Updated Bruce Wei Consensus?

Thanks for commenting, but I'm really just adding my experience to the conversation and not looking for a solution.

No more of Bruce Wei for me.

This is absolutely a fair point, which you are entitled to do--you've added to a thread asking about buyer experience.

Just for clarity's sake, one of the things that is hard with ukulele is to know when people have unreasonable expectations vs. reasonable ones. I've seen people (even recently) bent out of shape over a $50 ukulele that they said looked, sounded, and played great because of an issue they caused on the ukulele, and then slammed the brand over the Internets about it.

Joe, I don't think that's you, but I know I have a knee-jerk reaction to negative statements about instruments and that statement is always, "Did you contact the company?" Sometimes people have, and the company doesn't do anything.

I also think we think these ukulele companies are giant corporations. The actual companies themselves are quite small. Big brands simply buy ukuleles from factories in China (albeit with some say in the specifications and QC), and smaller brands are often one builder, or one master builder with a team.

All that is to say that I'd still suggest that you reach out to Bruce Wei and let him know what you think, if you haven't already. There may be nothing you can do, or you might find that he goes out of his way to make you happy. At the very least, you will have made an effort which may help the products improved for the next buyer. That's my mindset in just about everything--and not all companies are happy to receive feedback (ukulele or otherwise).

Some people don't feel that is their role, and that's understandable, too.

And finally, I want to reiterate that your thoughts and experiences are absolutely valid, and worthy to be shared.
 
What did you mean by needing a neck reset?

Sight down the neck and see if its parallel with the top (flat set neck) or if its at an angle (very slight angle) to the top.
Guitars are usually built with a slight angle between the neck and the top.
Ukuleles are traditionally built (although its not a hard and fast rule) with the neck being parallel with the top and yes, this does mean the the saddle needs to be very low in order to get a low action.

Anthonyg
I've been playing stringed instruments for a little over 50 years now and I know that the neck angle is incorrect.
Sorry but that's my last comment on this.

Choirguy
I understand all the points you are making. Thank you.
 
Anthonyg
I've been playing stringed instruments for a little over 50 years now and I know that the neck angle is incorrect.
Sorry but that's my last comment on this.

BoxCarJoe.

What on earth do you mean by "the neck angle is incorrect".
I've been trying to point out to you that ukuleles DON'T traditionally have a neck angle. They are traditionally FLAT. (This doesn't preclude anyone from building a ukulele with neck angle however if they wish to.)
If you don't know this then your not in a position to pass judgement.
 
BoxCarJoe.

What on earth do you mean by "the neck angle is incorrect".
I've been trying to point out to you that ukuleles DON'T traditionally have a neck angle. They are traditionally FLAT. (This doesn't preclude anyone from building a ukulele with neck angle however if they wish to.)
If you don't know this then your not in a position to pass judgement.

Ok one more last comment on this.

If you put a straight edge on the fret board you will see the neck is not flat to the body it is angled towards the body. That's why the action is uncomfortably high at the upper frets.

I'm not sure why this was not obvious from my previous posts. Perhaps your not reading them? You seem like that kind of guy.

I am happy for all who love their Bruce Wei's instruments. They sure are pretty and unique.
I'm not trying to unfairly trash him.

But my experience was not the same as yours. I spent a lot on a wall hanger.
 
Ok one more last comment on this.
If you put a straight edge on the fret board you will see the neck is not flat to the body it is angled towards the body. That's why the action is uncomfortably high at the upper frets.
I'm not sure why this was not obvious from my previous posts. Perhaps your not reading them? You seem like that kind of guy.
I am happy for all who love their Bruce Wei's instruments. They sure are pretty and unique.
I'm not trying to unfairly trash him.
But my experience was not the same as yours. I spent a lot on a wall hanger.

OK, if the neck IS angled to be higher from the sound board at the tuner end and then dropping down to the soundboard at the 12th fret then that IS an error.
What you should appreciate is that people complaining about ukulele necks needing a reset because they are FLAT with the soundboard is common, when in fact ukulele necks flat to the soundboard is traditional practice.
I really tried to get clear information from you because I thought you were asking a question when in fact you weren't really asking a question. Without clear information as to what the issue really was I wasn't going to agree with you about anything.

As you have described with the neck angled higher at the tuner end, that is an error. You really should talk to brucewei about it.
 
I'm not trying to unfairly trash him. I spent a lot on a wall hanger.

Your posts, for all intent and purposes, is unfairly trashing him. To not contact him and assume what he will or will not do is short-sighted, he took care of a problem for me immediately. You should have contacted him and if he did not resolve the issue, only them should you put up a post to complain. The onus is on you, not Bruce.
 
