Deal on bamboo uke

Hey all,
I'm pretty new here and I haven't seen a "Hot Deals" thread, so I thought I'd put this here.

Musician's Friend has a deal on Cordoba bamboo ukes that looks interesting.

Here are the web addresses:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk-traditional-instruments/cordoba-25sb-soprano-ukulele

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk.../cordoba-25cb-concert-ukulele/h68048000002000

Maybe just a novelty uke, but for the price it would be hard to go too wrong. I ordered one of each and figured I keep the better one.

I tried searching the web for reviews, but there isn't much out there on these. If anyone has experience with these particular instruments or with bamboo ukes in general, I'd love to learn more.

I like the sustainability of bamboo and am curious as to how well it works on stringed instruments.

Cheers

Ukeeku did a good review of this, and wasnt thrilled with it.
Ive heard of a few folks that didnt dig the bamboo sound very much but the ukeeku article seemed to have issue with build quality not sound. Its a good price compared to previous retail though. Be interested to hear what you think when you get it. Heres a link to the review
http://ukeeku.com/2011/03/26/cordoba-25cb-paulele-kbus-side-by-side-full-review/

oldetymey said:

Ukeeku did a good review of this, and wasnt thrilled with it.
Ive heard of a few folks that didnt dig the bamboo sound very much but the ukeeku article seemed to have issue with build quality not sound. Its a good price compared to previous retail though. Be interested to hear what you think when you get it. Heres a link to the review
http://ukeeku.com/2011/03/26/cordoba-25cb-paulele-kbus-side-by-side-full-review/

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you have no idea how thrilled I am when people talk about my articles
Any who... I had issue with the fact that 2 of them split on me.
Great price, just be careful about humidity.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I saw Ukeeku's review when I did my initial web search and thought it was well written and informative. (Also, a similar version of the Panda joke is one of my favorites.)

I figure these are being blown out because they've been sitting in a warehouse for way too long. If they haven't split by now, they are probably going to be ok at my place. MF has a 30 day return policy, so there's little risk involved anyway.

I'll post my impressions when they arrive. I'm new to uke's, but I've been playing guitar for a while, so my opinions on sound quality should be taken with a grain of salt. I have a good eye for build quality though, and can let you guys know what I think about that and playability.

I'll surely do a setup on them both when they get here. I haven't ever had a guitar or uke that didn't need at least a tweak here or there. It amazes me that instrument builders don't do a better job with factory set-ups.

Cheers
Russ

samsquanch88 said:

Thanks for the feedback guys. I saw Ukeeku's review when I did my initial web search and thought it was well written and informative. (Also, a similar version of the Panda joke is one of my favorites.)

I figure these are being blown out because they've been sitting in a warehouse for way too long. If they haven't split by now, they are probably going to be ok at my place. MF has a 30 day return policy, so there's little risk involved anyway.

I'll post my impressions when they arrive. I'm new to uke's, but I've been playing guitar for a while, so my opinions on sound quality should be taken with a grain of salt. I have a good eye for build quality though, and can let you guys know what I think about that and playability.

I'll surely do a setup on them both when they get here. I haven't ever had a guitar or uke that didn't need at least a tweak here or there. It amazes me that instrument builders don't do a better job with factory set-ups.

Cheers
Russ

Click to expand...

The only bamboo uke I've played that sounded really good is a Tony Graziano uke. He's builder out of Santa Cruz and makes wonderful instruments. I really like the look of bamboo but I've gone through three of them that were absolute junk. Tony had one at the NorCal Ukulele Festival that looked beautiful and played even sweeter than it looked. Here's a link to his website. Check him out.

I agree with the other posters--I have never owned a bamboo uke, but I did play two of them at a store.

Deadwood

ukeeku said:

you have no idea how thrilled I am when people talk about my articles
Any who... I had issue with the fact that 2 of them split on me.
Great price, just be careful about humidity.

Click to expand...

It was a good article. I appreciated that you didnt let the failure of two ukes stop you from doing a fair comparison
Did they crack at a joint? Or in the actual wood? Hard to think humidity would play that much of a factor. Especially if youre watching it.

coolkayaker1 said:

I agree with the other posters--I have never owned a bamboo uke, but I did play two of them at a store.

Deadwood

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I remember when Tall Grass ukes blew out their bamboos for 50 bucks a crack I saw a fair number pop back up on the marketplace
Folks said the build quality was good but the sound just wasnt there. Never played a bamboo myself though. Anything I have is hearsay.

oldetymey said:

I remember when Tall Grass ukes blew out their bamboos for 50 bucks a crack I saw a fair number pop back up on the marketplace
Folks said the build quality was good but the sound just wasnt there. Never played a bamboo myself though. Anything I have is hearsay.

Click to expand...

Same here. I like the idea of using sustainable materials, but don't think I'd want bamboo for reasons like you mentioned.

Hey All,
Well, the two bamboo ukes showed up today. I'll be keeping the soprano and the concert is going back.

