kissing
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I refrained from posting this as I expected everything to resolve cleanly, but when my baritone Eleuke came back from the repair store with the strings put on it completely wrong, it pushed me over the edge
Basically, upon searching "Baritone Eleuke" on eBay, I came across a Chinese seller who had them for a very good price.
So I ordered it, and it arrived in about a week (which was surprisingly fast).
As soon as I opened up the package, and as I attempted to play it, something was terribly wrong. The strings were installed wrong.
What was supposed to be DGBE Baritone tuning came with the D and B string flipped around. How did this get through quality control It's also worth mentioning that the strings themselves were very old, the wound strings being in poor, oxidised state.
Nevertheless, thinking this was just a minor issue, I quickly switched the strings around and plugged it in.
And what do I find? The G string is ridiculously overpowered.
All the other strings sound relatively muted (especially the B and E string), but the G sounds like it went on steroids all by itself, distorting and shaking my amplifier.
There is even a sticker with some guy's signature on it acknowledging that it passed quality test. What exactly was tested? The strings were installed incorrectly, and the pickup was lousy.
I promptly contacted the eBay seller, who replied with great surprise and tried to offer easy solutions like "How about changing the strings to new ones? I'll refund $10 for cost of strings".
The eBay seller also recommended that I contact Philip Kwak, and showed me the email address.
I wrote the email explaining the story, but I never got a reply.
I asked for a refund to the eBay seller, but then he said I would have to ship it back to China via air parcel at my own expense, which will end up quite expensive for me..
So I opted to try to have it repaired on my side and took it to the music store. (I took it to the store, because in the past I've attempted to fix Eleuke's pickup issues myself, and failed after many frustrating hours).
The folks at the store were surprised at how grossly loud the G string was on its own. But they said it should be something they can fix, and I also asked them to replace the current strings with some new Aquila baritone strings (DGBE) after they were done.
I negotiated with the eBay seller a "reasonable*" partial refund to cover part of the repair costs.
Anyway, today I got it back from the store and brought it straight home (I really should've checked at the store, but I was in a hurry, and they were about to close)... to find that they installed the new strings completely wrong, and the strings themselves were wrong... D:
They must have gotten the Baritone GCEA set by mistake, and attempted to tune it with the thickest string at the 4th, not knowing that this is a re-entrant set *facepalm* But the situation was kind of hard to believe.. surely they would have noticed that these are nothing like the strings that were originally on it...? Just goes to show that there isn't a great understanding of ukes, let alone baritones.
My poor poor baritone Eleuke - seems to be the most misunderstood instrument. It was strung wrong at the factory, and then strung wrong again at the repair shop. Hence the title "bad luck Eleuke".
Luckily I had a spare Martin Clear Fluorocarbon baritone DGBE set at home, which I used to tune it up. And what do I find? The G string is still a bit overpowering Not as noticeable as before, but still there. I then spent a few hours jiggling the position of the saddle to find the best compromise.
At the moment, it's still not perfect (the wound strings still overpower a bit), but I think it's as close as I can get it to be balanced (it may just be due to wound strings being thicker and powerful than plain strings).
But overall, I gotta say, I'm pretty dissatisfied with Eleuke this time round. I had thought the horror days of Eleuke's unbalanced pickups was put behind when they switched factories, but it seems duds like this still get through.
Ah well, I'll make do for now. Not worth sending back due to shipping.
Lesson to take from this - buyer beware! Only buy Eleukes from sellers who are actually familiar with the products they sell, do their own testing and setup (like Mim).
I would not buy an Eleuke directly from China ever again... or any Eleuke for that matter. This is the second Eleuke I've purchased that was a dud.
My Risa electric ukes have never had quality issues like this.
Upon changing the strings on this Eleuke, one of the tuners have gone bad already, feeling really stiff as though the cog wheel inside has become uneven. I changed the strings on my Risa electric today as well, and the tuners feel as smooth and reliable as the first day I bought it.
