in Hawaii ukulele but, thats just me.
 
Stay away from any ukes made by AntonioTsai. He doesn't properly cure the wood so it's known to crack very quickly. If you're going to go with a Vietnamese luthier, go with Bruce Wei. His instruments are better made (although I think his reputation has been hurt by AntonioTsai as they both do ornate instruments and are both from Vietnam). From what I've heard about his ukes, they're far more stable but can suffer from a poor setup. Tudrop (a member here on UU) is in business with Bruce Wei...he buys a number of ukes, does the quality inspection and setup, then resells them. I bought one from Tudrop and it sounds great for the money. I would highly suggest going this route.

I actually did a recent review of one of these ukuleles (Tudrop uses the name Dük for them). A few finish flaws but the build quality is pretty good and it sounds quite nice. There's a sound sample in the review as well. You can see it here:

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?47465-D%FCk-Mahogany-Tenor-Cutaway
 
Last edited:
Wow, I love that sound sample :D the uke sounds pretty good, what mics did you use? Was it a stereo pair or just one? Sounds like a pair?

I am tempted to go down the Tudrop route. But I just found a spalt maple Tanglewood concert which I just love the look of. Plus I have a Tanglewood guitar, so that would be cool to keep it in the family :p lol

Also, I live in England, so they'd be a lot of extra charges for P&P for a Dük. Whereas, this Tanglewood is at Southern Ukulele Store, right along the coast from me... handy!

Thanks for your help guys :) I'll keep you informed of my decision!

Joe
 
JoeC said:
Wow, I love that sound sample :D the uke sounds pretty good, what mics did you use? Was it a stereo pair or just one? Sounds like a pair?

I am tempted to go down the Tudrop route. But I just found a spalt maple Tanglewood concert which I just love the look of. Plus I have a Tanglewood guitar, so that would be cool to keep it in the family :p lol

Also, I live in England, so they'd be a lot of extra charges for P&P for a Dük. Whereas, this Tanglewood is at Southern Ukulele Store, right along the coast from me... handy!

Thanks for your help guys :) I'll keep you informed of my decision!

Joe
Click to expand...

Single mic...Rode K2. Love that thing!
 
Nuprin said:
Stay away from any ukes made by AntonioTsai. He doesn't properly cure the wood so it's known to crack very quickly. If you're going to go with a Vietnamese luthier, go with Bruce Wei. His instruments are better made (although I think his reputation has been hurt by AntonioTsai as they both do ornate instruments and are both from Vietnam).
Click to expand...

After a little research I found a good number of Bruce Wei's instruments cracking as well...
...too bad because they sound nice and are very attractive. :(
 
Paul December said:
After a little research I found a good number of Bruce Wei's instruments cracking as well...
...too bad because they sound nice and are very attractive. :(
Click to expand...

If you look hard enough, you can find info on any solid wood instrument that cracks under certain conditions. You have to know what you are buying and the maker. If you take Bruce Wei uke to Arizona and lay it around for awhile, it will crack, as most any solid would. Bruce does cure his wood properly, the other guy mentioned does not, and you can pretty much put money that his will crack in any condition because he used green woods. Bruce's instruments you have to take care and percautions like any solid wood, and be sure to keep it humidified, especially in the winter, and/or dry climates. But, again, you have to do that with any solid wood uke. I have gotten many ukes from Bruce, and out of more than a dozen, only one cracked, and it was due to a defect in the wood, not the curing of it. He made that right however.
 
I've seen several cracked Kamakas advertised, or a post regarding how to fix, etc. etc.
 
I bought a heavily inlayed concert size from one of the Vietnamese sellers (can't remember which one). It weighs a ton and acoustically it's a brick - no resonance and very little volume. All the same, I marvel at the amount of work that went into it (for the price). It had some nice gold Gotah tuners on it, which I swapped out with another uke. The workmanship is so-so. There is a lot of filler around the inlays, although the color match of the filler is very good. I haven't had any shrinking or cracking problems that others have reported. I gave it to my Father-in-Law and he loves it.
 
I believe that Tanji ukes were first made In Vietnam ....yet I have yet to see a cracked one yet....
 
An uke built from improperly cured wood whether it is made in Vietnam, or Detroit is going to crack. The Antoine guy in Vietnam really hurt the good builders in that region, because many people put them all in the same box. We would be in a world of hurt if all American cars were judged on the Ford Pinto or the Chevy Vega.... lol
 
Yep, they made a GT version, with a 350 back in the day. The one you spoke of in the PM bro. I had oone of my gear head buddies in HS with a 350 vega that would pull the front wheels off the ground. That thing was a HOOT.. ;)
 
I, too, have bought several ukes from Bruce Wei. His workmanship is sound and they look and sound great. As Turdop says, ANY solid uke will crack if not properly humidified. If you don't want to take proper care you may be better off with a laminate uke. I buy from Bruce for resale here in Canada. I also buy from Taisamlu (Liang Lu) in Taiwan. He has some great looking and playing ukes too but as mentioned above forget about Anitoniosai.
 
I've also have bought a couple of the ukes from Taisamlu. I have talked with him allot and he is also a great guy, but ironically, many of his ukes are also built by Bruce, lol. He has his own shop as well, and he and bruce are good friends, and sell each other's work as well as their own. Either of those guys are good folk.
 
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