Plastic Ukes...

[bento]

Hello. I was wondering if you guys have experience or recommendations with plastic ukes. I'm kind of an outdoors person, and I wanna take something a bit durable and relatively inexpensive for when I'm overnight hiking and camping. I'm also hesitant to bring it to the beach because of the sand and water. Thanks in advance!

 

[maddogsauce]

Personally, I like the Outdoor Ukuleles for a plastic uke. Kala Waterman is a toy, Enya Nova is alright and probably the best value, but the Outdoor is going to have the best feel and sound in my opinion. I've also read good things about the Lava ukes, but they're spendy for plastic and I really don't care for the Apple*esque look to them and their accessories.

 

[maddogsauce]

If you like sopranos, Synergy is very competitive with their full carbon fiber soprano, and i prefer my carbon fiber instruments to plastic.

 

[Brad Bordessa]

Hard to beat the Outdoor Ukulele. Mine has been strapped on the outside of my backpack through four foreign countries, lived on the floor of every plane ride to get there, been dropped, kicked, smashed, inundated by salt air/water (tuners are a little crunchy and rusty now, but can't hardly blame them), and lived in the back seat/floor of my very messy car at all other times. Two of my tuner buttons have fallen off, but I think they changed the tuner style on new models. It just works. Any other uke I would have had to buy three or four times over by now, I'm sure.

 

[jer]

I'm not sure what your definition of inexpensive is. That said, I can 2nd the Outdoor Ukulele as well as Enya Nova.
I've had both. I admit both were just house players that were taken care of...so I can't speak personally about durability (What Brad said there should be enough) but they are both solid instruments to play just in general.

 

[Uncle Rod Higuchi]

I’ll add my vote for the Outdoor Ukulele.
Good design, durable materials and construction, good sound quality,
Ease of use and carefree functionality.
Next to a full Carbon Fiber Ukulele (SynergyInstruments.com), the Outdoor
Polycarbonate ukuleles are great for affordable and durable instruments.

Keep uke’in’,

 

[ukulelekarcsi]

Fleas and Flukes can take a beating much better, but because their tops are laminate they're not as waterproof and they're slightly heavier than the full-plastic ones mentioned above. Sylvain Enjoubaut (www.ukulele-motu.fr) makes some great unbreakable, waterproof ukuleles from marine-grade laminates at a very good price.

 

[Pixiegod]

I think in terms of value for money, you can't beat the Flight TUS or TUSL. Been recommending this as a beginner instrument, because it can be used as a great beater/travel uke once an upgrade is in order.

 

[badhabits]

only real problem with outdoor (not counting sound preferences) is no concert size. for flea/fluke and flights, their concert scale is a little long at 15.5". also if the frets are not painted they can sometimes be hard to see.

 

[Graham Greenbag]

Sylvain Enjoubaut (www.ukulele-motu.fr) makes some great unbreakable, waterproof ukuleles from marine-grade laminates at a very good price.

Not seen those before and I wish that the site was in English ... or that I also spoke French.

I know that the OP asked about plastic instruments but wish that the environmental aspect had been considered too.

A painted wooden Uke can be surprisingly durable and sound at least as good as a plastic one. Something made of wood is recycle-able (into ash if nothing else), potentially tougher than a lot of plastics and more repairable than a lot of plastics. As far as I know plastic Ukes aren’t recyclable and whilst some are tough their repairability is questionable. Outdoor brand Ukes aren’t cheap ($125 and upwards) and you typically don’t see them for sale second hand, in comparison basic wood Ukes are often well priced and second hand ones can be really cheap. Sound wise it all depends on what you buy (there’s some stuff to avoid out there and I tend to stick with normally respected brands like Makala and Ohana); I’ve found that cheap wooden Ukes can give a perfectly practical sound - which I suppose is one of the objectives.

 

[Jerryc41]

You're not performing for money, nor are you recording to CDs. The waterman is cheap and durable. You can pay more for an Outdoor Uke if you want possibly better quality. The Waterman is a ukulele that will resist dirt and moisture.

 

[badhabits]

You're not performing for money, nor are you recording to CDs. The waterman is cheap and durable. You can pay more for an Outdoor Uke if you want possibly better quality. The Waterman is a ukulele that will resist dirt and moisture.

agree, a waterman for hiking/camping purposes is a true "beater". you can get better quality if you want (to spend more), but the waterman can be good enough (depending on your tastes) and you won't cry if it gets trashed... but if it does, it's easily replaced at about $40-50 (sometimes less)

 

[CPG]

I personlly think the Waterman is fairly worthless. Not because of the tone. It's a plastic uke and it sounds like a plastic uke, but the tone is fine for what it is. BUT the intonation and action are so bad (at least on mine) that it makes it pretty miserable to play. Theres not much you can do to improve the setup either. I gave mine to my toddler. If I wanted a beater uke to take places I'd be more inclined to get a Kala Dolphin or similar. No they are not completely water proof, but unless you are planning on playing it in the puring rain or in a lake/ocean it's durable enough and will be way more playable than a Waterman. Mim might even have one or two left over on here reverb store (she has phased out Kala), so you might be able to get one that really well setup. On here main site she now has these flight ukes in the same price range.

https://mimsukes.com/collections/so...-top-abs-plastic-back-and-sides-ukulele-w-bag

I've never played these but I trust her judgement and her setup skills enough that I'm sure it would be plenty good enough for a beater uke.

