I apologize if this is the wrong section.
I’m very interested in purchasing (maybe a tenor) for a keep at work/lunch time ukulele. I thought maybe someone else would be interested, too.
Does anyone have one? Do you love it? Hate it?
Link (hope I’m not breaking rules):
I've owned probably over 100 ukes by now. The nicest I have owned are HI made Koalohas, Kiwaya KPT, Pono PCs, a Kanilea. I've owned probably 60-80 beginner level ukes. I'm not bragging as I don't think that is something to brag about. But I've tried a lot of ukuleles. Having said that, which ukulele anyone will like is highly subjective.
I currently own several Nova Us. I have a Pro, the tenor, three concerts, and seven sopranos. All but the Pro and one concert I bought for loaners for our ukulele club. I absolutely love the Nova U. I think they sound better than most ukes you can find for the same price. They are very consistent in sound and setup. Every Enya I have ever owned (there were many other wooden models) have been very well setup and very easy and fun to play. All sound good, though some models are kind of quiet. The Novas are not quiet, and do not sound plastic to me. But you do get the thin body and humidity imperviousness that make them excellent travel ukes.
Like all Enya ukuleles these have a 12” radiused fretboard. Radiused fretboards are extremely rare among ukes. Some prefer it, some don’t like it. For newer players or those lacking gripping strength, a radiused fretboard may make barre chords easier to play.
As for the EQ with acoustic chorus and reverb I am ambivalent. The pickup is decent quality, but the acoustic chorus and reverb don't do that much for me. A fellow club member told me he has heard that kind of system on nice solid wood ukes and guitars and it sounds really nice, but he was also a little disappointed with the EQ chorus/ reverb acoustic sound on the Nova.
If you own several ukes I would say that almost anyone cannot go wrong with a Nova U. If it is to be your only uke then I say good luck finding any uke that you will be satisfied with as the only one you will ever own, or even the only you'll own for a year or two. We have all grown very picky. They are at a price that you can afford to add to a small stable of ukes. If you buy one and don't like it, you can send it back for full refund. (BTW, Scamazon always has the best prices I have found on these. Otherwise I would buy directly from Enya Music online.) If you keep it too long, resale is not bad, if you are willing to price it at about 70% of current retail.
It would be an excellent uke to keep at work or in the car or somewhere else where you can't maintain ideal conditions as for a solid wood uke.
Incidentally I discovered that they all start out as black, and the other colors are painted on. So if it is likely to get scratched the black will show through if the scratch is deeper than the paint. A shame, really. If you want a go anywhere travel beater this is an ideal uke, if you get it in black.
BTW, you can "upgrade" the tuners to Graphtech Ratio Tune-a-lele planetary tuners (linked below, $33). I wrote to them to find out if the internals are plastic or metal. The reply was that they are plastic. For some reason I remain skeptical as to the truth of that answer. But if true they make for the ideal travel uke tuners. If installed on a carbon fiber uke you can truly dunk it in water with no deleterious after effects. (Assuming you don't have the optional pickup.) Though if it is salt water or sand I recommend you rinse in fresh water afterwards for the best long term results.
PS. You know, I am a little embarrassed for Kala because of the Waterman. They almost always have very high action which cannot be adjusted (but maybe you can do a neck reset with a heat gun?) They sound plastic. They are resting on the Kala name. I am tempted to buy Ukadelics because of the super cool design. Now if Enya put out designs like the Ukadelic, I might become a member of the Eny-a-delic-a-month club (not a thing, I just made it up. But Enya, if you are listening feel free to steal the idea for say, one free Eny-a-delic of my choice...)
Also, beware of the Nova U look a-likes. I got one of the Donners when they had them marked $30. It is a good plastic travel uke. But not in the same league as the Nova U to me. It sounds kind of plastic and mine has intonation problems. If the Nova U didn't exist I would say but the Donner version over the Waterman. But of the three I say get the Enya. I have seen other Nova U copy cats on Amazon for hundreds of bucks! I have no idea what that is about and wonder if anyone actually bought/ will buy them. Crazy poo-poo.
🛒 GraphTech Ukulele Tuners [PRU-4004] Perfect fit for all types of ukuleles. World's lightest ukulele machine heads, with zero backlash. ✔️45-day guarantee
graphtech.com
