Bruce Wei ukuleles

Who is Bruce Wei ?

Bruce Wei Arts is an instrument maker in Vietnam who has an eBay store. Almost every day I look at tenor ukes on eBay and he has many listed there. I've been contemplating one of those Hawaiian Island sound hole models, but can't justify making the purchase, being that since I started playing bass uke, I've been neglecting my ukes.
 
Seems like bidding on eBay is a crapshoot. Makes me wonder why people don't stick to reliable vendors and well known brands....what I mean is, I'm not very adventurous with my money.
 
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Bruce Wei Arts is an instrument maker in Vietnam who has an eBay store. Almost every day I look at tenor ukes on eBay and he has many listed there. I've been contemplating one of those Hawaiian Island sound hole models, but can't justify making the purchase, being that since I started playing bass uke, I've been neglecting my ukes.

Okay , thanks.
 
Seems like bidding on eBay is a crapshoot. Makes me wonder why people don't stick to reliable vendors and well known brands....what I mean is, I'm not very adventurous with my money.

Reliable and well known for what?

I've played SO many well known brand ukuleles that were reliably overbuilt, dull and had poor intonation.

Sure brucewei's can be a crap shoot but at least your in with a chance of a nice instrument.

Anthony
 
Reliable and well known for what?

I've played SO many well known brand ukuleles that were reliably overbuilt, dull and had poor intonation.

Sure brucewei's can be a crap shoot but at least your in with a chance of a nice instrument.

Anthony

You may be right.
What I meant by reliable was the hard tedious work of culling out ukes that don't sound good. i.e Mim's Ukes....Uke Republic... HMS....Mainland Ukes....and so forth.
And well known for doing a good setup on each uke before shipping it, and guaranteeing customer satisfaction.
If I were a vendor or manufacturer, no way would I let a dud go out of my shop if I could help it!
 
You may be right.
What I meant by reliable was the hard tedious work of culling out ukes that don't sound good. i.e Mim's Ukes....Uke Republic... HMS....Mainland Ukes....and so forth.
And well known for doing a good setup on each uke before shipping it, and guaranteeing customer satisfaction.
If I were a vendor or manufacturer, no way would I let a dud go out of my shop if I could help it!

I was going to say the same thing Nickie, well put. The sound quality is directly affected by the set up and playability of an instrument. If it is difficult to play you are going to have a hard time making it sound good. I would much rather buy a starter level Kala, Ohana etc from a reputable dealer who critically looks them over and does a proper set up.

Our time alotted to playing is too short and precious to chance to a crap shoot. There is nothing wrong with inexpensive ukes, I own a few, but if they have major issues you've wasted your money.
 
Thanks for sharing your experiences and information.

It reinforces my decision to stick with reputable brands and online retailers.

Me too, Sam, me too. If we don't all know this by now, and we been hanging around here a while, shame on us. Being cheap doesn't work with ukuleles.
If we read this stuff, and still don't heed it, well, we deserve what we get from people like Wei.
Just sayin'.
 
Seems like it's Bruce Wei week on UU. After about 3-4 years of buying custom and ready made ukes from Bruce (6), I can say I trust his instruments. Yes, that first mandolele was not good because it was not one of his when he allowed other builders to sell on his site, which he hasn't done in a few years, and my gypsy jazz opened up and now sounds good.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video
 
Mike, I did get to hear a Wei (probably Vietnamese) uke the other day. It was pretty, but quiet. She got it pretty cheaply. I asked her how she liked it, and she said "I got it for Christmas, it's okay."
We have this Vietnamese Tiny Tenor, and it is outrageous!
Once, I bought another Vietnamese uke, cause it was so dang pretty, and when it came, I hated it because the neck shape really made my hand hurt. Nice build quality and tone, though. Uncle Elvis (Mike Hind) used to play one. I haven't seen him with it lately.
 
