Hey Aldrine, Just got an Emilio Lumanog Uke

cs1x

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So my dad just called me and told me that he bought me a Lumanog uke from the Philippines. I won't be able to see it till Thursday. I asked him what size it was but the store told him that they only had one size. Does Emilio make only one size? I am hoping it is a tenor. It would be SWEET if it looked like your custom Lumanog. Just wondering what kind of strings did you use on your Lumanog? Also, how was the quality and sound of it? My dad also got me a guitar from Lumanog from before and it sounds pretty good just hoping his ukes are too. Thanks.
 
So my dad just called me and told me that he bought me a Lumanog uke from the Philippines. I won't be able to see it till Thursday. I asked him what size it was but the store told him that they only had one size. Does Emilio make only one size? I am hoping it is a tenor. It would be SWEET if it looked like your custom Lumanog. Just wondering what kind of strings did you use on your Lumanog? Also, how was the quality and sound of it? My dad also got me a guitar from Lumanog from before and it sounds pretty good just hoping his ukes are too. Thanks.

not to break ya or nothing those are basically souvineer...not worth it but if your able to get to work well then that would be great
 
u never know tho cebuanos make some really good acoustic instruments, my lyric soprano(it's the one on the left in my avatar pic) is from cebu and yeah it sounds quite good for only 15 bucks. I doubt the ukulele that u got is quite to the standard of Aldrine's, but i'm sure it'll sound good jus cuz of the origin of lumanog and his lutheir skills in making guitars. But no doubt ur guitar will be great. And Aldrine uses, hopefully i'm correct Aquila Nylguts cuz it did seem like a white string he was using when he did his re-string video. But overall, ur lucky dude to get a lumanog anything, nuke told me he's one of the best guitar luthiers in PI. Despite my last visit to philippines was a mess, I'd go back just to get me some acoustics. :D
 
aldrine's uke was specially made just for him by emilio. the other ukes you find there that are already built are usually souvenirs. but you never know. their might be a market there now for some decent stuff.

as far as the quality of lumanog guitars, i have never read any raving reviews, but the local consensus is that they are still of great quality. gosh, its hard for me to put out what i wanna say without almost bashing my people haha.

im sure emilio knows what he is doing. and if he put the time and the effort into building an instrument especially for you, it would turn out awesome. but from what ive read, the guitars that are for sale in the shop arent that great, considering what you can buy stateside for just about the same price.

and from what i understand from aldrine's story, he doesnt usually make quality ukes, but when he heard aldrine play, he was compelled to make him one. i need to go back to the philippines. its been too long. you best believe, a custom uke is in my itinerary.
 
u never know tho cebuanos make some really good acoustic instruments, my lyric soprano(it's the one on the left in my avatar pic) is from cebu and yeah it sounds quite good for only 15 bucks. I doubt the ukulele that u got is quite to the standard of Aldrine's, but i'm sure it'll sound good jus cuz of the origin of lumanog and his lutheir skills in making guitars. But no doubt ur guitar will be great. And Aldrine uses, hopefully i'm correct Aquila Nylguts cuz it did seem like a white string he was using when he did his re-string video. But overall, ur lucky dude to get a lumanog anything, nuke told me he's one of the best guitar luthiers in PI. Despite my last visit to philippines was a mess, I'd go back just to get me some acoustics. :D

yeh true maybe a few adjustments but like i was just cruising around they said the guitars are very good but then the ukes they didnt like...ionno its on how you feel and how it sounds to you...prolly new strings can do the work and maybe new tuners everything should be fine let me know how it works out when you get it ohh and the size i wanna get a good tenor size...
 
aldrine's uke was specially made just for him by emilio. the other ukes you find there that are already built are usually souvenirs. but you never know. their might be a market there now for some decent stuff.

as far as the quality of lumanog guitars, i have never read any raving reviews, but the local consensus is that they are still of great quality. gosh, its hard for me to put out what i wanna say without almost bashing my people haha.

im sure emilio knows what he is doing. and if he put the time and the effort into building an instrument especially for you, it would turn out awesome. but from what ive read, the guitars that are for sale in the shop arent that great, considering what you can buy stateside for just about the same price.

and from what i understand from aldrine's story, he doesnt usually make quality ukes, but when he heard aldrine play, he was compelled to make him one. i need to go back to the philippines. its been too long. you best believe, a custom uke is in my itinerary.

How much are his instruments anyway? My wife said she would buy me one when she goes back.
 
There's a guitar company in cebu who also makes custom ukes. Here are sample pictures (left is tenor, right is concert). I'm thinking of ordering a custom tenor myself. The owner of these ukes said they sound very good and they only cost him less than $100.

I have a friend who lives there who's in a Hawaiian Reggae band. I'm gonna ask him to check it out. Yeah they love Hawaiian Reggae in Cebu. Ekolu is pretty popular there. You can hear Ekolu tracks played on the radio. Lukela even did an interview on Monster radio in Cebu.


516854114_d31ea2a985.jpg
452101148_56d0d22098.jpg
 
There's a guitar company in cebu who also makes custom ukes. Here are sample pictures (left is tenor, right is concert). I'm thinking of ordering a custom tenor myself. The owner of these ukes said they sound very good and they only cost him less than $100.

I have a friend who lives there who's in a Hawaiian Reggae band. I'm gonna ask him to check it out. Yeah they love Hawaiian Reggae in Cebu. Ekolu is pretty popular there. You can hear Ekolu tracks played on the radio. Lukela even did an interview on Monster radio in Cebu.


