WHACK , CHOP , SAW , BUZZ , SAND , GRIND , TWIST , BEND , PULL , PUSH , FUSS AND MUSS !
Please allow me to explain . . . Appears this is a goos spot to reflect my experience with my 1st Uke which also is the Lanikai LU21 CE . Bought it about two plus weeks ago .
As an old Blues Harmonica player that has hung up his harp belt from a reasonbly ling stint of big stage live venues , I've been real curius of Ukes for some time . After many months of jabbing poking ans proding about the internet looking to learn enough about Ukes to makes a decent stab at purchasing one , off I go to a local music store .
In knowing that no matter what , purchasing any instrument is far smarter of you can get your hands on it rather than ordering online . I well learned over the years from buying , selling , trading and working in a music store years back , that regardless of the instrument and how much it cost and or what the name brand is , you'll often find high end name brand instruments sounding lousey when a cheaper one will blow it doors . No matter the model or otherwise . Each unit will have it's own personality . Which is the very reason I wouldn't even ever bother to commission a custom unit before it was made . Picking one up and doing a solid over view and playing it is the ONLY true test . REGARDLESS of the other factors .
With all that said , yes , my 1st Uke was also the Lanikai LU21CE as well . I walked into a local shop closest to my home ( which is where I like to start any purchase to support my own as best I can . Firehouse Music in Conyers Georgia , to my surprise must have had 100 Ukes in house . Ranging from about $39 to around $300 . All produtcion models of course . A decent flavor mix for my needs . They had about 5 brands .
My mind as I though was set , was looking for a baratone and hopefully mahogany . I had NO idea how to play a Uke but I strummed and plinked in there for better than 2 hours at nothing but the Ukes . I kept returning to the LU21CE simply because of the way it projected and how warm it sounded . It literally sounded better than the rest . It was real loud , warm and was the easiest player .
I mentioned I was a bules harp player by musicianship , but I also play a little acoustic guitar and have bought and sold countless of them over the years . I've been known to be capable of doing pretty nice setups as well . I can only expect that ANY stringed instrument is nothing more than a blank canvass for what it needs to be to meet personal tastes for setup and ability to be setup . But natrual sound is one thing there is little to nothing that can be adjusted other than in the setup with bridge saddles and string quality .
Never the less , all that to say this that I had in common with the person that started this thread . Mine sounds wonderful unplugged . Even the guys and passer by's in the store commented on how nice it sounded above the rest . I brought it home and just played and played the thing for a couple weeks learning chords and pflat picking it . Over the two weeks , little nuances showed their face as in all wood stringed instruments . Trust me , I am picky about quality sound even for the buck .
The action was set for a gorilla , WAY HIGH . No worries , I've never had a stringed instrument I didn't wear the bone saddle to a nub getting the action down little by little without goofing up intonation or action . This one was real bad . The neck is real straight and tight , real well aligned and no bow in it at all . I was amazed for the money ( $ 149 ) the neck was so good . The pickup sounded awful plugged into my practice amp . Man it sucked bad . The A string was about 1/3 as loud and rattled and buzzed bigtime . The thing has 10 miles of pickup cable wound inside it for sure . GEE WHIZ ! But I am sure that is all about cutting building costs and using the same kit to assmble multiple units . Face it . it is a $149 Uke . Not $1499 .
I took the bridge saddle out and began to slowly bring it down . It's been out several times already and will be out again . I'll work that silly thing to death before I hit dead on . But thats how I am on saddles . Anyway . About the third time I had the saddle out , I notice that the clear plastic sheathing on the copper braid of the pickup didn't extend all the way to the end of the copper braid . This allowed the bridge saddle to NOT make even and good contact all the way across the saddle . Leaving me with little to no contact with the copper wire . I pulled gently on the copper braid to bring it out of the body further and snipped the tip up to the platic sheathing edge . VOLIE' . great contact now all the way across the saddle . Problem solved . The next time Ihave the saddle out , I will most likely just strip it down of the strings and investigate just how much of all that extra pickup wire I might be able to cut out of there . Yes , it tends to rattle a bit if I strum real hard while amplified but not noticable when acoustic . I don't need it and if I can get rid of it without doing damage , out it will go .
Now . As I was really taking a super close look at the setup , I was measuring and checking level on the frets ........
This is where my eyebrows went way way up . As I was sliding my flat edge from sound hole to head stock , I could feel some drag about the 7th up the 4th fret . In close examination , it became very obvious that the lower section fo 3 frets had been worked pretty hard . They had been filed down very crudely and never rounded correctly . I for sure thought I had somehow actually bought a used Uke . I've never seen any fret work like that except from the result of something like where a kid tried his 1st setup and failed . They were filed near flat . And rough .
I called the shop and they said to bring it to them . They looked at it and said for sure it was a new unit . I do trust these guys for sure . They are good folk . Never the less . They are going to ship another unit in 2 days and if I want that one I can swap out . Personally , I can work the frets and get them pretty good myself with little to no worry . Typically on most nay product I'd swap in a second . But even with the few minor details I am having to deal with , something tells me I am gonna keep this one because it sounds so good . Even to be a low end learner unit .
The one other thing that I had to deal with is that the fret board seem so so dry . A bit of Dunlop 65 Lemon Oil took care of that no problem .
Again and with all that said . SETUP SETUP SETUP ! All wood stringed instruments need it pretty bad . I've got a early 80's Alvarez 5230 Dreadbnought Acoustic guitar that is a low priced yet well made mahogany . Guys with really high end Martins , Tacoma's , and Taylor's raise their eyebrows when they hear my basic Alavarez outsing their big dollar boxes .
Qulity wood , a coincedence meeting of components falling into place to make wonderful sound and , SETUP , SETUP , SETUP makes my Mustache Model Alvarez punch right on through the big guns . I just love it when people with the high end boxes want to play my Mustache .
But yes . No more than I know about Ukes in my two week career with them , my disappointments in ANY unit are made easier to deal with knowing the one simple comination of facts that make a good insturment have little to do with who makes it in most cases . Yes ! I do know certain woods and certain makers are fo much finer qulity on a percentage basis . But I am one to believe that being frugal and wise are a great team .
My guess is that after you get it set up and get past caring that you didn't get a $2,000 Uke for a bang up price , you'll love it like the next one . Again , acoustically , mine rocks unplugged to above my expectations of a cheap instrument . but it took me some time to really get it right . Yet I am still working on it .
I'm an abslute NOOB and Uke moron , but I am all to glad I had some other wood/stringed instrument experience under my belt to ease the pain of being cheap . lol lol
RAGZDADDY
aka ~ " ONE LICK WESLEY "
