Fluke Question.

Hello all,

I am considering buying a Fluke Tenor. I have read quite a few reviews and all seem good. What I am wondering about is the polycarbonate fret board. A few reviews mentioned that they wear down fairly quickly. The chain where I am intending to buy does not stock the wood fret board.

I am a newbie who has a concert size and I am looking into tenor.
I don’t gig but do belong to a Uke Circle. Any Fluke player have issues with the build, especially the fret board.....

rps said:

Hello all,

I am considering buying a Fluke Tenor. I have read quite a few reviews and all seem good. What I am wondering about is the polycarbonate fret board. A few reviews mentioned that they wear down fairly quickly. The chain where I am intending to buy does not stock the wood fret board.

I am a newbie who has a concert size and I am looking into tenor.
I don’t gig but do belong to a Uke Circle. Any Fluke player have issues with the build, especially the fret board.....

Click to expand...

I believe the prevailing wisdom is that wound strings such as a wound low g chew up the plastic fretboard. As long as you avoid those, you should be fine. So, you could still play low g, but all the strings would have to be fluorocarbon.

I seem to recall reading that if your fretboard does show wear due to using fluorocarbon strings, etc, Magic Fluke Co will replace your fretboard for free.

Good luck!

Those are great instruments. You can check with the folks at Magic Fluke, but they hold up really well. I would think it would take years of hard playing to see any deterioration. I had one for a number of years and saw no change. I am sure lots of people here will weigh in with their experiences.

My Fluke has been my daily player for almost 20 years now. It has survived nylon, nylgut and fluorocarbon strings -- never wound -- and the plastic frets show no sign of wear.

The area between frets where your fingers go, it looks a little smoother and shinier in a few spots. Like the 2nd string, 1st fret where I've rocked between an F and G7 chord rather more than a few times over the past 20 years. I'm trying to do the math on that, and I give up.

I'll second the sentiments here. If you don't install wound strings, the plastic fretboard is extremely durable.

My Fluke tenor is 3 -4 years old. I have tried all kinds of string but never do a low g or a wound low g. My poly fretboard is fine. No wear with lots of play. I do paint the frets each year for visual help. LOL.

I was also worried so purchased a second poly keyboard for $10-12 from MFC. Totally not necessary.

In hind site, I wish I had gotten a wooden fret board. I think it would be nicer but the poly is just fine.

My laminate mahogany sound board has gotten better sounding with age as it dried out.

I could not stand the friction tuners so purchased pegheds and a inexpensive reamer. Very easy and simple install.

Stock, base unit is fine.

Doing it again, I would get wooden keyboard, order pegheds and probably a solid Koa or spruce top, if this was to be my main player.

I actually got it for a Father’s Day gift. I wanted a Uke I could take anywhere and. Not worry about it or humidity. I’ve flow with I it a gig bag. These Flukes are great.

Long and short of it, don’t worry about poly keyboard.

Have fun.

Some folks have complained about being able to see the plastic fret board well in low light conditions. My friend has a lava flea with plastic fret board. After noodling around with his flea, when I ordered my fluke I went with the wood fret board. Kind of a personal choice.