Guitalele with radiussed fretboard

jnorris235

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 9, 2016
Messages
93
Reaction score
2
Location
Herefordshire
Looking for a baritone style (for space between frets), 50mm nut (same reason), with radiussed fretboard (my tenor pono has this and its great).
I think I have read every guitalele thread on here and tried to compare details - but yet to find if what I want exists! Islander, Kala, Kanilea, Cordoba, Noah, KoAloha flat. Romero way out of my league :(
I have bought a Yamaha GL1 and I find it difficult to play, and not that good a sound. But then it was very cheap and I know its going to cost me a few hundred ££ to get what I want!!
 
Pono makes a baritone sized guilele with a radius fingerboard, but the nut width is less than 50mm, I think more like 44mm.

Having made that same search for years, I'd say Romero is closest to what you are looking for (as far as production line instruments go).
 
Last edited:
Pono makes a baritone sized guilele with a radius fingerboard, but the nut width is less than 50mm, I think more like 44mm.

Having made that same search for years, I'd say Romero is closest to what you are looking for (as far as production line instruments go).

I haven't looked seriously at the Pono but I'd be surprised if it was that narrow. But FWIW, I had the Córdoba C1M with a 44mm nut and it really wasn't bad.

My Jupiter fits the description and is in roughly the same league price-wise as the Romero DH6 (maybe a little higher now). I agree there's nothing "cheap" with a radius.
 
Pono, sadly 45mm! I think the Romero is way put of my price range too. I find switching from a 38mm uke’s 4 strings to a 45mm ukes’s 6 strings too hard for the shapes especially. Fingerpicking would take some getting used to too. Cant find anything over here thats even flat necked to try out. Will email our UK shops which apart from the Uke Room (Matt Stead) are a long way away.
 
Last edited:
Yes, according to HMS specs, the Pono guilele is 1.75" or 44.5mm. Kanile'a's Islander GL6 has a 50mm nut albeit no radius. The GL6 has the most comfortable guilele fingerboard I've played.
 
take published specs with a grain of salt

In my year of trying & buying ukes, I've learned to take published specs with a grain of salt. And even when published nut widths are correct, the shape of the neck matters as it also changes the amount of neck that's in one's hand.

Hand measured, caliper flush on all strings though it may not look like it.
Romero TT6 nut = 50mm
RomeroTT6Knut.jpg

Pono AB6 nut ≈ 48+mm
PonoAB6nut.jpg

I think the whom I bought my baritone-length Pono AB6 happily ended up with a Kanile'a GL6 (no radius, as far as I know). Since Kanile'a also makes Islander GL6's, if you can give up the radius, that may be a more economical option.

Keep in mind classical guitar players usually play, especially fingerpick, on instruments with totally flat fretboards. When fingerpicking, having a radius is, IMO for now, arguably, somewhat less important than strumming a chord since there's a bit of time to adjust the left hand in synch w/ what the right fingers are doing.
When I was looking, I also looked at some parlors/fractional guitars, though budget-wise guitars can be a big step up.

FWIW, I also have another guilele guitarlele kiku that's 42mm at the nut. Definitely too narrow for the vast majority of hands out there.

Am really glad that I am totally done looking for guileles. Good luck w/ your search.

Pono, sadly 45mm! I think the Romero is way put of my price range too. I find switching from a 38mm uke’s 4 strings to a 45mm ukes’s 6 strings too hard for the shapes especially. Fingerpicking would take some getting used to too. Cant find anything over here thats even flat necked to try out. Will email our UK shops which apart from the Uke Room (Matt Stead) are a long way away.
 
Using calipers to measure, the nut on my TT6 is 49.41mm. I'm guessing they all vary a wee bit but wider is always better for me. The Kanile'a GL6 can be ordered with a radius if you do a custom order. I saw one at HMS a few months back.
 