Newbie question: are "Bruce Wei" ukuleles all made by one person? Or is this a factory with many employees?
 
Your posts, for all intent and purposes, is unfairly trashing him. To not contact him and assume what he will or will not do is short-sighted, he took care of a problem for me immediately. You should have contacted him and if he did not resolve the issue, only them should you put up a post to complain. The onus is on you, not Bruce.

One last time.

This is not a complaint post.

Also I never specified my relation with Bruce on this matter. You are assuming that I have refused to contact him.

You guys assume a lot. And free discussion seems to be absent here.
 
And free discussion seems to be absent here.

On the contrary. People are reacting to the posts you have written. No one is prohibiting you writing anything or expressing your views in any way (outside the terms of service, of course). Seems pretty free to me.
 
One last time.

This is not a complaint post.

Also I never specified my relation with Bruce on this matter. You are assuming that I have refused to contact him.

You guys assume a lot. And free discussion seems to be absent here.

Your words: "As for contacting Bruce, I certainly thought of that. But I can't imagine how he would address "It sounds terrible". How would he fix that?...
...A neck reset I would absolutely appreciate, but I don't know if he would do that."

Hmmmm... It is your words which lead readers to assume you have not contacted him.

Otherwise, I think your initial post was fair and it went a little sour on some of the back and forth on the neck set.
 
Newbie question: are "Bruce Wei" ukuleles all made by one person? Or is this a factory with many employees?

Brucewei's business practices have changed over time and I can't say for certain exactly what he's doing right now.
It used to be that bucewei was the middleman/seller for a couple of small builders with a handful of employee's. For the last few years I believe that he has been building them himself.
 
Brucewei's business practices have changed over time and I can't say for certain exactly what he's doing right now.
It used to be that bucewei was the middleman/seller for a couple of small builders with a handful of employee's. For the last few years I believe that he has been building them himself.

Let me add to that please. Bruce told me specifically that for a while he allowed other builders to sell on his eBay store, but he realized that the poor quality ukes were giving him a bad name, even though he did not build them, so he stopped that years ago. I just sent him an email asking who actually builds his custom and ready made ukes. It's just after midnight here in Los Angeles (Sunday to Monday), 2:12 PM Monday in Vietnam. I might get a quick answer.
 
Mike, did you get a response. I am considering getting a D hole tenor like the one you got from BW.

Yes, sorry I neglected to post here. He wrote, "All the instruments & parts (except bone/horn) in my eBay store, as well as custom made, have been built in my workshop in Vietnam. I'm Taiwanese, my family is in Vietnam so most of my time is spent working with my staff in my workshop there."

In the last few days I've seen a couple of gypsy style on his eBay store, with D and oval sound hole. My custom including a tailpiece, which I don't see anymore, was $780 including shipping. The ready made are around $600 including shipping.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bruce-Wei-...870536?hash=item48f9e047c8:g:FyUAAOSw-sFgF2Gp

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bruce-Wei-...110392?hash=item48fa20f9b8:g:rjUAAOSwwGdf8paF

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bruce-Wei-...008422?hash=item48f9f1a4a6:g:Ya8AAOSwq3dgD5G3
 
Bill is making a lot of assumptions about dave.howe, first, Dave never mentioned a custom, and "...when you know absolutely nothing about playing or owning ukuleles," how did you discern that from Dave's post? I'm not sure who Bill is referring to about playing stringed instruments for 50 years, is it me? Before I ordered my first custom, I went through 16. With my first hand experience of Bruce's ukes, he does good work.
 
I received a tenor mahogany ukulele with fancy abalone work on the back from Bruce Wei in Late May 2022. It had a bit high action but a nice sound. Not too loud but sweet.
Within 4 weeks the back split -a 4 inch serious crack at the bottom that my luthier said rendered it defective. bruce agreed to take it back and try to repair. I think it’s not repairable so we will see what happens. He is paying for the shipping back. More to report.
 
I bought a BW mahogany tenor with elaborate abalone design on back. Sounds sweet. Not too loud. Within four weeks it developed a 4 inch serious crack on back. My luthier says it is a lost cause. Bruce agreed to pay shipping costs back and forth to do a full repair replacing the back. We will see how it goes.
 
Yes, sorry I neglected to post here. He wrote, "All the instruments & parts (except bone/horn) in my eBay store, as well as custom made, have been built in my workshop in Vietnam. I'm Taiwanese, my family is in Vietnam so most of my time is spent working with my staff in my workshop there."

