$10 Cartoon Character Ukes at Walmart - get them today or take a chance this weekend

mine wasn't nearly that bad at the 12th but it was sharp a couple ticks if i remember correctly. If you look at the profile of the uke you will see the action is much higher toward the saddle. At my stage of development I rarely go past the 5th fret so the couple ticks off tone I doubt could be heard, especially with how quiet the instrument is.

Hmmm ... the first time I tested, mine was way off right from the first fret. I just tested again. In C tuning it's pretty bad (I tested Minnie 1). In D tuning, Sofia is not too bad at all ... the low string is worst, the others are not too bad. I played it gently and it sounded a lot better than it had before. Minnie 1's off a bit more, but still much less than the first time I tested.

Still, I think I have been pressing much too hard with my fretting hand. When other people played Minnie 1 last Friday it sounded pretty decent. When I played, it sounded hideous. Also, my brand new plastic fretboard on my Flea is already getting grooves, even though the Dale at Magic Fluke swore he didn't think that my playing or the fluorocarbon strings could be causing the damage. (I really need to call them again soon!)

No it is NOT removable, the top is ONE PIECE and the triangular post in the center is part of that piece and that piece is GLUED to the bottom of the inside. I spent an hour trying to remove that post (with a saw on a pocket knife) from the inside and gave up when I realized that the bridge is set down in a pocket not flat across the top. so only a small part of the bridge on the sideds even comes in contact with the top.

The poor design is poor.

Brian, nobody's arguing with you about the poor design of the very solid triangular tether in the middle of the uke ... and several of us have already pointed it out. It's never going to be a nice loud resonant uke. I suspect that may be on purpose. Parents who give these to their three-year-olds might well prefer them quiet.

The thing Bnolsen was asking about was the saddle, not the bridge or the triangle thing.

The saddle is indeed removable ... I just removed the one from my Minnie 2 (she of the plinky A string). It looked like it might slide right out like in the Sponge Bob DIY setup video. It didn't ... it has a bit of a peg near each end holding it down into the bridge. So I had to slack the strings way down (more than if it was slide-able) and pry it out with a small screwdriver. But once I did that, it came out easily. It's not glued in at all. It's a rather thin piece of plastic, so whether it can be filed down enough to improve the action, or replaced with something lower, remains to be seen. But it did come out easily.

I put a set of Curt Mangan strings on mine. I bought them on sale, to try. I think I've learned two things:
1-I'm not a fan of the Curt Mangan Uke strings!
2-Even the Curt Mangan strings are a vast improvement over what comes on these Ukes!

The intonation improved with the new strings and the tuning is more stable. As I mess around with it, I'm planning to describe the tone as "Low-Fi", from here on.

That is actually really great news! The Sponge Bob videos showed the same thing ... that a string change made a pretty big difference to the intonation, where all that hard work he showed fixing the setup made almost no difference.

I got two of these and two Schoenhuts at Walmart, the one of these that I didn't take apart and cut up is going back. Both have plastic fret boards, and I noticed there are threads (somewhat heated for UU) about the schoenhuts, about the damage to the plastic fretboard, I did notice that the plastic fretboard on a schoenbut was damaged with florcarbin strings, I would not put florocarbin strings on one of these first act ukes (or any other string really). I notice that you have a shoenhut listed in your ukuleles have you been using nylon strings and if so how is the fretboard holding up ?

I thought Laura had said she had Martins on one of hers, but I just looked back ... she has Aquilas on the restrung one. So ... try the Aquilas instead of the Martins?
 
Brian, nobody's arguing with you about the poor design of the very solid triangular tether in the middle of the uke ... and several of us have already pointed it out. It's never going to be a nice loud resonant uke. I suspect that may be on purpose. Parents who give these to their three-year-olds might well prefer them quiet.

The thing Bnolsen was asking about was the saddle, not the bridge or the triangle thing.

The saddle is indeed removable ... I just removed the one from my Minnie 2 (she of the plinky A string). It looked like it might slide right out like in the Sponge Bob DIY setup video. It didn't ... it has a bit of a peg near each end holding it down into the bridge. So I had to slack the strings way down (more than if it was slide-able) and pry it out with a small screwdriver. But once I did that, it came out easily. It's not glued in at all. It's a rather thin piece of plastic, so whether it can be filed down enough to improve the action, or replaced with something lower, remains to be seen. But it did come out easily.



That is actually really great news! The Sponge Bob videos showed the same thing ... that a string change made a pretty big difference to the intonation, where all that hard work he showed fixing the setup made almost no difference.



I thought Laura had said she had Martins on one of hers, but I just looked back ... she has Aquilas on the restrung one. So ... try the Aquilas instead of the Martins?

