Enya X1 ukulele

Booli said:
...or worse yet, a wood-grain 'print' on shiny shelf-paper...i.e., a 'sticker' that looks like wood
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People pay 1000+ Bucks for carbon fiber ukes with no wood at all... :) This still has woodern neck if nothing else :D
 
Jerwin said:
People pay 1000+ Bucks for carbon fiber ukes with no wood at all... :) This still has woodern neck if nothing else :D
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ha ha

yes you are correct - but more what I was talking about was if in the description is says something like 'made of real wood' or the item in fact and instead is 'made of wood-like stuff, with wood-looking stickers' and more worried about the accuracy of seller's description and possible errors in translation...:)
 
Booli said:
ha ha

yes you are correct - but more what I was talking about was if in the description is says something like 'made of real wood' or the item in fact and instead is 'made of wood-like stuff, with wood-looking stickers' and more worried about the accuracy of seller's description and possible errors in translation...:)
Click to expand...

I should stop thinking about it and just wait for the uke to arrive...
 
Did it arrive yet? I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it. I've spent the evening with a Kaka KUT-MAD, and am very happy. It's the high end of Enya's low end range/brand. Same shape, same slotted headstock, cheaper tuners, solid mahogany on all sides, same strings, same radiused fretboard. It's quite a high quality uke, and sounds fantastic.

If you bought the tenor, let me know if the strings don't work for you. I love them and am looking for some extra sets!
 
For the HPL version, I'm curious..... I think we should all be a little more open to new technologies. Jerwin, when you get yours , give us the straight goods on your opinion. The video sample seems fine. Looking forward to a review.
Cheers
 
M3Ukulele said:
For the HPL version, I'm curious..... I think we should all be a little more open to new technologies.
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Why, though? I'm perfectly satisfied with solid wood ukuleles, don't live in a climate where there are potential problems with them, and I have yet to hear a ukulele without a solid wood top that sounds as good as a solid top instrument to me. Even e-koa/Clara sounds somewhat plastic-bucket-like to me.

The only advantages of artificial materials that I can see are of an environmental nature, but I doubt that a mass produced artificial material ukulele from China is benefiting the environment more than a solid wood ukulele. I also feel that quality products offer long term environmental benefits as they are less likely to end up in a land fill.
 
Mivo said:
Why, though? I'm perfectly satisfied with solid wood ukuleles, don't live in a climate where there are potential problems with them, and I have yet to hear a ukulele without a solid wood top that sounds as good as a solid top instrument to me. Even e-koa/Clara sounds somewhat plastic-bucket-like to me.
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I'm kinda with you. I'd choose solid wood over anything. But HPL does have a place. Martin use HPL for a lot of their guitars. It's a good choice for travel guitars in particular, being loud, light, strong, stable and durable. Apparently difficult to fix if broken though. And Martin's HPL might be something very different to Enya's.

My concern for the Enya X1 is the 1mm thickness, as in my experience excessively thin soundboards rapidly lose tonal character.
 
I have nothing against new materials and such, I'm just in the "never change a winning team" kind of camp, so as long as new materials don't offer anything to me that improve on the traditional ones, I stick to the latter as long as they're available. I'd have a vastly different view on this if I lived in a geographical region where I'd have to worry about the wood cracking, though, or if I traveled a lot with my instrument. All relative. :)
 
FinnP said:
This one looks nice too, it's supposed to be solid koa, but there's no review to found anywhere:
http://eu.banggood.com/Wholesale-Warehouse-Kaka-23-Inch-26-Inch-Full-Solid-Koa-Ukulele-with-Gig-Bag-KUCT-KAD-wp-Eu-1030896.html
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That's the one I originally bought, from a local (Australian) seller. But he cancelled my order on advice from Enya that there are some issues with the quality of existing solid Koa stock and an estimated 4 weeks wait for remedied units. So I got the mahogany version of the same model.

