New Fender Ukes

chikon2000

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 22, 2013
Messages
76
Reaction score
0
Location
Memphis, TN
Hi Folks, Has anyone seen the new line of Fender ukes at HMS? I've never been much of a Fender uke fan, but these new ones sound really good , even though they are laminates. Strangely, the concert and tenor are over $300 each, which seems a little pricey for laminates. The soprano is only about $100, though, and sounds really sweet. What do others think of them?
 
I must admit, the Fender "Jimmy Stafford" Tenor certainly looks pretty cool. It's $349 but includes a nice Fishman pickup. [h=3][/h]
 
I must admit, the Fender "Jimmy Stafford" Tenor certainly looks pretty cool. It's $349 but includes a nice Fishman pickup. [h=3][/h]

I have/had three Lanikai ukes with that same Fishman Sonicore preamp, I think it's one of the most poorly conceived ideas I've ever encountered. The volume and tone controls in the sound hole are placed under the strings; if the side of the sound hole that faces up when playing is the 6 o'clock position, the controls are in the 8 o'clock position with the strings in the way.

Maybe someone else can deal with that, but I sure couldn't. I yanked the preamps and replaced them myself with side installed Fishman Isys+ preamp/pickups that matched up to the power unit already there.
 
I had the Nohea tennor, good sound all in all a pretty nice uke, but then I got a really nice ohana and started playing that more
 
HMS has the all solid mahogany Fender Pa'ina tenor, but the 4 reviews are mixed. Any one here with experience with it?
 
HMS has the all solid mahogany Fender Pa'ina tenor, but the 4 reviews are mixed. Any one here with experience with it?

I had a Pa'ina a few years ago that I wish I still had. I even resurrected the sale thread a few weeks back to see if the buyer was still around and interested in selling it. I found it very comfortable to play and even though not a standard uke headstock shape, I thought it fit nicely on there. But I'm a Tele fan so that may have something to do with it.

The uke was maybe a little overbuilt, but still sounded good and played great. According to the Fender site, they're now using new bracing patterns that may address the "overbuilt" aspect I mentioned.

The model I had had a pickup but no preamp. I used it with my band through the PA and it did fine. Although I may have used an external preamp with it, I don't recall now.

If mine ever comes up for sale on here, you can be sure I'll snap it up. It has some identifying marks that I'll recognize.
 
Hi Folks, Has anyone seen the new line of Fender ukes at HMS? I've never been much of a Fender uke fan, but these new ones sound really good , even though they are laminates. Strangely, the concert and tenor are over $300 each, which seems a little pricey for laminates. The soprano is only about $100, though, and sounds really sweet. What do others think of them?

i almost bought one last week, put it on layaway at guitar center since all we have here is sam ash or guitar center.
I tried out all 5 of their ukes and the fender actually sounded great (compared to the others like the mitchell brand and lanikai) but looks HORRRRRRIBLE! that tele/strat whatever
headstock is disgusting on a ukulele, i just could not get past it. I ended up going to take it off layaway getting the money back
going to sam ash which had a much better
selection (except mostly all concerts and sopranos) only one baritone and 2 tenors. Both tenors were cheap pieces of crap
and the baritone (makala) honestly did not sound much different from my rogue baritone (both sound good to me but i figured
i could just get another rogue for linear tuning and be happy with it my other is in reentrant G). I finally was checking out the section
with kakas, they had the exotic mahogany series they looked so nice, and sounded good but a bit too flashy for me.
I was online the pacific walnut tenor and decided i wanted to at least try to play one since i liked h ow it looked
i looked down a bit and saw the pacific walnut concert (not a tenor but i decided screw it) it played amazing (better
than the fender for less money and looked better also). Moral of the story fender should stick to making guitars cos
their ukes are just ugly, and over priced for the sound its good but not that great for the price they are trying to get.
 
Last edited:
i love my fender nohea. I think the quality and looks are there really nice sounding ukulele too, though it is a lam i think underneath is mahogany which isnt too bad. I always rave and promote mine on the forum because i think it is GREAT.I have a pono ms and just purchased a firefly but my fingers and heart always find their way to the fender.
 
This is my first post on this forum. I discovered UU looking for info about the Fender Nohea uke that I purchased from GC, on Memorial Day, using their 20% coupon. After the purchase, I saw the info on Fender.com about the new specs for 2014, new bracing, bone saddle and nut, etc. Mine doesn't have any of the new features and it was new out of the box. I had them take 2 from stock and I picked the best. From what I can tell, I don't think the new spec'ed versions are out in the wild yet. I'll be interested to see one once they are in stock.

So far though, I am loving the Nohea. I bought for it's looks, as a traveling companion for one of my other Fenders (see the pic's) but am quite pleased with it's sound and playability.

Fender_Beetle_1.jpg

Fender_Beetle_2.jpg
 
Top Bottom