quietosprey
Member
I decided to go ahead and try this out! This is model SU-084 from Aiersi, and it currently sells for $49.00 on Amazon. I would without a doubt class this as a budget uke, and in my opinion, it's quite good for the money!
I will note that I have never played a ukulele before this, but I do have prior experience with stringed instruments if that counts for anything. Here goes.
The top, back and sides are all laminate spalted maple, and it really looks quite nice. If it hadn't played well, I would have kept it as a decoration. The binding is solid maple and with abalone inlaid, to match the rosette. The wood doesn't appear to be too thick when I look at the edge of the soundhole -- all in all, it's a good looking instrument for the money. I can't find any flaws with it's appearance, and the details in the Amazon description seem to be accurate.
Not much more to say about that. The back is very slightly arched. Overall, very neat, but aesthetics aren't everything.
There are 18 white copper frets and the edges are smooth and comfortable. There are abalone fret markers, which are repeated on the side. The setup is actually almost perfect, which I was nervous about buying from Amazon. In any case, it doesn't need fixing.
The tuners are gear tuners. Pretty standard I'd assume, but they work well, and for day one the tuning is holding pretty good.
It came with a black gig bag, a recorder (?), a strap, two picks, and a cleaning cloth. The gig bag was advertised as foam but if there is any foam there's not a lot, and it smells awful. It won't be doing any protecting but it's good for carrying it around. The strap has a plastic hook for the sound hole, if you want it. I have no idea what the recorder is for, though. Strings are Aquila.
The sound is the most important though! The volume is alright. It's probably not the loudest (I lack experience to tell you, though), but it's not bad at all and the resonance is actually pretty impressive. I'm not sure how to describe the sound, except that it sounds like a ukulele. It's very traditional and bright -- it's not the fanciest by any means but it's functional. I'd say it plays pretty well.
I'm not sure what else to say, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to a beginner. It's well made, and it sounds nice. I won't be doing any sound demonstrations just yet -- I can only play four chords and it's very new -- but I'm impressed. You really can't go wrong with this for $49 and prime shipping.
If I should add anything to this, let me know. As I said, I have very limited ukulele experience and I don't doubt that I left something out!
I might come back to this when I get more experience but, hey. This works.
I will note that I have never played a ukulele before this, but I do have prior experience with stringed instruments if that counts for anything. Here goes.
The top, back and sides are all laminate spalted maple, and it really looks quite nice. If it hadn't played well, I would have kept it as a decoration. The binding is solid maple and with abalone inlaid, to match the rosette. The wood doesn't appear to be too thick when I look at the edge of the soundhole -- all in all, it's a good looking instrument for the money. I can't find any flaws with it's appearance, and the details in the Amazon description seem to be accurate.
Not much more to say about that. The back is very slightly arched. Overall, very neat, but aesthetics aren't everything.
There are 18 white copper frets and the edges are smooth and comfortable. There are abalone fret markers, which are repeated on the side. The setup is actually almost perfect, which I was nervous about buying from Amazon. In any case, it doesn't need fixing.
The tuners are gear tuners. Pretty standard I'd assume, but they work well, and for day one the tuning is holding pretty good.
It came with a black gig bag, a recorder (?), a strap, two picks, and a cleaning cloth. The gig bag was advertised as foam but if there is any foam there's not a lot, and it smells awful. It won't be doing any protecting but it's good for carrying it around. The strap has a plastic hook for the sound hole, if you want it. I have no idea what the recorder is for, though. Strings are Aquila.
The sound is the most important though! The volume is alright. It's probably not the loudest (I lack experience to tell you, though), but it's not bad at all and the resonance is actually pretty impressive. I'm not sure how to describe the sound, except that it sounds like a ukulele. It's very traditional and bright -- it's not the fanciest by any means but it's functional. I'd say it plays pretty well.
I'm not sure what else to say, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to a beginner. It's well made, and it sounds nice. I won't be doing any sound demonstrations just yet -- I can only play four chords and it's very new -- but I'm impressed. You really can't go wrong with this for $49 and prime shipping.
If I should add anything to this, let me know. As I said, I have very limited ukulele experience and I don't doubt that I left something out!
I might come back to this when I get more experience but, hey. This works.
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