Looking for a Tenor with cutout & pickup

Looking to step up to something a little nicer. I've got a flea now & a Braddah Ukes baritone.

I want a tenor tuned to low G, with a cut out & Active EQ. Preferably all wood, but I'll take some laminate if I have to.

I like the look of the Koa Kala's offered by MGM. Also looked at Ohana, Mele (little out of my price range, although they have a 20% off sale on tenors right now). Pono's are nice but again out of price..

Maybe a Bushman Jenny, although I don't think they come equipped with a pickup...

What does everyone recommend? Are there some other makers I should consider? Looking to come in at or slightly less than $500

S.

There is a Kala solid spruce top, cut out...electric on the Fleamarket Board for 165.00....that should be affordable for you

I recently bought a Córdoba 20TM-CE - active pickup and cutaway, all solid.

The grain on the top of mine is "not on the bias" as my wife the seamstress says, meaning not straight centered top to bottom, but this sounded a little better than another at the store. These go for about $199.

Feel: smooth matte finish
Action: good out of box - right nut height
Sound: VERY pleased that it has a sound akin to a soprano, not the ringing guitarry sound some tenors have.
Plugged in: roll back the treb, sounds like a uke. I always dislike the percussive "click" sound some UST pickups make. If you keep the treb and brilliance right, this one does not have that irritation.
Workmanship: Body finish, neck, all smooth and precise. Rosewood bridge a little on the grainy side finish-wise. A few mill marks on rosewood fretboard. No big deal on these. Interior wiring neat. No glue blotches. I like the classical guitar style tie on bridge.
Tuners: geared, white buttons kind of blah, tunes OK. Just OK, not super.
Wood: All solid. They say mahogany. It has a stripey appearance - maybe sapelle.
Smell: Glue and, dare I hazard a guess - I think I smell sapele, not mahogany.
Appearance: It has a humble ukey look - What I thought was a decal rosette (similer to Martin 15 series guitar rosette decal) turns out to be an actual inlaid rosette - nice. Pearloid fretboard markers are subtle, not flashy. Humble is good.
Intonation: Good. 12th fret harmonics seem right, with slight difference on the C string - pretty common.
Playability: Just great, as is from the box.
Strings: Came with Aquilla high G, no wound. I think some distributers may have it with wound C and darker strings. I like it as is.

Overall: This ukulele does what I wanted it for: A good plugged in sound and good acoustic sound that sounds more like a soprano than a typical tenor. A nice humble ukulele appearance. Big factor: I enjoy playing it.

Caveat: If you are looking for that ringing guitar-like sound of some modern tenors, this may not be for you.

More pictures (slide show):
http://tinyurl.com/Crdba20TM-CE

Thanks for the replies
Harpdog, thats a mighty fine looking uke! I'm actually looking for something a little more "guitary" though. Deeper sound & a low G. But I appreciate your review. Hopefully it will help somebody else thats in the market for something similar.

Dentuke. Ive actually been leaning towards a Kala, so I'll check that out! Thanks for the heads up
S.

The post says......

"Low G string is included if interested"......

Technically.....all you have to do is just swap the G string for re entrant or Low g tuning........

Yeah I saw that.
I think I'm going to hold out for a solid mahogany unit. I dont mind paying more than that.
S.

sharp21 said:

Looking to step up to something a little nicer. I've got a flea now & a Braddah Ukes baritone.

I want a tenor tuned to low G, with a cut out & Active EQ. Preferably all wood, but I'll take some laminate if I have to.

I like the look of the Koa Kala's offered by MGM. Also looked at Ohana, Mele (little out of my price range, although they have a 20% off sale on tenors right now). Pono's are nice but again out of price..

Maybe a Bushman Jenny, although I don't think they come equipped with a pickup...

What does everyone recommend? Are there some other makers I should consider? Looking to come in at or slightly less than $500

S.

Click to expand...

Nurpin is selling a mele solid koa top solid mahghany back and side tenor with fishman PU for $350. It isn't a cutaway but it is so worth $350 considering I bought that uke brandnew for almost $800. I kinda want to sale my double puka to buy that uke back from him. BTW i sold it for more than 350. You should jump on it before I go into CC debt

Thats a nice uke for sure!
Maybe Ill look at it when I get paid, but thats not for almost a month...
S.

Have a look at the Kala KA-KTE CT, Koa with solid ceder top. It has got everything you want, I own one myself and I'm very happy with it. The sound is pretty similar to the Kala Acacia, but with a little bit more brightness and loudness in my opinion.

Thats actually the one Ive been looking at!

I have both the Kala Tenor Cedartop Koa cutaway w/pickup & the Kala Tenor Acacia. The cedartop is much more brighter & louder than the Acacia. But...the Acacia is so smooth sounding !!!

They are both GREAT ukes !!! Each with it's own "sound"

(Both are strung w/Aquila Nyglut high G, all nylon/no wound C) (Going to try some Worth clears & browns...)

Im really leaning towards that Koa cedar top.
Has anybody purchased from JW Bosworth? He is a custom builder & authorized Kala dealer in the states. He has some great deals on right now!
S.

interested in a Pono PKTC-1-E? I'm going to post next week. Need to research price as I haven't seen a koa Pono for sale in a while. Please PM me if you want more info.

Oh snap, thats a beautiful Uke!
I really like the shape of the cutout & the wood is gorgeous.
Im actually researching now for my xmas present to myself, as I don't get paid again until mid-december, but xmas might have to come early...
S.

sharp21 said:

Oh snap, thats a beautiful Uke!
I really like the shape of the cutout & the wood is gorgeous.
Im actually researching now for my xmas present to myself, as I don't get paid again until mid-december, but xmas might have to come early...
S.

Click to expand...

No worries. I'm probably not going to officially put this up for sale until next week. PM me if you're interested in working out a price.