 

[maddogsauce]

My experience with the Waterman wasn't great. Action is too high and not adjustable, intonation is awful, left it in the car for a bit (I know, my bad) and the top is now caving in. It has now become garage wall art. If you want something playable, I suggest any step up from the Waterman.

 

[Dohle]

I personlly think the Waterman is fairly worthless. Not because of the tone. It's a plastic uke and it sounds like a plastic uke, but the tone is fine for what it is. BUT the intonation is so bad (at least on mine) that it makes it pretty miserable to play. I gave mine to my toddler. If I wanted a beater uke to take places I'd be more inclined to get a Kala Dolphin or similar. No they are not completely water proof, but unless you are planning on playing it in the puring rain or in a lake/ocean it's good enough and will be way more playable than a Waterman.

I completely agree. Every Waterman I've tried or heard has sounded awful because of poor intonation, and at least partially (maybe mostly) it's because of the high action at the nut. Chris Russell / UU member Choirguy did a really good comparison of plastic ukes not too long ago where he mentioned that Kala hadn't remedied the issues of the Waterman for however many years it was, several in any case. That's just inexcusable in my book. It's a plastic mold, get it right!

I would just pay a bit extra and go for either an Outdoor uke or an Enya Nova if you insist on a fully synthetic uke. Otherwise, I'd go for one of those that has a wooden soundboard but a plastic body like the Flight Travel ukes or Magic Fluke.

 

[Arcy]

I think in terms of value for money, you can't beat the Flight TUS or TUSL. Been recommending this as a beginner instrument, because it can be used as a great beater/travel uke once an upgrade is in order.

The TUS is not pure plastic - the top is wood - so not good to bring into the water, and I wouldn't trust the ABS back in a sealed summer car (though I have no evidence that'd be a problem). Otherwise I agree completely - these things are brilliant for the price, generally speaking quite tough, and cheap enough that I don't worry if it gets knocked about and I wouldn't cry too hard if it got lost in transit. Size-wise I'd probably toss this in a backback for travel rather than my tenor Outdoor.

The Outdoor's a bit more expensive but not excessively so (I'd be unhappy if it disappeared, but not devastated) and pretty much bulletproof (probably not literally, and I'm not going to test that). I used to leave mine in the car to have something to play when I was out and about and had some time to kill. The strings didn't like the heat, but the uke itself was fine.

I also have a Klos carbon fiber which is theoretically great as a knockabout, but cost too much for that. It travels in a hard case and gets babied far beyond what it probably needs.

 

[tm3]

I researched plastic "travel" ukes about 9 months ago for a planned airline trip so I'll pass on some of what I learned.

I ended up buying an Outdoor Ukulele soprano. The trip got cancelled due to The Virus but I enjoy the OU soprano. I bought it due to favorable reviews and the made in the USA factor. The first one delivered had a significant cosmetic flaw and OU promptly replaced it. Potential downsides are there have been complaints about the intonation (I think there is a thread here somewhere about it). Both samples of mine were off. Does not bother me but apparently bothers some. Also, I don't believe there is any way to modify the bridge if one wants lower action.

The Enya Nova and Flight TUS get mostly favorable comments, and I was able to audition them. IIRC both have replaceable bridges if one wants to modify. I like the look of the Nova with its "Les Paul" styling, and the Flight had a laminate walnut top with really pretty grain. To me both sounded better than the OU. I think that the Flight is the most bang for the buck of all the ones I tried.

Almost all of the reviews I found on the Waterman were negative so I crossed it off of my list.

The Magic Fluke has a lot of enthusiastic reviews and apparently is a nice instrument. It has the made in the USA factor. Multiple reviews that I read recommended upgrading to the geared tuners and upgrading to the wood fretboard, which makes it much more expensive than the other "plastic" ukes (and according to some, puts it in a price category where it is clearly outperformed by other instruments).

Hope this helps and good luck with your choice!

 

[RMT]

I love the sound and feel of my Enya Nova. Very playable out of the box.

 

[actadh]

I have the Waterman soprano (the Ukadelic USA), the Enya Nova U concert, and the Outdoor Ukulele tenor.

Currently, the Outdoor stays in my little camper, which is my Zoom classroom during the day. I usually prefer soprano size, but the shape/build of the tenor size is wonderful and it is definitely the best sounding of the three. It seems smaller to me than my Mainland tenor.

The Nova stays in my truck. I played it today (as a passenger) while we were out leaf peeping. Perfect size for playing in the truck cab, and I loved playing Aaron Kein's Wildwood Flower arrangement while in a field of wildflowers.

The Waterman stays in my office. For $28 bucks, if it comes up missing then no real problem. It is nice to have something to noodle around on while I am on a break at work. I did change the strings to D'Addario Titanium and it sounds good to me.

I probably play these three more than all my wooden ukes combined because I can keep them where I am most of the time. All three experience temperature change, yet they still hold up well.

 

[UkeStuff]

only real problem with outdoor (not counting sound preferences) is no concert size. for flea/fluke and flights, their concert scale is a little long at 15.5". also if the frets are not painted they can sometimes be hard to see.

I'm a concert player, and my complaint about my Fluke is that it has a wide nut...which would be okay by itself, but the neck mirrors that nut and doesn't taper like many other ukuleles on the market, making the grip seem much wider than other ukuleles that I own. I'm still not getting rid of it, but it isn't the first ukulele I grab.