The good:

Neither had any cracks.

The soprano is really pretty nicely put together. Inside and outside are neat without excessive glue anywhere. It has an arched back that I think is pretty cool. The fretwork is pretty good. There was no fret sprout and the frets are level enough that there is no buzzing or dead spots. They're not perfect, but there is no need to do a level and crown. I rounded the fret ends and polished them up to a nice shine. The neck is straight with just a tiny bit of relief and the set up was actually pretty good too. I lowered the nut slots a bit, but did not have to touch the saddle. Nut and saddle are some kind of mystery plastic and will probably be replaced at some point.

The soprano sounds surprisingly good, too. I only have one other soprano to compare it to, a Pono AS. Side by side the Pono is a little richer/fuller sounding, but the Cordoba compares pretty well. The Cordoba may even have a tiny bit more sustain. Volume is pretty close between the two. The Cordoba has Aquilla's on it and I don't know what strings came on the Pono. They are clear and thicker than the Aquilla's and they sound great. (Wish I knew what they are so I could get some more.)


The Bad

The concert was pretty lousy. It was sloppy on the inside and had what appeared to be a repaired crack in the top. Not like the top had cracked and was fixed, but like the material had a crack that was filled when they were gluing all the pieces of bamboo together and then they proceded to make a uke top out of it. The frets were quite uneven and the 15th fret was very high and not fully seated. A fret level, crown and polish would have been a necessity had I wanted to keep it. But I did not want to keep it because it didn't sound good either. Dead and lifeless. Definitely worth the price of return shipping to get rid of that one.

The Ugly

These things look like cutting boards. It's kinda cool that it's made out of grass and bamboo is a great renewable resource and all, but I think a little dark, contrasting wood for the bridge and fretboard would make it a lot prettier. Although, a lady friend that stopped by while I was unpacking them really liked the appearance. Form your own opinion on the looks.

The Bottom Line

Bottom line for me is, these are hit and miss just like every other instrument I've ever played. Some are good. Some are great. Some just are. I'm glad I took a chance and ended up with a good one without spending too much. These two instruments were so different in nearly every way that they could have been made in two different factories.

Thanks for your review.

I'm expecting my Soprano any day (today?) now

I hope I have the good fortune you had with yours.

keep uke'in',

Thanks for taking the time for sharing your impressions! This is very informative. If you wanted to post your findings in the Reviews section I'm sure a lot of people would find it helpful! (And yes, that was an incredible deal! Glad you got one you like! I hope Uncle Rod likes his, too!)

OK, UPS just delivered the uke to my work/office.

huge box, but nice size soprano. First impression - light, loud, easy to tune.

That's about it for now, I have to leave I have a free birthday dinner at a local
restaurant (free because I'm on their mailing list) and I want to watch game 2 of
the women's college world series, softball championship! Go Sooners! Never thought
I'd say that, being a WA Huskie's fan, but I think they might deserve it. Actually,
both Oklahoma and Tennesee beat the Huskies. I missed all the action after the
9th inning of yesterday's game (had to teach a ukulele class... of all things ).

See ya!

keep uke'in', everyone.

Ha! I forgot to mention the huge box! I received two huge boxes. They could have sent me 6 or 8 of these things and not needed any more cardboard.

Uncle Rod,
I'd love to hear your impressions after you've had a chance to spend some time with your little blonde. I've really only ever played one other soprano (my Pono AS).

I think the Pono sounds great. It's loud without being brash. It has a warm, full and complex tone with good sustain. It was worlds above my first uke (a Lanikai CKC) in terms of volume, tone, and build quality.

I was honestly surprised at how well the Cordoba compared tone-wise. It is nearly as loud as the Pono and both are louder than the Lanikai concert. The differences in warmth and fullness could largely be the different strings.

I'm starting to think that I don't care for the Aquilla Nylgut strings very much even though the internets say I'm supposed to like them.

Any praise for the Cordoba only applies to the soprano. The concert that I received was pretty awful. It's already on it's way back to MF. Maybe that one was just a dud?

Cheers,
Russ

I've only spent a bit more time with the Bamboo (Blonde), but I really like it!

I did change the strings, no fault of the ones that came with it, I just like the looks of the Aurora Multi-colored strings.

It seemed to have good intonation and was very easy to play. I really like the 'arched' back like the Paulele and the Kala Travel series. Not so sure yet about the 'cutaway' section, however, that part of my other ukes take a beating from my fingernails (strumming) so perhaps by not having anything there... well, I'll see if I miss it (the cutaway section)

So far, my impressions are all positive. I've been conditioning it with my ToneRite since late last night and will probably leave it on until Saturday. My take on the ToneRite is with regard to getting the entire instrument vibrating as one unit instead of as several pieces of wood glued together. Placebo? perhaps, but I think I've had some success with 'mellowing out' some of my ukes using the ToneRite

keep uke'in',