Need some re-assurance

Ok, so, I haven't posted here before, but I have on occasion read some threads.

I originally learned the Ukulele in the island nation of Samoa, I reveived a Leolani brand soprano for my birthday, and later upgraded to a concert sized mahogany by the same brand - it's such an amazing instrument - sounds better than the makalas and other ukes in the same price I find at guitar center.

At one point, I owned an ibanez exotic rosewood acoustic electric, but it had a dull, muted sound, so I returned it.

Here's my conundrum, and my plea:

I have known of Eleuke brand electric ukuleles for awhile now, but it wasn't ever in my budget, and i'm very much an amateur player, so I never really looked at them.

Well, my wife just ordered me one of the new 2014 eleukes(a tenor sized one) for my birthday(this past monday). It's not here yet, but she says she emailed eleuke and they responded saying it'd ship on the 15th of september...

So i go back online and read about eleukes - youtube videos make me excited - they look (and sound) amazing.

But here on the forum, I guess most people don't really like 'em at all and complain a lot about really low quality. And this worries me greatly.

Are they really so bad? Are they inherently bad, or is it just a quality-control issue where you can either get a good one, or a bad one, if you're unlucky?

Any information would be appreciated, and don't mince your words - let me have it if I'm in for a major disappointment...

I would email MIM as she is (was?) a big distributor of them. I am not sure if buying direct from Eleuke is ok or not. She should know. She sets up all of her ukes before shipping them out.
http://mimsukes.com/

I am living in HK where population density is ridiculously high and I dont want to disturb my neighbour as well as my family. Therefore I purchased an Eleuke CCJ 100 SuHP for about 120USD from a local music store. When played alone, it is really quiet(10db lower than my Mahalo Soprano) . When I plug in my earphone and play, I have to say I am not impressed. There is a buzzing sound when I play the C string, it sounds like my earphone cannot withstand such a high power. However it works well with an amp.

I am now frequnently playing with it and does not plan to change because of its cool looking and functionality, especially the ability to played quietly. But my advise is, dont expect too much.

I have gotten the impression that the quality of Eleukes has been a little up and down of late. If you get a good one, you'll likely be happy, unless it needs a little set up work. They have a unique sound that I love. All you can do is wait and see. Perhaps, with the 2014 models, they have cured their problems.

Hello Doebringer,

I don't own an Eleuke, but I have read internet reviews once or twice. People usually will only put out the effort to post about something they feel strongly about. It is likely there are many people out there generally satisfied but too busy to post saying "I am basically satisfied".

Aloha and welcome to UU, glad you joined us.

Check on the return policy. If you don't like it then send it back. If it isn't your liking and you really want a solid body check out the Teton and call Mim http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/f...over-Eleuke-It-is-Teton-Time!&highlight=teton

Who knows, you may love it so don't "fret" until you get to play it.

Keep us posted

Thanks for the insight. I will be sure let you all know as soon as I receive it.

Igorthebarbarian is right about emailing Mim. She will give you the most honest expert assessment and won't steer you wrong.

Is the Eleuke you're getting a steel string model? I believe that, because of increasing problems with quality control, Eleuke has stopped making the nylon-stringed versions that were so deservedly popular when the quality was consistently good, but they continue to make the steels.

Fingers crossed that your gift is flawless. However, if it has any problems and you can return it, buy a Teton nylon-stringed solid-body electric tenor uke from Mim. I did so a few weeks ago and am head over heels. I play it in GarageBand through my Mac (via an iRigHD audio interface); or through an amp with effects pedals; or in various guitar amp emulation and effects pedals apps on my iPad (also via the iRigHD). I’d never done anything like this before in my life, and now I can produce all kinds of amazing sounds and record multiple tracks. It’s wild!

I, too, had watched just about every Eleuke YouTube video out there and wanted one desperately until I started hearing the more-recent bad news. So I was relieved when I heard about the Tetons and delighted when I got mine. It sounds as good or better than the Eleukes, and it’s very well made . . . and expertly set up by Mim. Oh, and nicely affordable, too.

Doebringer said:

Well, my wife just ordered me one of the new 2014 eleukes(a tenor sized one) for my birthday(this past monday).

Click to expand...

Never forget what a sweet wife you have.

itsme said:

Never forget what a sweet wife you have.

Click to expand...

Exactly this :agree:
Even if it's a dog, tell your sweet wife it's the sweetest thing she's ever done for you!

As it happens, I do have an Eleuke clone. It's branded Clearwater, but apparently there were some marketing/distribution issues in the UK, hence the name change. It's a concert-sized Thinline Telecaster lookey-likey. I found it about 3 years ago in a local pawnbrokers. Here's my story:

When I tried it in the store, it also buzzed on the 'C' string, so I got another 20% knocked off the price. A little talcum powder in the 'C' groove on the nut, topped off with a drop of super-glue applied from the tip of a cocktail stick, cured that.

After about six months, the electrics fried, unfortunately; probably because I put in a replacement battery the wrong way round while the uke was still connected to a powered-up amp - but I was able to continue to use it by by-passing the circuit board and connecting the pick-up straight to the output jack. I lost the headphone socket and on-board controls as a result, but I have a mini-fx processor with a headphone socket, and that served as a work-around for a while. Eventually I was able to source another PCB [printed circuit board] to replace the one I'd fried - one with clearer markings on which way to insert the batteries! - and it's been fine ever since.