516854114_d31ea2a985.jpg
452101148_56d0d22098.jpg

ummmm. wow. thats some pretty hot fecal matter for less than $100. too bad im from cavite and dont even know anyone in cebu. i would have to buy several of them! hahaa how do you order?
 
As far as the Lumanog ukulele's go, everyone is correct. The regular ones sold at the shop are just souvenirs. Emilio's intentions of making ukuleles were to sell as a toy. The lumanog that I have now was custom built and I told exactly what I wanted on it. That was 8 years ago. I dunno how his outlook on ukulele is now. He might have changed it due to the growing popularity of it. He might've not.

Although if you travel there and have about a couple weeks; you can probably talk to him. Or ask any of the sales associates to speak with him about making a custom one. I think mine took about a couple of weeks to make. I told him that I needed it rushed because I was only visiting from Hawaii.

I'm a fan of small businesses. I wanted to support the cat and it turned out that he knew what he was doing. He was experimental but he did an awesome job. My advice would be to keep the ukulele regardless of how it sounds. See if you can tweak it a bit (change strings etc.) it's still an ukulele from one of the most famous guitar makers in the Philippines.
 
Hey Nuke, I'm originally from Cavite City myself. Nice to meet a fellow Caviteno.

Yeah, that's the difficult part since the company is in Cebu. I'll keep you posted.

ummmm. wow. thats some pretty hot fecal matter for less than $100. too bad im from cavite and dont even know anyone in cebu. i would have to buy several of them! hahaa how do you order?
 
my auntie just emailed me the pics of the uke. I think it is a tenor. Looks pretty decent to me. Just wondering what kind of strings should I try with this?

lumanog3.jpg
lumanog2.jpg
lumanog1.jpg
 
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Cool!

wow! that looks pretty cool man.:cool: it's totally a mini guitar. Have fun with it and let us know about any tweaks that you do
 
my auntie just emailed me the pics of the uke. I think it is a tenor. Looks pretty decent to me. Just wondering what kind of strings should I try with this?

lumanog3.jpg
lumanog2.jpg
lumanog1.jpg

ha thats nice not bad for a "souvenir" he must have upgraded his ukulele building, the bridge is kinda weird tho, but anwayz try aquila strings they usually project the sound a bit more than other strings, also maybe d'addarios.
 
Hey Nuke, I'm originally from Cavite City myself. Nice to meet a fellow Caviteno.

Yeah, that's the difficult part since the company is in Cebu. I'll keep you posted.

definitely. please do. also, you think you can talk to some of your people back home and see if you can get some of the CAVITE stickers where the letters when spelled out, look like an M16? i had one a long time ago, and lost it before i could put it on anything.

my auntie just emailed me the pics of the uke. I think it is a tenor. Looks pretty decent to me. Just wondering what kind of strings should I try with this?

yeah i think its a tenor also. i counted 17 frets. definitely doesnt look like just a toy to me. but we havent seen her in person yet. i would try the d'addarios first. just to see what kind of tension it has and how it affects the uke. the d'addarios tend to have higher tension in them, and i can see them actually causing a uke made from cheaper materials to warp. if youre not getting the tone out of the d'addarios, and the uke seems to handle the tension alright, then start experimenting with other brands like aquila and worth. maybe even go to a guitar shop that sells nylon classical guitar strings separately and pick out the diameters you think will work best.
 
Sure, I'll ask my cousins about the sticker. Do you have a pic of how it looks like? I'll let you know how it goes.


definitely. please do. also, you think you can talk to some of your people back home and see if you can get some of the CAVITE stickers where the letters when spelled out, look like an M16? i had one a long time ago, and lost it before i could put it on anything.
 
Hey Nuke, I'm originally from Cavite City myself. Nice to meet a fellow Caviteno.

Yeah, that's the difficult part since the company is in Cebu. I'll keep you posted.

Hey no way me too :D Yeah when I was in the Philippines last year I had trouble going to Cebu, I planned on going but never happened :[
 
yeah i think its a tenor also. i counted 17 frets. definitely doesnt look like just a toy to me. but we havent seen her in person yet. i would try the d'addarios first. just to see what kind of tension it has and how it affects the uke. the d'addarios tend to have higher tension in them, and i can see them actually causing a uke made from cheaper materials to warp. if youre not getting the tone out of the d'addarios, and the uke seems to handle the tension alright, then start experimenting with other brands like aquila and worth. maybe even go to a guitar shop that sells nylon classical guitar strings separately and pick out the diameters you think will work best.

thanks for the help! I'll probably buy d'addarios and let you know how it sounds.
 
As far as the Lumanog ukulele's go, everyone is correct. The regular ones sold at the shop are just souvenirs. Emilio's intentions of making ukuleles were to sell as a toy. The lumanog that I have now was custom built and I told exactly what I wanted on it. That was 8 years ago. I dunno how his outlook on ukulele is now. He might have changed it due to the growing popularity of it. He might've not.

Although if you travel there and have about a couple weeks; you can probably talk to him. Or ask any of the sales associates to speak with him about making a custom one. I think mine took about a couple of weeks to make. I told him that I needed it rushed because I was only visiting from Hawaii.

I'm a fan of small businesses. I wanted to support the cat and it turned out that he knew what he was doing. He was experimental but he did an awesome job. My advice would be to keep the ukulele regardless of how it sounds. See if you can tweak it a bit (change strings etc.) it's still an ukulele from one of the most famous guitar makers in the Philippines.

hey aldrine is there anyway i could order a custom uke from emilio? i can't find his companys number on da net :(
 
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