I have a friend who has bought about 60 ukuleles from him, he finds them all to be about the same quality but did have a small issue on two of those on the first fret. (It was easily fixed) other than that he said he's never had a problem with them. (60 is not an over estimate... we counted)

I'd just like to hear more about why your friend has bought 60 of them! Does they resell them, or do they have another purpose?

Chris
 
As a note to anyone looking for more information on these: There are several reviews here on UU and other places that read quite similar to the one above. Many mention dead sound, some report cracking over time. Every once in a while, however, someone seems to like the one they've got.

When "Dead Sound" is mentioned what does that mean exactly? Does it mean it doesn't sound as good when played/picked/strumed, you can't hear the notes clearly, or you can't hear the ukulele from 5ft away (10ft away, etc.)?
 
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When "Dead Sound" is mentioned what does that mean exactly?

My interpretation is limited projection and sustain. When I first got the custom gypsy jazz from Bruce Wei, it didn't have enough projection and sustain for me, but as I mentioned, not long ago I found that it opened up and now I like the projection and sustain. Strings are supposed to help as well, and I also understand that when the action is lower, that limits the projection.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video
 
When "Dead Sound" is mentioned what does that mean exactly? Does it mean it doesn't sound as good when played/picked/strumed, you can't hear the notes clearly, or you can't hear the ukulele from 5ft away (10ft away, etc.)?

In my experience of reviewing many ukes - a dead sound can mean a variety of things. In the simplest sense - a lack of resonance and bark / projection, but it can also manifest in a confused or muddy tone. Either way, the ukulele will require effort to get it to chime - whether through strumming harder, or digging in to the strings more. It's not a trait that I enjoy and much prefer instruments that feel lively in the hands
 
Has anyone noticed that the original poster, stophei11 in Kentucky has not replied at all here? I replied to a Marketplace listing for a Fluke by stophei11 and have not heard back. I see the same uke is on auction at eBay. I hope stophei11 is OK.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video
 
Has anyone noticed that the original poster, stophei11 in Kentucky has not replied at all here? I replied to a Marketplace listing for a Fluke by stophei11 and have not heard back. I see the same uke is on auction at eBay. I hope stophei11 is OK.

I just saw an email that Stophie11 sent me to do a PayPal payment for the Fluke being sold. Glad about that.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video
 
One of the players in my uke jam bought one of these Wei ukes off Ebay. Initially he sort of liked it, but the setup was terrible so he took it in for some work. After that it played well, but the intonation was still off. Turns out the bridge was misplaced, and there was no cost effective way to fix it. He complained to Wei, who agreed to take it back and pay for shipping both ways, IF my friend did not leave negative feedback. Which I imagine is how he keeps his ratings so positive.
 
... ...He complained to Wei, who agreed to take it back and pay for shipping both ways, IF my friend did not leave negative feedback. Which I imagine is how he keeps his ratings so positive.
Generally speaking, ratings of sellers on EBAY primarily apply to the physical condition of products delivered by the seller, rather than to the quality of those products. That is, it is a SELLER-rating system moreso than a product rating system.

Here are the prime factors for a buyer's star-based rating of an EBAY seller:
(1) Is the condition of the received item equal to or better than the rating assigned by the seller? (new, excellent, good, fair, needs work, for parts, as is, etc)? Notice that these condition statements all imply PHYSICAL condition, and not product quality.
(2) Was the shipping cost reasonable?
(3) Was the seller helpful & responsive?
(4) Was the item received on time?

Most buyers rate a seller very soon after an item is received. Thus, when a uke is received, its physical condition may be perfect, & its appearance beautiful. Also, when tuned & played a little bit, it will almost certainly sound "like an ukulele." If the buyer is experienced enough to realize that a uke's sound is a bit harsh or subdued, or the action is bad, or the intonation is bad, then the buyer may try string changes, set-ups, etc.

Eventually, the buyer may realize that/he has a beautiful, functional uke that will always sound like crap. By that time, the buyer's rating is in concrete.
 
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