Here's the moral:

Unlike all-acoustic ukes, electric ukes have two areas where they can fall down: the setup; and the electrics. Set-up problems are generally a matter of fettling either the nut or the saddle. In my case, all I needed to do to fix the problem I had was to raise the action on the C-string by a millimetre, in the manner I described above. If you have problems in this regard (fret buzz, intonation etc), either come back here, or find a local luthier to sort them out for you (it really won't/shouldn't cost that much, $20 or so, if you do go to a luthier to have it set-up properly).

Electric problems can themselves be of two types. One is that a component fails. There's generally no solution to that other than replace the PCB. No biggie, just a few screws and a dab of solder to connect the pickup, the battery terminals, and the jack(s) to the PCB. Shouldn't take more than half-an-hour, if necessary. The problem is finding a replacement PCB. My uke was an old model, the distributors had gone bust, and I just had to wait until one turned up. Even so, don't forget, I could still get a sound out of it.
The other component issue is that the pots [potentiometers, aka volume & tone controls] can get greasy after a few years, so that just like an old radio, the volume starts crackling and cuts out as you turn it down. If that happens, giving the contacts a quick squirt with some switch cleaner, some WD40, or even some lighter fluid (trust me on this one, it's really effective, and 'cos it's so volatile, it evaporates in seconds), will sort that out.

The second problem is that, when amplified, one string is considerably louder than the others. That could be the problem Raygret's reporting, (though if it is, he should experience it also when playing through an amp). That's caused by the pickup not sitting absolutely flat under the saddle. The saddle transmits the vibrations of the strings to the pickup, and if one string is pressing harder against the saddle than the others, that string will end up sounding louder.
The solution is to remove the strings and saddle (which will just lift out) and make sure the pickup is sitting absolutely flat in the saddle seat. If it's not, it might be that too much of the pickup (it's a perfectly flexible piece of wiring) has been pushed up into the saddle seat. Make sure there's a slight gap (say, 0.5mm) between the tip of the pickup and the wall of the seat (the thickness of a card will do). If the pickup tip's not touching the wall of the saddle seat, lift the pickup out of the way and make sure the surface of the seat the saddle sits in is perfectly flat. On another (electro-acoustic) uke I have, I used a small jeweller's screwdriver as a kind of chisel to do smooth out the surface of the saddle seat. Also, check that the underneath of the saddle is perfectly smooth.
But if the surface of the saddle seat is not completely smooth, as a first resort go back to our old chum the talcum powder, before you start attacking your uke with chisels! Sprinkle no more than a millimetre of talc along the length of the saddle seat to serve as bedding and lay the pickup down on that before replacing the strings and saddle. Hopefully that will fix the problem without having to resort to more drastic measures.

Or take it to a local luthier to sort out!

Hope you have none of these problems and that your wife's present is all that she desires it to be for you. But if there are any issues hope the above shows there're all easily remediable.

I have an ele uke...it sounds good plugged in, but when it not, it's not too loud...Nothing wrong with them, I just prefer a accoustic uke better....
I have not played mine in 2 years... enuff said

There were quality control issues for a while (mostly with the electronics) - I honestly don't know if they've been fixed or not. I have a concert that I bought a couple of years ago for quiet practice when I was having to go into the office a lot. I haven't used it other than that not because there is anything wrong with it but because I have acoustic ukes that are much more fun to play.

John

Thanks again to the advice and kind words - particularly the advice for familial harmony - don't worry, I do my best to let my wife know every chance I get how much I appreciate her, and with HER birthday coming up, I have a chance to really make it up to her. She doesn't know I'm posting here, so I guess I can tell you guys that whenever we talk about musical instruments, usually related to my classical guitar studies, she mentions she's always wanted to learn to play the mandolin.

In a month or so, she'll get her chance

Anyway, back to the eleuke - In particular I want to offer gratitude for the advice on how to fix potential issues. It eases my mind to know that even if there is some issue that it won't be too difficult to sort out.

To respond to other questions: It's a nylon stringed tenor size, mahogany body eleuke with a circular hole offset from being in the traditional place. It came down to either that one or the one with F-holes. This one won out because on my current uke, the action is so low my fingernail sometimes hits the bottom edge of the fretboard if I strum too energetically, and as this model's fretboard is cut out under the G and C strings, it will prevent that issue.

I don't like their steel stringed variants because of the funky altered tuning they use, I heard they don't sound so good when you tune them back to good ole G-C-E-A. Eventually, when I'm a wealthier man, I'll probably end up getting one the Risa Les Paul solidbody steel string ukes.

As for the issue with the electronics, near as I can tell Phillip, the owner of Eleuke brand, switched manufacturers of the electronics. His website mentions that the new 2014 models have a different, more flexible wire pickup which he advertises as being better able to get a good balance of volume from each string. Furthermore, the mp3 input and headphone output are no longer available - this is evidence supporting my theory that he switched manufacturers completely, probably as a result of shoddy quality control that existed before.

As for physical setup problems that may arise, I know a few people who can help set up nut/saddle/action and dress frets if need be. So my only worry is for the electronics - but I'll be sure to let you guys know with a full review once I get it. Yeah, I still don't have it - apparently manufacture has been slower than Phillip would like - but he responds with assurance, and quickly, I might add, to any and all emails we send him. So far, he's had good customer service.

I ordered straight from his website, eleuke.com. Paid $260 even - free shipping, no taxes, etc.

Much as everyone loves the tetons - I like the silhouette of the eleuke better, even though they're almost the same. Also, I'm not much a fan of the stripe on the Tetons. Maybe I'm being too superficial. But we'll see. For now, it's not productive for me to think about the tetons - we'll cross that bridge if we come to it. For now - just keeping my fingers crossed that the new eleukes are a step up from what they were, or simply that they're as good as the good ones were before and that bad ones are a thing of the past.

-Doe