Steel String Solid Body Tenor Uke Recommendations

Hello, I'm in search of a solid body electric uke, tenor size, with steel strings, something similar to the Vorson FSUK-1. I actually ordered 2 of these from Amazon (original and exchange), and both were defective. They also suffered from a buzzing hum when plugged in. Does anybody know a reliable place to get one of these Vorsons (either the strat or lp or whichever style, it doesn't matter)? I liked them for what I needed, but the bad units I got made them practically unusable.

Otherwise, can anybody recommend a similar model from another brand? I'd like to use it for some experimental tracks I'm working on.

I've already got amps and effects and such, so don't need that

Blue Star Guitar Konablaster : https://www.elderly.com/blue-star-k...ctric-tenor-ukulele-blonde-bomber-edition.htm

This one is a bit pricey but you could order a less deluxe model direct for about half that.

Probably not what you want and likely too costly, but there are always the various electric solid body ukes by Risa, like this one.

Yes, RISA are the best commercially available off the peg solid electrics, at a price - Vorson/Clearwater are made to a price - but you can likely upgrade all the bits from a local guitar shop. (I've got a Clearwater that seems to be OK.)

Thanks for the suggestions guys. That Risa looks great! and the demos sound great as well. Not too happy with the price lol, but it is worth it. I must mention I own a Risa stick, so I know their stuff is good quality.

For now, is there nothing cheaper that I could get elsewhere?
@Croaky Keith, may I ask where you got your Vorson from? You're saying it doesn't suffer from that horrible hum when turned up? I've read that this hum is normal for single coil pickups, and I've also read of people around the web who claim to have fixed the issue, but of course nobody's saying how they did it, so that's as far as I got with that. But if I could find an ok sounding unit, I'd be happy for now, as I'm mainly experimenting with some new stuff; if I decided to go through with it, I could justify the purchase of one of those Risa or 1 of the other models suggested above
I don't think the Vorson uses standard guitar parts (pickups and such) correct? So upgrading it wouldn't be as easy, and even then, I'd have to consider the price of the upgrades/improvements, and if it would be worth it for a $120 uke...

Any thoughts or ideas welcome!

I picked up my Clearwater pre used, so don't know if any work was done on it, but it seems OK to me, (I just run mine through a Micro Cube amp).

Concert size but Agile makes decent instruments, I have a six string Agile guitar and it is one of my favorites.
http://www.rondomusic.com/product9804.html

I've owned several brands of steel string electrics.
The Risa are indeed among the best, and "in a way" are worth the price. They are made in Germany, and are priced similarly to some high quality electric guitars.

That being said, I also did own a Vorson.
And yes, right out of the box, they come with a crappy setup and tends to buzz and stuff.
But with my LP model, I managed to get it setup with a decent sound. It took some work (and some modifications to the headstock to get the truss rod to work), but the sound quality was pretty usable. The quality is comparable to some of the entry level electric guitars like cheap Squiers and Epiphones.


Even the Risa's benefit from a setup. Straight from the manufacturer, they come with a bit too much tension for my liking. I like to take the action down a bit, and replace the stock strings with something less tension, like the DGBE strings from a .009 set strung up to GCEA.

Thanks for the info @Kissing!

I'm just going to save up to get a Risa later, as I do agree they are great quality. In the mean time, I'd like to get a Vorson working to acceptable use to start messing around with. Could you share what you did to your's to get it sounding better? If you purchased new, where did you purchase from? Amazon was a disaster for me, so I'm wanting to try another seller. I saw AMS has them, thinking about pulling the trigger again. My Amazon purchase was the Strat model, not sure if I should go for that again, or try the LP or other model? I thought the model was just the shell's design, didn't think there would be a difference in performance

DJX said:

Thanks for the info @Kissing!

I'm just going to save up to get a Risa later, as I do agree they are great quality. In the mean time, I'd like to get a Vorson working to acceptable use to start messing around with. Could you share what you did to your's to get it sounding better? If you purchased new, where did you purchase from? Amazon was a disaster for me, so I'm wanting to try another seller. I saw AMS has them, thinking about pulling the trigger again. My Amazon purchase was the Strat model, not sure if I should go for that again, or try the LP or other model? I thought the model was just the shell's design, didn't think there would be a difference in performance

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I just bought mine off eBay.
From what I know, the different models don't really change in quality. They're just same hardware on different body shape.

The main problem on mine was, when you unscrew the truss rod cover at the headstock, I couldn't get a truss rod key to fit into the hole due to the way it was angled. I had to get a powerdrill with a drill bit and carve away some of the wood, so a truss rod key would fit into the space as for a normal uke/guitar with a truss rod. I'm sure if you took it to a luthier, they'd have a more elegant solution than my drill/dremmelling.

The rest of it was just adjusting the action at the bridge, and adjusting intonation using a screwdriver at the bridge screws.
To be honest, taking it to any luthier with experience in setting up electric guitars would save a lot of trouble, and shouldn't cost much.

Of course, it would be hard to get it to be a "perfect" instrument.
Even at its best, there might be a bit of a rattle here and there. But such imperfections don't really affect the sound when plugged into an amplifier.

I could get it playable with decent action and decent intonation - nothing perfect, but still great value considering the price.
The sound of the pickups seems to be a bit of hit and miss though from what i've read. My single coils were absolutely perfect. Clear, bell like tone and no unwanted buzz.
There could be a slight hum at high gain, which is normal for passive single coil pickups - and I found the Vorson rather hum-free anyway.

If any issues with the pickup itself, perhaps return it for a replacement or refund.

Thanks! I think I'll try it with American Musical and see how it goes. I wouldn't mind a slight hum, as I know those are to be expected with these pickups, but the Amazon units I got were not light hums at all!
If any issues arrise, I might just do as you said and look for a luthier who might be able to lend a hand.
So I'll probably get another Vorson just to play around with, while I save up for the Risa!

Seagull, a sister company of Godin, makes a steel tenor uke. Barry Maz on gotaukulele.com did a review of the Seagull, but I don't remember if it was the steel or the nylon version. It is less expensive than the Godin MultiUke.

Kenn2018 said:

Seagull, a sister company of Godin, makes a steel tenor uke. Barry Maz on gotaukulele.com did a review of the Seagull, but I don't remember if it was the steel or the nylon version. It is less expensive than the Godin MultiUke.

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Thanks. I didn't know about that one, looked it up. The review I found was for a steal soprano. I also learned that they use a pickup strip as oppose to magnetic coils. I would have thought magnetic coils would be more inline with the electric sound of the steal strings? He seems to suggest this as well. Do you know if the tenor or any of the newer models change this?
In any case, more options are always better. I just wish there was an actual uke store (or music store that carried good ukes) nearby where I could go and play around with some of these it would make returns easier too if that was needed.