KUC-KAD and KUT-KAD are indeed full solid Koa (concert & tenor respectively), with radiused fretboard, slotted headstock, some pretty fretboard inlay, and a very high gloss finish. And they come with Enya strings. KUC-MAD and KUT-MAD are the same in solid mahogany (the front/sides of mine seem to be Khaya, while the back appears to be Sapele).

These are the top of the Kaka range, and share a lot with the cheaper Enya models. EUC-K1, EUT-K1 are Koa, EUC-M1 and EUT-M1 are mahogany, -CA models are camphor wood. Same body, fretboard & bridge, but without the slotted headstock or fretboard inlay. The 2016 versions have the same removable bolt-on neck design as the X1, which might open up some interesting travel options as with the neck off they'd fit within _all dimensions_ of air carry-on baggage.

Beware of the next model down KUC-70 and KUT-70; these are often advertised on Chinese sites with the word 'solid' somewhere in the title or description. The only solid part is the neck, the bodies are 100% laminate. They do make much cheaper models with a solid spruce top and laminated back and sides though.
 
HPL is interesting because it isn't affected by low humidity. I have mostly all solid wood Ukuleles. That is what I prefer except I have Tenor Fluke. I was curious! The HPL in the sound sample sound better than my Fluke. Fluke has laminate top and poly fret board and body. I put Pegheds on it because the friction tuners we BAD IMHO. Martin makes a HPL ukulele that many raves about. Kiawya ( sp?) make a laminate that a lot of people rave about. So, here is something NEW to look at. IF an review is pretty good, I might be temped to spend < $200.00 CND$ to try one but its has to sound pretty good and be intonated. Fit and finish seem OK on picture but you never know. I also just had a solid wood ukulele crack on me despite having it in its case, with Oasis Humidifier and with a Planet Waves Himidipak system. It always is at 50% Humidity in it case but.........

I also like the Blackbird Farallon and I may get one of these. I travel and live in Canada where weather can get extreme - low humidity and cold or lower humidity and high heat. Like I said I'm curious.

I
 
The ukulele did not arrive yet. I will definately let you know, don't worry!

Enya makes beautiful ukuleles and if they make something they consider not the top of their line, they brand it with Kaka. X1 is Enya and they seem to be sure the uke deserves this logo. I have been chatting with a man from China who reviewed the uke (did not understand a word from his review) and he loves it although he also owns ukes from Kanilea and stuff. I know you probably can't compare thse but he said it has it's own beautiful sound character and response and that the craftsmenship of his piece is flawless. It's 100 dollar uke and I really felt like taking the shot. If nothing else, I absolutely adore the uke lookwise.

The thing with cheap solid wood ukes is that these are quite often made from not enough dry materials and cracks may appear over time, although I humidify everthing and try to keep the humidity around 40-50% at places I store my wooden instruments (and RC model planes :D).
I just think that great laminated/plywood or other alternative material instrument which is well-made can beat poop quality solid wood instrument.

A few weeks ago I have purchased ukulele from a German brand called Ortega. The model is RU-5, my gf intends to carry it around to work (kindergarden teacher) and travel alot with that so again, we went for cheap uke (80 dollars), but it was not intended so at the first place. The uke is Ortega RU-5 - concert size, quite thin plywood. And guess what - it sounds so incredibly good, has bound fretboard and the neck feels amazing. I adore the sound. I am scared to admit it but I like it more than my Kala Acacia concert ukulele. If I compare these from the point of price I should probably visit a doctor to check my ears. But hey, my gf is a musician since her 6 years of age (she is an accordeon and keyboard player) and she shares my opinion. I also was blown away by Kiwaya laminated ukes which I find sounding amazing. Good laminated instrument needs less old beautiful trees to be put down and still can do the job. My uke dream is to purchase AAA solid hawaian koa uke but my skills and account balance is not quite ready for that step yet. But one day... hopefuly!

BTW: That Kaka solid koa ukulele - I am quite sure it's Akacia, not an actual Koa.
 
Last edited:
did you mean the one I posted? It has enya on the labels ... though you are probably correct - the listing says 'A Koa' :)
 
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