I own the Pono Guilele. It is 48mm nut, not 45mm as stated on the HMS site. I actually purchased it from HMS and told them about the mistake. I am surprised they have not corrected it yet. 20 in scale, with 16in radius fretboard. Very comfortable to play.
 
Thanks everyone. Impossible to spend those hundreds of $£ without handling one, and here in the UK no stores seem to have guitaleles in stock. Noah is another brand, well reviewed. Pono at 48mm sounds good. Visiting NY for a week soon, will see if there is a good store there to actually play one of the brands recommended here.
 
Thanks everyone. Impossible to spend those hundreds of $£ without handling one, and here in the UK no stores seem to have guitaleles in stock. Noah is another brand, well reviewed. Pono at 48mm sounds good. Visiting NY for a week soon, will see if there is a good store there to actually play one of the brands recommended here.
In the UK, Noah is probably the one to get. I asked about it last time I was looking and they would not ship to US.
 
Maybe look into a Spanish requinto (tuned A to A) or alto guitar—they're basically just another term for guitalele. I've seen models from Spanish makers such as Almanza, Alhambra and Ramirez, as well as Japanese models from Aria and Asturias. Also, the terz guitar is worth a look (tuned G to G) and is most common in Germany as I recall.
 
Really and truly.......just get a Cordoba Mini. I know it doesn’t have the *radius* but meets all your other criteria including price. I understand about wanting a radius fretboard, I am a big fan but at your price point it’s not going to happen. I have a Romero baritone 6 string, it’s has a radius but they are over $1000.00. I have played my friends Cordoba Mini with the flat fret board and it sounds and plays extremely close to as good as my Romero.
 
Thanks to Wukulele and Lapyang for actually measuring the Pono's nut width and posting a picture of the caliper reading. Finally, the specs posted on HMS website about the nut being 1 3/4" (44.5mm) are proven wrong. When I was getting ready to buy an AB6 or MB6, I asked Corey about the nut width and he just repeated the numbers on their spec sheet, so I abstained from ordering one. I was a bit surprised about his reply, because when I talked to John Kitakis from Pono about making such a model, he mentioned the nut width would be 48mm, which now appears to be the case.

I'm a crossover player, my favorite fretboard is right in the middle of a classical and an acoustic guitar, with a radius fretboard and a nut width of about 48mm. 45mm is too narrow for me to form chord shapes like 002220 comfortably, whereas 50mm or more is too wide and flat, thus hurting the root of my index finger when having to reach onto the fretboard. I know plenty of people are comfortable with those narrow fretboards of accoustic guitars or with the wide and flat fretboard of a classical guitar, so this is all just personal preference, but for me, a guitar of such a short scale length needs a radius and a nut width of 48 mm.

Dave and Jim are probably right: If you can do without the radius fretboard, then the Cordoba Mini (or the Islander GL6 that seems to come from the same Chinese factory) is a fairly safe and inexpensive way to go. For me, however, having a radius fretboard is well worth the upgrade to something like the Pono or Romero Creations (along with the fact that I prefer their design and quality over the Cordoba).

By the way: I'm pretty sure the friendly folks of Southern Ukulele Store would order the Pono AB6 and/or MB6 and let you test drive it at their store in Bournemouth. I'm sure it would be worth a drive down there, and if you won't like it, they'll sell it to somebody else who will.
 
Decision made: Await quote from Noah for radiussed version if he will. If not then Bournemouth to check out a Pono. Thanks - glad there are some like minds out there!!
 
If you decide on a Pono you can contact HMS and they might be able to get you the Pono.
 
You might check out the LaMancha student guitars. No radius, but they play fine, and are inexpensive too. I own a LaMancha CM53, which has a 530mm scale, solid cedar top, and about 48mm at the nut. They are made in different scales in China, to specifications of a company in Germany. They should be easy to find, and try.

It's not as nice as my Romero Creations DHO 6 string, but only cost me about $165.00.
 
Top Bottom