This is a review of one of my Dük/Wei tenors. The buyer of the uke is one of our UU members, but wishes to be anonomous. He purchased one of my Tenor, mahogany ukes sent to me by Bruce Wei. Following is his review, un-edited by me per his request.
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Quick background: I have been playing since January, mostly strumming. I am most comfortable playing my flea. It’s ridiculously easy to play and sounds good to me. In other words, I’m NotsoGoodYet and this review will be more shallow than many of the expert reviews posted here.
I received it promptly via USPS. It was packaged well (as opposed to that tissue box delivery posted elsewhere on UU). The hard case included is just okay. I would add more padding in strategic spots if I wanted to travel with it.
Fit and finish: As a wood artist, who sells wood stuff for a living, I will say that the tactile feel of the matte finish on the instrument is outstanding. In just the right light, you can see what appear to be some water spots on the finish. It’s not something you can feel, but you can see it if you look hard. The frets are dressed nicely by Tudorp, the inlay is well done and I think it’s classy. Very happy with the maple neck – it’s quite dense which makes the ukulele a tad head heavy. I can’t find any visible flaws or rough spots or sloppy gluing. The solid mahogany is well matched with nice chatoyance and grain detail.
Setup: I asked for a low setup and it delivers with easy action and no buzzes.
Sound: It’s not quite as loud as my flea which is fine since most of my playing is and will continue to be in the privacy of my office with the door closed (this a personal hobby to me, I don’t plan on inflicting myself on others). I like the clear tone and intonation of the solid mahogany top and body.
Overall: This is a ukulele that I will play for many years to come. I like the fact that it is a one of a kind, custom made instrument. I heartily recommend Tudorp as a source for Bruce Wei’s creations. I’m disappointed that he won’t be doing this any longer. I believe that over time, he could build a nice little business out of it.
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This customer was under the impression I was not doing uke work any longer. But for the record, I will still offer Bruce's ukes set up by myself, but not as a mainstream level. Bruce for business reasons needs to concentrate on larger orders than I can give him at present. I can fully understand that from a business perspective. We were originally in talks about him building Dük exclusive models to my specs, but I simply can not afford to order the quantities he needs to commit to that presently. Maybe in the future we will, but for now, that is on hold. I then decided to tool up to do my own builds. I will not mass produce ukes, as I gain tooling and tecniques, I will build ukes 1-4 at a time, so even it will be on a small scale. I want this to continue to be fun, and not a "job" for me. Thanks for the support, and thanks to the people that have one of the few Dük/Wei ukes. Watch for more to come...
to be continued....
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Quick background: I have been playing since January, mostly strumming. I am most comfortable playing my flea. It’s ridiculously easy to play and sounds good to me. In other words, I’m NotsoGoodYet and this review will be more shallow than many of the expert reviews posted here.
I received it promptly via USPS. It was packaged well (as opposed to that tissue box delivery posted elsewhere on UU). The hard case included is just okay. I would add more padding in strategic spots if I wanted to travel with it.
Fit and finish: As a wood artist, who sells wood stuff for a living, I will say that the tactile feel of the matte finish on the instrument is outstanding. In just the right light, you can see what appear to be some water spots on the finish. It’s not something you can feel, but you can see it if you look hard. The frets are dressed nicely by Tudorp, the inlay is well done and I think it’s classy. Very happy with the maple neck – it’s quite dense which makes the ukulele a tad head heavy. I can’t find any visible flaws or rough spots or sloppy gluing. The solid mahogany is well matched with nice chatoyance and grain detail.
Setup: I asked for a low setup and it delivers with easy action and no buzzes.
Sound: It’s not quite as loud as my flea which is fine since most of my playing is and will continue to be in the privacy of my office with the door closed (this a personal hobby to me, I don’t plan on inflicting myself on others). I like the clear tone and intonation of the solid mahogany top and body.
Overall: This is a ukulele that I will play for many years to come. I like the fact that it is a one of a kind, custom made instrument. I heartily recommend Tudorp as a source for Bruce Wei’s creations. I’m disappointed that he won’t be doing this any longer. I believe that over time, he could build a nice little business out of it.
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This customer was under the impression I was not doing uke work any longer. But for the record, I will still offer Bruce's ukes set up by myself, but not as a mainstream level. Bruce for business reasons needs to concentrate on larger orders than I can give him at present. I can fully understand that from a business perspective. We were originally in talks about him building Dük exclusive models to my specs, but I simply can not afford to order the quantities he needs to commit to that presently. Maybe in the future we will, but for now, that is on hold. I then decided to tool up to do my own builds. I will not mass produce ukes, as I gain tooling and tecniques, I will build ukes 1-4 at a time, so even it will be on a small scale. I want this to continue to be fun, and not a "job" for me. Thanks for the support, and thanks to the people that have one of the few Dük/Wei ukes. Watch for more to come...
to be continued....
