New Uke Day (NUD) NUD Godin Multiuke

[Contrails]

Well actually it’s not entirely a NUD as these ukes have been discontinued for sometime. It’s more like a New Old Uke Day(NOUD). I have been looking for one of these for quite some months now and nearly bought one from the marketplace here a few months ago but at the last minute the seller changed his mind. So the hunt went on. I recently found one locally and I think it was hardly played as it is close to mint condition.
This is not a quiet instrument when not plugged in. The chambered body does actually resonate pretty well. The factory strings are very stiff nylons. I read that they are daddarios rebranded as Godin Strings. I don’t like them. They are the first set of strings that I have ever played that hurt my fingers after playing for more than an hour. I swapped out the high G to a Fremont low G and the sustain is way too long on it. I read that a thomastik would do the trick and have not gone round to doing it. For those of you who own one of this would you recommend a high or low tension set?
Otherwise it’s a fantastic uke. Extremely well made. I can’t find a flaw on it and the action is great. I am also very happy with the electronics. It’s been reviewed thoroughly by many over the years and so I don’t think I can do a better job doing another review. Too bad they discontinued this model.

 

[KohanMike]

I think it was was me who pulled my Godin Tobacco Multiuke from the Market Place, it wasn't getting enough interest, so I decided to raffle it off to my 50 member uke group and donate all the proceeds to The Ukulele Kids Club. It took in about $800. What did you pay yours? They're very high quality instruments. I used Martin fluorocarbon reentrant strings, which were very comfortable for me. I wanted to keep it, but between the weight and that it's a little deeper than is comfortable for me with nerve damage to my neck spinal cord, I let it go.

 

[bbkobabe]

I lust after one of these... happily they are out of my price range!

 

[DownUpDave]

I had one for a year or more and was very impressed with its amplified tone, the best I've ever heard. I am a !ow G player and like you found the Fremont too boomy. I switched to Thomastik Infield CF30 and CF27 for wound G&C string, always play wound 4th and 3rd. It sounded much better and I used Oasis florocarbons for the E&A strings from a set I had on hand.

 

[Jerryc41]

Well actually it’s not entirely a NUD as these ukes have been discontinued for sometime. It’s more like a New Old Uke Day(NOUD). I have been looking for one of these for quite some months now and nearly bought one from the marketplace here a few months ago but at the last minute the seller changed his mind. So the hunt went on. I recently found one locally and I think it was hardly played as it is close to mint condition.
This is not a quiet instrument when not plugged in. The chambered body does actually resonate pretty well. The factory strings are very stiff nylons. I read that they are daddarios rebranded as Godin Strings. I don’t like them. They are the first set of strings that I have ever played that hurt my fingers after playing for more than an hour. I swapped out the high G to a Fremont low G and the sustain is way too long on it. I read that a thomastik would do the trick and have not gone round to doing it. For those of you who own one of this would you recommend a high or low tension set?
Otherwise it’s a fantastic uke. Extremely well made. I can’t find a flaw on it and the action is great. I am also very happy with the electronics. It’s been reviewed thoroughly by many over the years and so I don’t think I can do a better job doing another review. Too bad they discontinued this model.

View attachment 149247

Very nice.

 

[Contrails]

I had one for a year or more and was very impressed with its amplified tone, the best I've ever heard. I am a !ow G player and like you found the Fremont too boomy. I switched to Thomastik Infield CF30 and CF27 for wound G&C string, always play wound 4th and 3rd. It sounded much better and I used Oasis florocarbons for the E&A strings from a set I had on hand.

Thanks for the recommendation. Will def try those Thomastik strings next.

 

[Contrails]

I think it was was me who pulled my Godin Tobacco Multiuke from the Market Place, it wasn't getting enough interest, so I decided to raffle it off to my 50 member uke group and donate all the proceeds to The Ukulele Kids Club. It took in about $800. What did you pay yours? They're very high quality instruments. I used Martin fluorocarbon reentrant strings, which were very comfortable for me. I wanted to keep it, but between the weight and that it's a little deeper than is comfortable for me with nerve damage to my neck spinal cord, I let it go.

View attachment 149257

Yes Mike. We didn’t manage to deal in the end. But it’s ok. I am a believer in a ‘happy seller happy buyer’ kind of thing. Yours definitely looks prettier with the sunburst finish though! . But finger prints on a high gloss dark finish makes it very hard to maintain! So I am still happy with what I got.