In the last few days I've seen a couple of gypsy style on his eBay store, with D and oval sound hole. My custom including a tailpiece, which I don't see anymore, was $780 including shipping. The ready made are around $600 including shipping.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bruce-Wei-...870536?hash=item48f9e047c8:g:FyUAAOSw-sFgF2Gp

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bruce-Wei-...110392?hash=item48fa20f9b8:g:rjUAAOSwwGdf8paF

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bruce-Wei-...008422?hash=item48f9f1a4a6:g:Ya8AAOSwq3dgD5G3
It looks like he is reducing the ebay store in favour of Etsy. There used to 100s of ukes available now only 43 on eBay and about 86 on Etsy available to Canada. Maybe more in other countries. Cheapest one more than Can$540. This is very expensive stuff now.
 
It looks like he is reducing the ebay store in favour of Etsy. There used to 100s of ukes available now only 43 on eBay and about 86 on Etsy available to Canada. Maybe more in other countries. Cheapest one more than Can$540. This is very expensive stuff now.
I think a good portion of his price increase is the shipping, and even cost of materials.
 
Interesting that this thread is being revived... I'll comment on mine one more time, although I did a review of it when it first arrived just short of one year ago. (see reviews section, almost exactly one year ago... there is a photo there also)

I bought a shallow body "travel" tenor... I'll admit it, I was smitten by the inlay work in the photo. I paid $340 I think, and after $80 in shipping and tax it was $444 total. It has a cut out, those wing like inlays with holes drilled through them (like an ovation has) on the face, and three small square sound holes on the side of (only) upper bout. It has no insignia on the head stock and no label inside. It came with a photocopied half sheet of green paper stating is was a genuine BruceWeiArts production and admonishing me to keep it is a case with a humidifier. I also came with a cheap vinyl case.

It sounds and plays really nicely. But the output is really low. I've grown used to my Kala SSTU-T travel tenor - which absolutely roars. The tone is a bit thin on the SSTU, but the volume is remarkable!

Although the tone and intonation is really excellent on the BWA, and the set up also very good, it doesn't stand up when being played with other instruments. If I was doing that a lot, I'd need to add a pickup and amp. I played it outdoors with a small group of guitar, cajon and a second uke and it just disappeared. It just doesn't cut through like my Kala does (which I switched back to for our recent performance).

It sounds really magical when I'm alone on my couch however. There is something very special about the tone, which reminds me of a mandolin sometimes. Really sweet sounding in it's own quiet way.

But of course, there is also a horror story included with this purchase, as well. A story I've read about before...

So, I took it out of the box (very well packed BTW) and removed the (sealed) plastic bag. I enjoyed it right from the first strum. I played it for a couple of hours, set it on the couch, and went to bed.

I picked it up the next day, and to my horror, two big cracks had opened up in the face below the bridge. One was advancing toward the bridge and threatening to spread under it. I immediately put it into a (solid) case with a humidifier and didn't touch it for a month.

I attempted to contact BWA via the email on the sheet enclosed, but never received an answer.

But also on this sheet, at the very top... and first thing written there... is the following statement:

"To protect your instrument in the best condition and to prevent it's body from cracking as well as prevent it's neck from flexing, a 'Humidifier' is encouraged to use. As you know if the temperature is so dry or humid is able to damage your instrument".

Well, to be fair, I did not follow this advice to the letter and so I guess it's my fault that this happened... I was warned. I never in a million years would have guessed that this would have happened over the course of 12 hours, however.

Anyhow, I still play it all the time and love how it plays and sounds. It's a bummer that any re-sale value it might have had has disappeared but I don't really think about that too much. It's fun and easy to play and a bit magical in how it sounds.

So the Bruce Wei cracking problem is real, a common problem from what I've gleaned from these boards... but the frets are not an issue thankfully. The neck is... bound? Is that the right term? Anyhow the fret ends are buried behind a strip of wood so there is no way they can stick out.

I'm looking at those two cracks now as I type and they are widening as summer begins. They closed up in the winter and are opening again as it dries out here in Sonoma County in Northern California (Currently: 91 degrees, 22% RH) so I think I'll soak a humidifier and put it back into a case until the current hot spell passes.

I really love this great sounding thin body uke, but it's been difficult to watch these two cracks evolve over the past year. They appear to have stabilized but who knows what the future holds. If I knew then what I know now, I'm not so sure I would have made the purchase. It just too nerve racking...

One more thing: As KohanMike has commented, BWA's shipping prices have gone up. Last summer it was $80, this summer it's $100 for most of the ukes listed on eBay. That does indirectly run the cost up a bit but probably does not help BWA any... shipping is costly these days!
 
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