Sorry I misunderstood that AND I missed the link to the sponge bob video, that I just took a quick peek at. Yes this piece does come out:
Saddle2_zpscd64eabe.jpg

I don't know if it would be worth working on though I am just going to let people decide for themselves to make the best choices for them. I don't mean to keep poo-pooing the cute ukes you found.

I am guessing on the Aquilla (nylon) vs. Martins (f.c.) on the plastic fretboard (on these ukes frets that are colored to look like metal) based on the thread that showed damage by Worth Strings on a Schoenhut and was asking someone who had one for a while if he had better luck and if it was w/nylon.

I think I was the first to point out the triangle piece btw several posts before the picture.
 
kk. will go that route. It should be fine with aquilas IRT my comfort with the low action from having the zero fret methinks
 
Sorry I misunderstood that AND I missed the link to the sponge bob video, that I just took a quick peek at. Yes this piece does come out:

I don't know if it would be worth working on though I am just going to let people decide for themselves to make the best choices for them. I don't mean to keep poo-pooing the cute ukes you found.

I am guessing on the Aquilla (nylon) vs. Martins (f.c.) on the plastic fretboard (on these ukes frets that are colored to look like metal) based on the thread that showed damage by Worth Strings on a Schoenhut and was asking someone who had one for a while if he had better luck and if it was w/nylon.

I think I was the first to point out the triangle piece btw several posts before the picture.

You beat me to the pics ... I took some right after I posted, but then got called away.

Minnie + removed saddle.jpg

Kelly (Ohmless / BuddyJesusSmokes) was the first to point out the triangle thingy ... before you even had your Walmart ukes ... in his first video. I also mentioned it in my subsequent video. I can't remember whether either of us mentioned it in text or just in video.

I wonder if the lovely Fremont Black Line fluoros are gouging my Flea's plastic fretboard. Very disappointed about that. I had a quite new-ish set of Martins snap an A string a few months back, leading to the discovery of the sharp grooves in the previous fretboard that were cutting little nicks in my strings. But then I checked the previous two sets of replaced strings ... both nylons ... and they had the nicks too. So it seems likely it was nylon strings that caused the initial damage (I bought the uke third-hand, so no idea whether the strings I received it with were original or not).

Or me. Playing wrong. Is that possible? I've mentioned it umpteen times here (and elsewhere at the time), and not one person has responded at all. Thoughts?

Yes, it's a separate issue from Walmart ukes, but it's related, because I think it might also be why these ukes sound so much better when other people play them than when I do.
 
Sorry if I have misrepresented anything or offended anyone.

I have posted a lot in this thread because I feel that there is a misrepresentation of what to expect from these ukuleles in this thread. I get the feeling from many posts in this thread that someone who went and got one of these things might be expecting them to play as well as a plastic TV Pal or a Flamingo (which sold last night on e-bay for under $20 - and would have sold for $13 had I not bid on it) with a few minor adjustments. It won't.

IF someone had posted on the first page what I have posted here it would have saved me time and money. All I intend to do is make make it perfectly clear that changing the strings, lowering the bridge, or cutting it open and removing the triangular support WILL NOT make this thing sound any louder or any better than what anyone has heard in the videos in this thread. If that is what someone is looking for this is the ukulele for you. If all you want is something cute for a collection these things are cute.

If anyone wants a cute plastic uke that actually plays check e-bay from time to time to get a vintage Flamingo for less than the retail price of a First Act.

That isn't how I wanted to say what I just said, however it is clear now.
 
I notice that you have a shoenhut listed in your ukuleles have you been using nylon strings and if so how is the fretboard holding up ?

my fretboard and bridge have been replaced with the real deal. a few weeks and i noticed wear on the upper frets before i got the new parts. unfortunately the bridge is a bit higher than the original so it runs a bit sharp.

i had no problems returning the little bugger. even if the saddle could be removed its not the typical saddle than can be lowered by sanding the bottom.
 
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I took my in-laws to Farm and Fleet yesterday and they had a bunch of little plastic guitars and ukuleles for sale. I didn't even think the check the prices. I don't know why, except maybe I had no intention of buying one, but they had shelves and shelves of them. Lots of cartoon characters, and even a John Deere one. Don't ask me anything about them, because my wife pointed them out to me and I just gave them a look and a laugh, but they were there. I probably would have paid more attention if they weren't all boxed up with a little of the actual ukulele peeking out of a plastic window. I don't remember ukuleles being sold everywhere like that, but then I was never interested in ukuleles before. But if you are all about those little plastic ukes like that, run to Farm and Fleet before they sell out.
 
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