Schoenhut 5400

The sticker isn't worth removing. The schoenhut flake really is what it is: a beater uke you play, not show off, and very likely will need some tlc due to lack of consistent QC. Its marketed as a toy.

Get a real flea (concert) with real customer support and options if you want something more professional. The real ones aren't THAT expensive.

bnolsen said:

The sticker isn't worth removing. The schoenhut flake really is what it is: a beater uke you play, not show off, and very likely will need some tlc due to lack of consistent QC. Its marketed as a toy.

Get a real flea (concert) with real customer support and options if you want something more professional. The real ones aren't THAT expensive.

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Totally agree, get a Flea.

I sanded the vinyl sticker off, since there is no way you can peal it off. This is the crap piece of thick plywood they call a soundboard. Notice the "chunk" of wood used for the brace isn't even shaped. The bridge plate is a thick chunk of plywood. CA glue slopped all over.

Skinny Money McGee said:

Totally agree, get a Flea.

I sanded the vinyl sticker off, since there is no way you can peal it off. This is the crap piece of thick plywood they call a soundboard. Notice the "chunk" of wood used for the brace isn't even shaped. The bridge plate is a thick chunk of plywood. CA glue slopped all over.

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Your final picture just killed me!! Ha.

justinlcecil said:

I forgot to mention that I have been playing the heck out of the 5400 that I was able to string up. It's sound is fairly impressive for what it is and outstanding for how cheap it is. I might advise some lower tension strings from southcoast. I believe I am going to attempt a string-through bridge on the one that popped off.

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Thanks for honoring the thread. It's a shame that the same two or three Fleabaggers find it necessary to pile on, and to blaspheme and compare their ukes to a fine entry level instrument that costs 1/10th as much. The comparison must horrify Fluke. Those who condescendingly call it a "crap toy" could not be more misinformed.

Schoenhut has over a 100 year respectable history based on creating dependable (indeed collectible) instruments designed for children. But I digress...

The real competitor is not what to some is the overpriced and accordingly underperforming Flea, but rather the Dolphin - which requires both a setup and better strings to be minimally playable and with only modest intonation - for how much? Think at least $60-70 delivered. For half that the Schoenhut requires no setup, will have excellent intonation and an easily playable an action - dependably - right out of the box, with the only proviso that a change to Martins has been suggested by many (for a sound that the above quoted poster called "impressive"). It compares well to all of our Kala's. Total cost: $35. Toy prices, yes. Toy performance? Hardly.

The only good news: by page seven you can be posting economic theory in Greek, and no one will notice, lol..

Kayouker - to be fair though, the Dolphins I have played didn't need the tuners replacing!

I'd seriously consider buying one today for ha-ha's - if I were reasonably assured that it was going to arrive with working, intact tuners and that the bridge wasn't about to pop off the top.

Am waiting for bazmaz's review, he seems reasonably objective on the subject.

Kayouker said:

Thanks for honoring the thread. It's a shame that the same two or three Fleabaggers find it necessary to pile on, and to blaspheme and compare their ukes to a fine entry level instrument that costs 1/10th as much. The comparison must horrify Fluke. Those who condescendingly call it a "crap toy" could not be more misinformed.

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You are entitled to your opinion, Kayouker, and I have nothing but respect for your fondness for the Schoenhut. I'm glad you've found a uke you like. Your constant attacks on those who disagree with you, however, have grown tiresome and out of place in a friendly forum.

RichM said:

You are entitled to your opinion, Kayouker, and I have nothing but respect for your fondness for the Schoenhut. I'm glad you've found a uke you like. Your constant attacks on those who disagree with you, however, have grown tiresome and out of place in a friendly forum.

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Constant attacks? Nope. But a defense against same, absolutely.

The Fleameisters when first faced long ago with a uke they considered a rip-off went on and on for probably a total of 40 pages of what most would consider undeserved cheap shots if they were talking about your uke. Why there is apparently a need to continue the drama and cheap shots here is hard to understand, as is the apparent toleration of them. Comments like "piece of crap", "crap toy", insulting names like "Flake" and the like are not in the least "friendly" and really now, beg an occasional deserved defense.

Frankly, other than the first page or two of this thread many of the subsequent posts were less than constructive or fair. Seriously, I have no doubt that Fluke must be horrified to have their rather expensive line being actively compared to a $35 entry level ukulele, regardless of how good a value the Schoenhut is. That becomes the Schoenhut and denigrates the Flea, which I'd hope is not their intention.

That some do consider the Flea overpriced is a fact, which is not to say it's a bad instrument. But is it worth ten times as much for only a modestly fuller sound? Experienced players might say yes, but beginners and parents - the target consumers - say no. Even Alan of the Ukisociety in his now famous sound comparison between the two, liked the Schoenhut and found the Flea's significantly higher cost hard to justify.

