Enya with a Difference

Jerryc41

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The Enya Nova U fretboard is all black, even the frets. I thought I'd brighten it up a bit. I used the same graphic I put on another uke and cut the segments to fit. It was time consuming, but worth it. A simpler solution would have been to buy a graphic from Neck Illusions.


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The Enya Nova U fretboard is all black, even the frets. I thought I'd brighten it up a bit. I used the same graphic I put on another uke and cut the segments to fit. It was time consuming, but worth it. A simpler solution would have been to buy a graphic from Neck Illusions.


View attachment 125051

Is that the Enya with the built in effects? If so, the web posting from Enya says that it is a Carbon Fiber instrument, then in the same sentence says Polycarbonate. Which are two different things, as far as I can determine.

How does it feel, and how does it sound?
 
Is that the Enya with the built in effects? If so, the web posting from Enya says that it is a Carbon Fiber instrument, then in the same sentence says Polycarbonate. Which are two different things, as far as I can determine.

How does it feel, and how does it sound?

I thought I could do without the $100 electrification. I paid $70 for mine, and I also bought an Aklot electric for $70. The Enya Nova U is a combination polycarbonate and carbon fiber - like the Outdoor Carbon. The Enya sounds very good - and it is loud. People in my group have been surprised at the sound quality and the volume. I bought mine after seeing and hearing someone our group with one. A friend just got the Acoustic/Electric version, and I'll see that today.
 
ksiegel,

As far as I recall Bazmaz states in his review that it's Polycarbonate with about 30 percent Carbon fibre added.

Re the Transacoustic version, I had one but in my opinion it didn't justify the more than doubled price tag.

Vintage
 
ksiegel,

As far as I recall Bazmaz states in his review that it's Polycarbonate with about 30 percent Carbon fibre added.

Re the Transacoustic version, I had one but in my opinion it didn't justify the more than doubled price tag.

Vintage

I am dubious that the "30% carbon fibre" is much more than a marketing gimmick. Same goes for the carbon fibre Outdoor ukulele (supposedly also 30%).

Regarding the Transacoustic system, I wouldn't buy it unless I really wanted to amplify the ukulele, which of course some people will want to do.
 
......the web posting from Enya says that it is a Carbon Fiber instrument, then in the same sentence says Polycarbonate. Which are two different things, as far as I can determine.

Calling the Enya or the black Outdoor Ukulele a "Carbon Fiber" instrument isn't technically wrong, but it is misleading. Both of them are examples of fiber filled polymer construction, using carbon fiber as the filler and polycarbonate in an injection molding process. I'd be surprised if either is as much 30% carbon fiber, since most glass filled examples are 5% to 20% filler. Common examples of this type of material would include glass fiber reinforced nylon parts such as gears.

At any rate this is fundamentally different from what is commonly known as carbon fiber composites - the sort of thing Airbus wings, Klos ukuleles, and Rainsong guitars are made of. These are carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) using woven sheets of carbon fiber with (usually) epoxy resin, laid up in a mold - and is what most people think of when you say "carbon fiber composite". I had a club member ask why should anyone pay $1000 for a carbon fiber Klos when you could get a carbon fiber uke from Outdoor Ukulele for $200? I tried to explain this difference, but gave up. Best I could do was to suggest it's sort of like the difference between a laminate and solid wood uke.
 
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The Enya Nova U fretboard is all black, even the frets. I thought I'd brighten it up a bit. I used the same graphic I put on another uke and cut the segments to fit. It was time consuming, but worth it. A simpler solution would have been to buy a graphic from Neck Illusions.


View attachment 125051

Looks good Jerry. You were the guy that turned me onto Neck Illusions which made it easy for me to cover my fretboard.

As an aside to how durable and stable they are. Mine has been in the truck of my car for two weeks in -2 to -20 C temperatures. Took it out this morning, tuning was a bit flat, makes sense cold things contract. Tuned it up and played it frozen, sounded good. One hour later it is room temperature, tuning is stable and it sounds very good.
 
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I am dubious that the "30% carbon fibre" is much more than a marketing gimmick. Same goes for the carbon fibre Outdoor ukulele (supposedly also 30%).

Regarding the Transacoustic system, I wouldn't buy it unless I really wanted to amplify the ukulele, which of course some people will want to do.

I'm not dubious - they are not claiming it's 'carbon fibre' in the normal sense. Adding fibres like this to plastics is nothing new if you want to strengthen them. They've been doing it with wear parts for years.
 
I'm not dubious - they are not claiming it's 'carbon fibre' in the normal sense. Adding fibres like this to plastics is nothing new if you want to strengthen them. They've been doing it with wear parts for years.

Here's what confused me, Barry - the Enya web site states:

Carbon Fiber Ukuleles

The unique Enya Nova has an eye-popping design and is made of carbon fiber composite. This polycarbonate material will give your ukulele a much brighter sound. The lightweight yet durable construction provides greater resonance for such a surprisingly thin body! This incredibly resistant material is also waterproof and a breeze to clean. This ukulele is suitable for any level of player who seeks a one-of-a-kind style with the added sonic enhancements of bonded carbon atoms!

I don't see anything about "30% carbon fibre", nor an explanation of "carbon fibre composite".


