Luna High Tide Tenor Review

Merry Christmas guys!
I know a majority of you got a new uke for Christmas, and so did I.

The beauty I got for Christmas was the Luna High Tide Tenor, and I know that you're
going crazy :drool: over what I thought of it, well, here you go.

Features
26" Tenor Cutaway Size
All Ovangkol
High Tide Ring in Abalone
High Tide Abalone Inlay Fret Markers
On-Board Preamp
19 frets
Maple Binding
Rosewood Fingerboard
Nato/Mahogany Neck
Satin Finish
Aquila Strings
Grover Open Style Tuner
26"L x 6 1/8"W x 3 1/16"D
Luna Gig Bag

Q: How are the tuners?
A: Great, stay in tune really well, even out of the packaging

Sound
It produces a nice, warm sound, which was exactly what I wanted in the uke. Its very loud. My brother used to hate me playing my concert (Kala KA- SC) and when he heard the tenor, he fell in love with it. The harmonics aren't really amazing, but I can live with that.

Set-up
I bought the uke from Overstock.com. The set-up was really good and the uke was strung up right from the packaging, one little flaw, they put something in the uke to keep the wiring out of the way, but the glue wasn't too strong and probably came off during shipping, but so far, I haven't seen any drastic flaws. I'll make an update when I actually plug it in to an amp.

Reliability
The hardware is kinda sketchy looking, but its probably just a luxury that isn't really needed. From watching videos of Rachel Pearl strumming away on the concert version of this instrument, it looks like it was built to last.

Customer Support
It was easy to buy from overstock, and they gave a nice set-up, didn't buy any warranties.

Overall
I've been playing for about a year (which isn't too long) and I have two other ukuleles, a Kala, which is listing above, and a blue soprano eleuke. This Luna has surprised me greatly, and its a good start for Luna to get on to the ukulele market. I love pointing the abalone inlays in direct light and gazing upon every little detail on each little fret. I chose this because it was on sale, and I had my eye set on it for while.

Rating 1 to 10: 8.5
Stunning instrument, great looks, warm sound, love it.

Who would I recommend this to?
Anyone who is ready to start performing in front of people.

Well thats pretty much all I could think of, if you have any questions, you could just send me a message.

God Bless, and Merry Christmas,
SpeckTacular

Glad that you like your Luna.. I have the concert floral.. I love it.. it's bright and loud...sounds clean.. I Like that. I also LOVE when I am playing and the inlay makes 'sparkles' (as my kids call it) on the wall.. the cats go crazy. All four of them will sit and watch in a row. I have my own little audience! Makes me feel like a rock star!

Thanks for sharing your input. I once plugged mine into my sons electric guitar amp.. Look forward to hearing how you like it with an amp and what kind...
Happy Holidays to you!

Aloha Specktacular,
Congrats on your new luna uke christmas present, and thanks for the nice review..Have fun and Enjoy!! Happy Strummings..And God Bless and Merry Christmas to you too!!!! MM Stan..

The review isn't complete without pictures!

Luna makes very good instruments.
The electronics are quite good actually - I believe its a UK-2000 active pickup.
Very clean signal, and the tone/volume works well. Plus it takes a 9V battery instead of those smaller watch batteries that some uke preamps have (more weight, but more power).

I don't think Overstock do setups. The setup you got your uke in is straight from the factory.
Luna have one of the best factory setups for ukes in their price range - it's as though someone did set it up.
The company itself has great customer service. If you email them on the email address on the Luna website, it seems the owner of the company (Yvonne De Villiers) replies directly! (I guess Mike Upton does too, from Kala )

FWIW, There's a video of someone named Rachel Pearl playing a High Tide. I found it absolutely enchanting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm6w-G1wOTw

Congrats on your new uke.....but we need to see some pics!!!!

I got one of these for Christmas as well. It's a great uke for the price! I didn't think it was loud or anything, but it has a real mellow tone to it. I got mine from Amazon on of the Holdiay Gold Box deals. It arrvied in perfect shape and set up quite well too. A photo of it is in the signature.

I picked up a Luna High Tide Tenor from Amazon when they had them for $150 about a week before Christmas. It seems to be very well made and sounds great. I have only been playing for a few months now, so my opinion is somewhat lacking in experience. I still enjoy the brighter sound that I get from my Kamoa soprano, so I play them both regularly.