*-in the point of view of the seller
Basically, upon searching "Baritone Eleuke" on eBay, I came across a Chinese seller who had them for a very good price.
So I ordered it, and it arrived in about a week (which was surprisingly fast).
As soon as I opened up the package, and as I attempted to play it, something was terribly wrong. The strings were installed wrong.
What was supposed to be DGBE Baritone tuning came with the D and B string flipped around. How did this get through quality control It's also worth mentioning that the strings themselves were very old, the wound strings being in poor, oxidised state.
Nevertheless, thinking this was just a minor issue, I quickly switched the strings around and plugged it in.
And what do I find? The G string is ridiculously overpowered.
All the other strings sound relatively muted (especially the B and E string), but the G sounds like it went on steroids all by itself, distorting and shaking my amplifier.
There is even a sticker with some guy's signature on it acknowledging that it passed quality test. What exactly was tested? The strings were installed incorrectly, and the pickup was lousy.
I promptly contacted the eBay seller, who replied with great surprise and tried to offer easy solutions like "How about changing the strings to new ones? I'll refund $10 for cost of strings".
The eBay seller also recommended that I contact Philip Kwak, and showed me the email address.
I wrote the email explaining the story, but I never got a reply.
I asked for a refund to the eBay seller, but then he said I would have to ship it back to China via air parcel at my own expense, which will end up quite expensive for me..
So I opted to try to have it repaired on my side and took it to the music store. (I took it to the store, because in the past I've attempted to fix Eleuke's pickup issues myself, and failed after many frustrating hours).
The folks at the store were surprised at how grossly loud the G string was on its own. But they said it should be something they can fix, and I also asked them to replace the current strings with some new Aquila baritone strings (DGBE) after they were done.
I negotiated with the eBay seller a "reasonable*" partial refund to cover part of the repair costs.
Anyway, today I got it back from the store and brought it straight home (I really should've checked at the store, but I was in a hurry, and they were about to close)... to find that they installed the new strings completely wrong, and the strings themselves were wrong... D:
They must have gotten the Baritone GCEA set by mistake, and attempted to tune it with the thickest string at the 4th, not knowing that this is a re-entrant set *facepalm* But the situation was kind of hard to believe.. surely they would have noticed that these are nothing like the strings that were originally on it...? Just goes to show that there isn't a great understanding of ukes, let alone baritones.
My poor poor baritone Eleuke - seems to be the most misunderstood instrument. It was strung wrong at the factory, and then strung wrong again at the repair shop. Hence the title "bad luck Eleuke".
Luckily I had a spare Martin Clear Fluorocarbon baritone DGBE set at home, which I used to tune it up. And what do I find? The G string is still a bit overpowering Not as noticeable as before, but still there. I then spent a few hours jiggling the position of the saddle to find the best compromise.
At the moment, it's still not perfect (the wound strings still overpower a bit), but I think it's as close as I can get it to be balanced (it may just be due to wound strings being thicker and powerful than plain strings).
But overall, I gotta say, I'm pretty dissatisfied with Eleuke this time round. I had thought the horror days of Eleuke's unbalanced pickups was put behind when they switched factories, but it seems duds like this still get through.
Ah well, I'll make do for now. Not worth sending back due to shipping.
Lesson to take from this - buyer beware! Only buy Eleukes from sellers who are actually familiar with the products they sell, do their own testing and setup (like Mim).
I would not buy an Eleuke directly from China ever again... or any Eleuke for that matter. This is the second Eleuke I've purchased that was a dud.
My Risa electric ukes have never had quality issues like this.
Upon changing the strings on this Eleuke, one of the tuners have gone bad already, feeling really stiff as though the cog wheel inside has become uneven. I changed the strings on my Risa electric today as well, and the tuners feel as smooth and reliable as the first day I bought it.
*-in the point of view of the seller
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