 

[baconsalad]

Those Quebecers really know how to make good instruments. I'm curious about their Seagull electric hollow-body uke.

 

[Contrails]

Those Quebecers really know how to make good instruments. I'm curious about their Seagull electric hollow-body uke.

Those are soprano size and I believe they come in nylon and steel string versions. Yes Godin really makes great stuff. I have a seagull Merlin and it is also very well made for the price.

 

[good_uke_boy]

@Contrails - since buying DownUpDave's Multiuke* I've experimented with many different string sets. The reason: I found the Multiuke's amplified sound to be a little too bright and brittle sounding, even after fiddling with the instrument's EQ settings. Until recently all my experiments combined Thomastik Infeld's CF30 with fluorocarbons for the C, E, and A strings. Of those fluorocarbon sets, Savarez seemed the warmest. But after doing some research I recently tried these nylon trebles from a classical guitar string set:
Hannabach SLT trebles
... and I'm much happier with the results. My guess is Godin might have tuned the Multiuke's pickups and electronics for nylon strings. Like you I didn't like Godin's D'addario/Titanium set. These Hannabach's take a long time to settle in but seem to feel and sound great.

*Thanks again, Dave!

 

[King David]

I think, no - know, a TC Electronics BodyRez is exactly what that pickup needs. This fixes all piezo equipped instruments that have this problem actually. It doesn’t do any good for nicer top of the line dual system (mic + piezo) guitar pickups though but they don’t exist for ukulele anyways (Anuenue Air Air isn’t quite on the LR Baggs level). Peep the reviews: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...coustic-pickup-enhancer-pedal/reviews?sb=date

 

[mjh42]

I pretty much run my Godin through a Fishman Platinum Pro all the time adjusting to get the tone I want and they slight adjustments on the instrument as wanted for a particular song or volume adjustment. I haven't really spent any time with string changes although I do have some Thomastik and others in my box when I am ready to try.

 

[DownUpDave]

@Contrails - since buying DownUpDave's Multiuke* I've experimented with many different string sets. The reason: I found the Multiuke's amplified sound to be a little too bright and brittle sounding, even after fiddling with the instrument's EQ settings. Until recently all my experiments combined Thomastik Infeld's CF30 with fluorocarbons for the C, E, and A strings. Of those fluorocarbon sets, Savarez seemed the warmest. But after doing some research I recently tried these nylon trebles from a classical guitar string set:
Hannabach SLT trebles
... and I'm much happier with the results. My guess is Godin might have tuned the Multiuke's pickups and electronics for nylon strings. Like you I didn't like Godin's D'addario/Titanium set. These Hannabach's take a long time to settle in but seem to feel and sound great.

*Thanks again, Dave!

I am glad you are still enjoying it. Thanks for the info on the Hannabach nylon strings. They make great stuff, I've used them on ukes and guitars before. Nylon seems to be over looked by the ukulele community but if you want a warmer tone that's the way to go.

 

[Three Tenors]

FWIW, I like Martin M625's (High G) on my MultiUke.

 

[Contrails]

@Contrails - since buying DownUpDave's Multiuke* I've experimented with many different string sets. The reason: I found the Multiuke's amplified sound to be a little too bright and brittle sounding, even after fiddling with the instrument's EQ settings. Until recently all my experiments combined Thomastik Infeld's CF30 with fluorocarbons for the C, E, and A strings. Of those fluorocarbon sets, Savarez seemed the warmest. But after doing some research I recently tried these nylon trebles from a classical guitar string set:
Hannabach SLT trebles
... and I'm much happier with the results. My guess is Godin might have tuned the Multiuke's pickups and electronics for nylon strings. Like you I didn't like Godin's D'addario/Titanium set. These Hannabach's take a long time to settle in but seem to feel and sound great.

*Thanks again, Dave!

Thanks for the insight. On my next string change I will try it out. Is yours a spruce top model? Mine’s a cedar. I am not sure how much difference the top makes in these ukes. I haven’t seen a comparison videos on different tops for these.

 

[good_uke_boy]

Is yours a spruce top model?

Nope - mine's got a cedar top like yours. I also don't know whether different top woods yield different sounds...

 

[Contrails]

Looks like the Multiuke and the Cavaquinho uses the same body I suspect the Mandolin was made using the same body too