Jim Hanks
Well-known member
NUD Flamed Mango Guitalele by Pelem Ukulele
http://www.pelemukulele.com/guitalele.html
This should be my last NUD for awhile - unless Romero Creations puts out a mango TT6. That was basically the inspiration for this one. I still think that would be a great instrument, but after one didn't materialize after Romero's first run of TT6s, I went looking for alternatives and ran across this builder in Indonesia. There is very little out there about Pelem Ukulele other than their web site and a few YouTube demos. So this was a bit of a gamble, but as the cost was reasonable, I decided to roll the dice.
Here are the specs:
17" tenor scale
46mm nut width
Top/back/sides/headplate - flamed mango
Fingerboard/nut/bridge/saddle - rosewood
Neck - mahogany
Geared tuners
ADGCEA tuning with black nylon (?) strings
Here's an image gallery:
https://imgur.com/a/wPTMbTh
Pros: pretty wood, tidy build, sounds good, low instrument cost
Cons: flat fretboard, nut sticking, strings meh, high shipping cost
I'm withholding tonal judgements until I try some more strings. I'm not a big fan of the black nylons that came on it. So far, the sound is pleasant, if a little muted, but I'm really thinking (hoping) clear nylon, or better yet probably, fluorocarbons, will bring out some chime from this mango. We'll see. But in the meantime, here's what it sounds like out of the box:
http://www.pelemukulele.com/guitalele.html
This should be my last NUD for awhile - unless Romero Creations puts out a mango TT6. That was basically the inspiration for this one. I still think that would be a great instrument, but after one didn't materialize after Romero's first run of TT6s, I went looking for alternatives and ran across this builder in Indonesia. There is very little out there about Pelem Ukulele other than their web site and a few YouTube demos. So this was a bit of a gamble, but as the cost was reasonable, I decided to roll the dice.
Here are the specs:
17" tenor scale
46mm nut width
Top/back/sides/headplate - flamed mango
Fingerboard/nut/bridge/saddle - rosewood
Neck - mahogany
Geared tuners
ADGCEA tuning with black nylon (?) strings
Here's an image gallery:
https://imgur.com/a/wPTMbTh
Pros: pretty wood, tidy build, sounds good, low instrument cost
Cons: flat fretboard, nut sticking, strings meh, high shipping cost
I'm withholding tonal judgements until I try some more strings. I'm not a big fan of the black nylons that came on it. So far, the sound is pleasant, if a little muted, but I'm really thinking (hoping) clear nylon, or better yet probably, fluorocarbons, will bring out some chime from this mango. We'll see. But in the meantime, here's what it sounds like out of the box: