Solid Electric Ukulele for Rocking Out: Nylon v. Steel Strings?

SlingshotCannon

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I'm a long-time keyboard player, who picked up a ukulele (Outdoor Tenor) a couple of months ago - my first stringed instrument. I quite like it, and have gotten passably proficient at the beginner level.

I am now planning to add a solid-body electric ukulele to my arsenal, to use for recording rock-style music. My question is: given that I want to play rock, would I be foolish to buy a Magic Fluke SB Tenor? I ask because while I am confident it is a fine instrument generally, it has nylon strings, and I understand that steel strings are considered more standard for rock, which would point in the direction of either a Risa or the (relatively new?) Sparrow steel-string solid bodies.

My main reason for favoring the Magic Fluke is that I'm in driving distance of their store, so I could go, try it, pick it up in-person, and, should there ever be a problem, bring it back for servicing. By contrast, the Risa ukuleles are from overseas (which means it would have to be shipped internationally, among other headaches). The Sparrow, while in the US (Richmond, VA), is too far to reasonably drive, so it doesn't have the same convenience for testing, servicing, etc.

All three are approximately the same price, so that's not a deciding factor.

I guess what I'm asking as a primarily-keyboardist is: is rocking out on nylon strings reasonable (adding effects on top of the raw signal, obviously)? Or is a Risa or Sparrow much better for my intended purpose, meaning that I should bite the bullet, put aside the conveniences of locality, and order something from further away?

Thanks for any insights anyone has!
 
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Hey Slingshot! Welcome to the Underground. :) You can definitely rock out on a nylon string electric. It depends on the specific sounds that you are looking for, but it works for me. :) wailing solos may be better left to steelstrings, (or an electric guitar) but just getting a rock sound is not too hard. Check my Youtube original songs for an idea of the sounds I get. here are also much more professional examples as well :) Look up The Overdriver Duo on Youtube, their uke rock covers are excellent.
 
Thanks manfrog, that's really helpful, and puts my mind at ease about going with the local option. I'll definitely be checking out your YouTube and the Overdriver Duo for a sense of the rock sounds that are possible!
 
I have one of each, steel and nylon solid bodies, both by Clearwater (in UK,Vorson in USA). With the two pickups, you can get a wider range of sound on the steelie and it sounds more rock and roll. Perhaps you might experiment with one of these as they are cheap. You still get some wild sounds with either one. Your amp is as important as the instrument. I use a Roland Cube 30x which models a range of amp setups.
 
I'd also suggest steel strings if you want to make the most of effects, whilst nylon/fluorocarbon ukes work with effects, they are nothing like the range that steel strings allow.

(I also have a Clearwater tenor & a Roland amp, but mines a Micro Cube.)
 
I have Godin Mulituke usually play it through a Fishman Loudbox mini 60W. But when I want to have a little loud fun I play it through my son's 100w Fender with about 100 preset effects......sometimes a Vox mini 5 as well as it has built in effects

This past August I played through my brothers effects board ( about 8 to 10 peddles) and a medium power tube amp. The sound and fun I had with that were great!

After watching the HMS guys and one of their podcasts I want to go out and buy a T-Rex SoulMate Acoustic Multi-effect pedal array.....

The Godin will never have the sustain of steel string magnetic pick up instrument......but it has a solid sound.

I wanted the clean nylon sound I get with my current set up but I like that I can mod and do effects when I want to,,,, it's just a matter of matching gear and setting it all up for the sound I might desire......

If I wanted steel strings I would buy a Risa Les Paul.....but that's me....
 
Thanks everyone for the additional thoughts. I’ve considered the Vorson, but I see widely varying reviews. I think I’m still leaning towards the Magic Fluke SB all things considered, but maybe I’ll take a gamble on getting a Vorson too. At just north of $100, I’m tempted, although I know that going down that path leads to unbridled UAS...
 
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Not that I’m 1/100th this good, but thus guy has an awesome rock tone and is not using a magnetic pickup (although in my newness to the ukulele / stringed instrument world I’m not 100% sure what kind of strings he’s using).

 
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Not that I’m 1/100th this good, but thus guy has an awesome rock tone and is not using a magnetic pickup (although in my newness to the ukulele / stringed instrument world I’m not 100% sure what kind of strings he’s using).



This is a little deceptive in that he is playing over a backing track. It's a decent Metal tone from a software amplifier simulation for the part he is playing live, but its not all live. Its just an acoustic ukulele with fluorocarbon strings (nylon type, not steel).
As you can see, you don't even need a solid body ukulele to record a Metal/Rock tone if you use some technology however this would be a little harder to achieve in a live stage performance situation.
If you wanted to plug your ukulele into a genuine tube amplifier and get an authentic Rock tone then steel strings is the way to go yet with modern technology you can do a lot with any old ukulele.
 
There is only one solid bodied UKE for Rocking.

All other Ukes fall into also ran status compared to the one.

RISA either in Les Paul, Strat or Tele format

Either

RISA LP
or
RISA ST
or
RISA TE

662823AB-F372-42F4-B15E-44A85DA6F575.jpg
 
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There is only one solid bodied UKE for Rocking.

All other Ukes fall into also ran status compared to the one.

RISA either in Les Paul, Strat or Tele format

The RISAs do look incredible and I've heard consistently good things about them, but I'm in the US and just am not comfortable shipping a potentially delicate $600 instrument like that internationally and overseas, with the attendant headaches if there's anything wrong and I have to send it back. Every now and then one becomes available domestically here, but I'd rather not play the "wait and pounce" game either.

I am still mulling between the (nylon string) Fluke SB, which is fairly local, and the (steel string) Sparrow, which least is domestic to the US. I have every confidence the Fluke is a generally excellent instrument, and am fairly convinced it will rock perfectly well for my purposes (even with nylon strings). But the Sparrow looks terrific too, and does have steel strings. But it is pretty new, so there aren't many reviews yet, and it's too far to drive to test out.

Yes, first world problems indeed.
 
The Risa is no delicate product, they are robust and built to last.

Ukes already travel from where they are made be it China, elsewhere in the far East and even Hawaii to mainland US and survive the shipping.

That said if you would be happier with a USA made uke the Sparrow would be the better choice, a proper pickup rather than piezo will make a better sound for Rock.

Good luck with your buy and Rock On
 
It depends a lot on what you mean by rocking out. If you want heavy distortion then go with steel strings.

If you want a RISA (a good choice, though far from the only choice) Mim has a couple of RISA strats in the US right now (https://www.mimsukes.com/brand/risa-1 ).

I went with the Vorson at an impulse-buy price (the Amazon price fluctuates significantly) The quality control isn't great, but all of the problems I had were readily fixable and once set-up it's pretty sweet. Setting up an electric is easier than setting up an acoustic (adjustable bridge FTW - no sanding the saddle, and everything's reversible if you go to far). If you can do that yourself they're a good deal. I didn't have any electronics problems, but I've heard of others having to fix bad solder connections. They're returnable from Amazon if you get a bad one, so not much risk there (looks like they're on the "free returns" program, so even less risk).

I like the Vorson's sounds with electric guitar effects than any of my nylon-string acoustic-electric ukes with effects.
 
You could go custom with a Jonathan Mann SEU-T, they are as good as a steel string solid body gets:)
 
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