Unkulele

Sambient

Sambient

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Jersey girl
http://unkulele.com/

I first spotted the wares on Etsy, followed by ebay, now on facebook.
I even saw a facebook message to Mim's Ukes which makes me wonder if that will be a venue for purchasing.

In any case, has anyone had hand-on experience with one of these yet? I'm very interested/curious.
If we've already discussed, I apologize. Search yielded no results.
 
Looks like a fake to me. The website has not even a proper site notice and the adress leads to this page.
 
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I had some email exchanges with them a couple of weeks ago in response to a question I sent them about their tenor sized ukes and the pickups they install in them. The response came quickly, was coherent, and included info that at the time they were offering the tenors for the same price as the standard size. Here was their response to my question about the pickups.

Me: Are the pickups in them piezo's under the bridge attached to the soundboard or are they under saddle type pickups?

Unkulele:
"Actually, the pickup is not a typical piezo although it is a transducer. We've never liked the sound of a piezo pickup in ukuleles, especially without a preamp or eq. So, we searched and researched and discovered a design that fits the uke perfectly. It's a magnetic transducer based on both vibration (like a piezo) and sound (like a microphone). It's the perfect mix. You don't need a pre-amp and get get sufficient volume alone. Of course with a preamp and eq you can dial in a particular sound, but our idea is to make our ukes not have to have a preamp. If you look at our videos you'll see we use cheap 10 or 15 watt solid state amps and get great sound. As for where the pickup is mounted, we have spent a considerable amount of time discovering the best place to mount it. It's got a magnet so it has some small weight to it. Therefore we put in a special place mounted to the back of the uke. We decided not to mount in underneath the soundboard because it actually caused some feedback when close to the amp and turned up too much and also we didn't want to mute the soundboard in anyway if you just play it acoustically. We will soon be uploading some new videos showing both the ukes as they sound just unplugged and then unplugged. There is one right now on our facebook and website that shows my nephew playing and acutally using the tele uke as a drum. Hope this helps. Our transducer is well rounded and perfectly matched frequency wise for ukes."
 
I saw the photo of Unk. He wears a proper mask, but I couldn't find anything at all on his website mentioning cheese. No melodicas either.
 
I love the look of them but a) they don't look tenor size to me, but I could EASILY be wrong and b) I'm not sure I'm digging the placement of the knob/plug on some of them.

Having said that...

I want one rather badly, if it IS a tenor...
 
How on my previous visits to his wares did I not notice that they're tenors. Deal breaker for me. I was looking for an electric soprano.
 
And for the record, I'd be willing to change the C to a K in my name, should Unkulele wish to sponsor! *grin*

Unkle Elvis... yeah... That kinda works!
 
Sizes and tonewood

Their ukes are concert and tenor size but size info was kind of buried on the site. The reverse firebird style tenor has been calling my name for a while now especially considering the price for a solid wood uke. What concerns me is the use of cedar for the neck. I've always thought of cedar as a softer wood and I'd be afraid of the neck warping. Haven't seen maple used as a soundboard material either, but as a hardwood I'm less concerned about that. I do like the look and sound though.
 
WhenDogsSing said:
Help me out. What is a proper site notice?
Click to expand...

General information about the publisher, including their name and address, telephone number or e-mail address, trade registry number, VAT number, and other information depending on the type of the company. While they are not mandatory under UK and US jurisdiction, I personally refuse to buy from vendors that do not provide a minimum of verifable information about themselves.
 
I think they do at least offer them in concert size.

Etsy page lists them as being in Gilbert, Arizona.

Contact info on the website:
Adress:

2537 E. Santa Rosa Dr.
Gilbert, AZ 85234

Email:
unkuleles@gmail.com

Phone:
(480)326.2483
 
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micromue said:
General information about the publisher, including their name and address, telephone number or e-mail address, trade registry number, VAT number, and other information depending on the type of the company. While they are not mandatory under UK and US jurisdiction, I personally refuse to buy from vendors that do not provide a minimum of verifable information about themselves.
Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch.
 
"I've always thought of cedar as a softer wood and I'd be afraid of the neck warping."

Spanish cedar is often used for necks and is well-accepted for that purpose.
 
saltytri said:
"I've always thought of cedar as a softer wood and I'd be afraid of the neck warping."

Spanish cedar is often used for necks and is well-accepted for that purpose.
Click to expand...

That's good to know. Thanks. I'll have to think harder about getting one of these then.
 
I like them & the website looks great! I say nice job
S.
 
micromue said:
Looks like a fake to me. The website has not even a proper site notice and the adress leads to this page.
Click to expand...


Your link is bad.....it is not the link for unkulele. Did you just google unkulele?
 
Somebody please get one to review. The workmanship is rather crude on these, but it could be a good start if the sound was there to do more finish work oneself and a bit of customization. If I wasn't so buried in unexpected bills and too many jobs trying to pay them at the moment, plus still having hand issues, I would try one. I would love to steampunk one up, they are halfway there already. And if it didn't sound so hot, I could hang it on the wall.
 
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