-Kurt]/indent]​
 
I don't see anything about "30% carbon fibre", nor an explanation of "carbon fibre composite".

From the specifications on the page...

Screen Shot 2020-02-08 at 11.54.19 PM.jpg

I'm surprised it is 30%. I thought it was a lower percentage than that!
 
I don't see anything about "30% carbon fibre", nor an explanation of "carbon fibre composite".
Enya says "[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]Carbon Fiber (30%) & PC"[/FONT] in the specifications, and "carbon fibre composite" is just about any use of carbon fibre.

Carbon fibers are essentially just threads (hence "fiber") of graphite and aren't very structural on their own. They are almost always used in a composite to reinforce some kind of resin or epoxy

Typically carbon fiber is woven into a fabric, laid into the mold in several layers, and then infused with the resin under a vacuum.
A carbon fiber fabric will drape and stretch like other fabrics (how much and in which directions depends on the specific weave)
before it's infused with resin
.
This gives the stereotypical woven look and is very strong and stiff: most of the structure is the carbon fiber and the multiple layers of fabric reinforce each other.

This process can be used with other fabrics as well: aramid (Kevlar) and fiberglass composites are common, with the different sorts of fibers having different strengths and weaknesses. Blackbird's moved away from carbon fiber and now uses a natural fiber cloth ("[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]Ekoa®"). I suspect you could get good results for a ukulele with cotton island prints.[/FONT]

The Enyas and Outdoor ukes don't use a fabric weave. They use injection molding to create a polycarbonate (PC) body with (I believe) carbon tow or glass fibers loose in the polycarbonate mix. Since there's both PC and the fiber fill this is still a composite. It's just a higher ratio of plastic:fiber than a vacuum infused weave and will end up thicker and heavier for the same strength.

In both cases (the fabric or the loose tows) you end up with a carbon fiber reinforced resin, but just with different levels of reinforcement and so different stiffness, strength, and weight factors.[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]

Outdoor claims their carbon versions are 50% stronger (they probably mean stiffer) and 15% brighter than their fiberglass versions, and they do sound different: [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]https://youtu.be/ahhXO8MMg7M . Even so, I expect that using CF in a uke like this is mostly for the marketing: Carbon Fiber is sexy and draws eyes to the instrument. It works on me - I have both a Klos and an Outdoor Carbon. Those were enough that I resisted the Enya ;)[/FONT]


[/FONT]
 
There are differing weaves of carbon fiber and as Arcy says can have other materials in the weaves or layers as well. Once they are laid up in the mold and the epoxy resin added and put under a vacuum to eliminate air bubbles and to prevent lifting or separation, it is place in an autoclave and cooked for hours or days to cure.

Usually the weave pattern in the layers of cloth are laid in different directions to increase the stiffness and strength. It is very stiff, resists puncture and by weight is stronger than steel. But then again, so is a strand of a spider's web. Formula 1 car bodies and suspensions are made of carbon fiber. So are golf club shafts and tennis racket frames.

Interestingly, a few years ago a CF engineer and baseball fan developed a baseball bat made of carbon fiber. He thought it could replace the dwindling supply of tight-grained ash. He spent quite a lot of time getting the weight right and the sound of the bat hitting a ball. The crack it made was virtually indistinguishable from a premium grade MLB Louisville Slugger. And MUCH better than an aluminum bat.
 
I resisted the Enya craze. Instead, I spent a whole lot more money for the Beltona resonator uke. :p
That's my outdoor uke, and it's probably built of the same stuff, except for the one piece wooden neck. Two of my friends got the Enya in white, and we played the resonator and one of the Enya ukes together outdoors, and they complement each other in tone so well that I'm really glad we did what we did. I do have to keep the reso away from the mics, or it'll drown out the Enyas.
 
I resisted the Enya craze. Instead, I spent a whole lot more money for the Beltona resonator uke. :p
That's my outdoor uke, and it's probably built of the same stuff, except for the one piece wooden neck. Two of my friends got the Enya in white, and we played the resonator and one of the Enya ukes together outdoors, and they complement each other in tone so well that I'm really glad we did what we did. I do have to keep the reso away from the mics, or it'll drown out the Enyas.

Well owning a Beltona myself I can hardly criticize.....but doesn't your Beltona cost something like 12 to 15 times what the Enya does? Seems almost odd to compare them. And no, the Beltona isn't made of the same stuff, as its body is good old fashioned fiberglass (like a boat).
 
From the Beltona site: "The body is constructed from resin with glassfibre and carbonfibre and is the perfect amplifier for the Beltona aluminium resonator cone housed inside. Necks are hand carved from various woods in the traditional manner. Beltona originally produced metal-bodied instruments before developing their distinctive resin and carbonfibre models in the mid 1990s. These have proved so successful for reasons of sound, weight and strength that metal instruments were discontinued in 2002."

Interesting, as I had not noticed the mention of "carbonfibre" on their website. My Beltona is definitely plain old fiberglass, and you can even smell the uncured styrene, just as on a boat.
 
Interesting, as I had not noticed the mention of "carbonfibre" on their website. My Beltona is definitely plain old fiberglass, and you can even smell the uncured styrene, just as on a boat.

Do I even have to ask about someone smelling styrene? :)

Looking forward to actually biking this summer.
 
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