Bitten by a flea

bamboofrog

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Well after much deliberation, forum searching site surfing and uke trying, I have taken the plunge and ordered a flea. Just fell in love with the slightly quirky design and seduced by an instrument that offers pretty much hassle free ownership.

It should be with me for early next week and I can't wait!:D
 
Great choice. You won't be disappointed!
 
Very good choice. I had a soprano flea and regret selling it. Now I have a tenor flea. Play it all the time. The no worries take anywhere ukes. You will be pleased. I preferred living water strings on it, and I am trying some PhD's on it in the next week or two. Just a unwound low G experiment, but enjoy the living water fluorocarbon strings.
 
Great choice.

I had my doubts as I thought they were a bit overpriced for what they were, but ordered one anyway and I have no regrets. It's my regular take anywhere instrument. It attracts quite a lot of comment, overwhelmingly favourable both on the looks and the tone.

+1 for living water strings, btw. I changed the Aquilas mine came with for Living Water strings and, for me, it transformed the instrument. Tones down the brightness and gives it a mellowness that I really like.
 
Cool, sounds like there are a lot of satisfied flea owners, so I have high hopes.

Thanks for the heads up on the living water strings I'll get a couple of sets ordered.
 
Cool, sounds like there are a lot of satisfied flea owners, so I have high hopes.

Thanks for the heads up on the living water strings I'll get a couple of sets ordered.
I have both (see sig below) and I am just another one. The factory Aquila strings were not bad at all (as they are on almost any laminate uke), but LWS improved the sound significantly.

BTW: which size did you order?
 
Give us details! What color did you get? What size? PegHeds? Plastic or wood fretboard? I love my concert lagoon Flea and have waxed eloquent on it more times than probably anyone wants to hear. It's traveled with me to every uke fest and retreat I've been too and doesn't seem to mind dry airplane overheads or sandy beaches.

Hope you love yours too!

Nix
 
It's a standard Soprano Banana (aka yellow) Flea, so it looks a bit more like a bumblebee than a flea.:D
 
Excellent!

I recently got a Tie Dye Concert Flea for my 50th birthday. Looking forward to pictures and a review of your Bumblebee Flea!


Scooter
 
Here's another vote of confidence for the Flea. Mine was worth every penny I paid for it. I've kept aquilas on mine - and love the sound. In my limited experience, I sound better with aquilas for strumming than Living Water. However, the Living Waters are superb for fingerpicking.
 
I have two soprano Fleas. A Natural finish with Aquilas, and a Mango (orange) with Worth Browns. They are really nice, and not as "fussy" as some of my other ukes. I usually keep one of them sitting out next to the computer. They're also great for camping and road trips. And they actually sound very nice!
 
I love my concert neck Camp Flea. I know you will enjoy yours too.

–Lori
 
Seems like there are a lot of people who are very happy Flea owners, can't wait for it to arrive (why does the post always seem so slow when you are waiting on a delivery).

In the mean time my daughter has been expressing a lot of interest in learning an instrument and has been playing with a very old uke that belongs to my wife, sounds awful and in need of a lot of TLC (the uke not the wife), so just picked her up a makala dolphin to start learning on. Sounds surprisingly good for £30 and gives me something to practice on as well while I wait for my new toy;)
 
2 Flukes, 2 Fleas

I have two Flukes (both concert) and two Fleas (one soprano, one concert).

I have D'Addario J92 Pro-Arte concert strings on the red Cowboy Fluke and Hilo Black Nylon concert strings on the Island design custom Fluke (these were the kind of strings that originally came on it, and after trying Aquila strings on it, I went back to the Hilos). I think Aquilas have too bright and treble-y a sound for the Flukes, so that's why I don't have them on mine.

On the Denim Flea (concert) I have Kala Red concert strings (love the sound!), and at present I still have the Aquila New Nylgut strings on the grape soprano Flea that came on it. Not happy with the overly-bright sound, so I'm thinking of going to something else at some point.

I LOVE my Fleas and Flukes! I'm just picky about strings. :p

CountryMouse
 
I have two Fleas (one concert, one soprano-see below) and I LOVE them. They are my go to's. I have Aquilas on them at present. I will agree, waiting on the mail is the hardest thing. Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the Flea (and Fluke)-bitten world.
-joe
 
It's arrived!

At last my flea has arrived. I will give a detailed review if anyone wants it but everyone knows the spec of the basic flea.

20130109_135507.jpg


First impressions are really promising, I was surprised by the volume and clarity from this little beast. Beautiful clear chiming notes, I wasn't expecting it to sounds quite so mellow with the plastic back.

I've been playing around with a Makala dolphin and have been very impressed but the flea blows it out of the water in every way, although to be fair the flea does cost 5 times as much as the dolphin.

The yellow colour is really nice, more muted than I expected, very similar to a Gibson TV yellow.

The plastic fretboard feels very comfortable, although the plastic frets are very low which feels very strange. I'm used to pushing my fingers up to metal guitar frets on steel strings so this is probably just me and something i'll get used to. The tuners seem very accurate and tight.

Would I buy it again if it got broken (not sure how it would break, it certainly seems solid), I think I probably would.

It is my first ukulele and although perhaps expensive for a beginners instrument, it certainly encourages you to pick it up and play.

I think me and my Flea are going to be very happy together:cool:
 
Congratulations!

It looks great next to your Dolphin. I forgot to mention before that in addition to my Tie-Dye Concert Flea I have a Koa Tenor Fluke and a Firefly Banjo. My wife has started thinking that she might need an Aloha Red Flea!


Enjoy,

Scooter
 
I'm used to pushing my fingers up to metal guitar frets on steel strings so this is probably just me and something i'll get used to.
You definitely need a lot less pressure when fretting the ukulele; press just hard enough to get a clear tone, not more.
 
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