But let's get back to the thread.

I too have for quite some time been privately urging Baz to review it - with Martins of course - which seems to be the string of choice for this uke. I'd add that although a review of Schoenhut comments indicates that some players (especially the beginners drawn to it) have had initial frustration with the tuners, but most have learned to adjust and use them. Schoenhut should have included instructions for how to do so. Still, for those who really care can part with an additional $10 for a set of Grover 2b's for a total expenditure of $45. General consensus so far is that the stock tuners are acceptable once adjusted. Many of the reports of "bad tuners" revealed the user was new to pegs. In my case, I was able to adjust and use them (there was a trick) - with the Martins the Schoenhut holds tune better than all my Kala's save one.

As for those who wouldn't buy this uke because of a report of a bad bridge had better not consider the Dolphin or the entry levels Kala's either, or most under $100 ukes for that matter. An honest review would find all manner of defects reported in this price range. As an example of our five uke's only 1 of 4 Kala's was playable out of the box, two bad bridges, and a simply horrible poorly mounted fret - beyond setup but that were repaired and made playable. Most would not care to do that.

In comparison the Schoenhut was a dream and a great relief. I just opened the box, changed the strings and started playing. For the money - read that again - for the money it's a lovely, cute, sweet sounding, easy playing instrument that any parent can safely buy without fear of kid damage or loss of interest. Assuming of course that the parent lets the kid play it, lol...

I am going to review it, and don't want to pre-empt that. (won't be with Martins, but will be with fluorocarbons ( I am yet to be convinced there is a huge difference between certain brands).

Initial thoughts - quality control is dreadful - If I was reviewing blind for first timers, the busted tuners and bad strings are alone worth a zero - who the hell is going to change tuners on their first ever uke? I am well versed with friction pegs - this one was damaged beyond repair.

Sound now sorted - pretty good actually. But I don't think the Flea is overpriced, and worth the money for the security of getting a uke that will work out of the box.

I will go into more detail on tone, volume etc when I write it up - but I am keen to understand your need to constantly run the Dolphin down and this one up?

I have played about a dozen Dolphins and never found one with any need for anything more than a saddle going down a touch. Sound wise - they are on a par to me so far.

RichM said:

You are entitled to your opinion, Kayouker, and I have nothing but respect for your fondness for the Schoenhut. I'm glad you've found a uke you like. Your constant attacks on those who disagree with you, however, have grown tiresome and out of place in a friendly forum.

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Richm, I wish there was a way to +1, rec, or like the post. Couldn't agree more

I get that people might want to feel vindicated with their purchase but I don't get why you feel personally attacked whenever somebody says they don't like Schoenhut, however they choose to express that. The whole gloating about it being a 'Dolphin Killer' is a bit embarrassing really, because who cares? People will buy what they like.

As for me, my only uke so far is a Dolphin. Cost me 40 quid, I was happy enough with it as stock, but later put Aquila's on and it's been a brilliant companion for roughly nine months now, I've even played it live. But someone else might not like it. And it's great that you like your uke, but constantly repeating the same wall of text (or near enough) and suggesting they don't know much about friction tuners just because they don't like it isn't gonna change anyone's mind, if minds even need changing in the first place.

Just my 2p anyway, I'll go back to playing my rubbish Dolphin and check back in the morning.

Edit: I'm actually a saddo, just checked this back for typos. I'm not even playing uke!

Well my review of it, which as people rightly say, will be objective as I always aim to be, will be a week or so, as have others in pipeline.

bazmaz said:

Well my review of it, which as people rightly say, will be objective as I always aim to be, will be a week or so, as have others in pipeline.

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Looking forward to it. I have Schoenhut for perfectly serviceable club loaners and think they are good beginner instruments. However I wouldn't advise ordering them in the summer, as I had two arrive with detached fretboards from the heat. Other than that, no issues in particular. I think I have had about a dozen of them over the last year or so.

I am amazed at the way this discussion has evolved.

Hot emotions seem to be taking over. I will however try to explain my perception with an intent of trying to be logical. Please do not hate me.

I own both a Fluke and a Flea, and like them very much, and part of MY interest in the Schoenhut, is as a cheaper test platform for hacks or modifications that I want to do to my Flea. (there are several, but that is a topic for another time)

I am ever the tinkerer and not happy unless I can take something apart and see the inside.

However, since I play my Fluke and Flea every day, and they are each the most I've spent on an instrument thus far, I am hesitant to cause either of them harm from which I can not recover.

If the Schoenhut 5400 is close enough to the Flea, then I am very happy to get one, and tear it a apart (gently) in order for it to be a test subject, without spending $178 for a real Flea.

Even if I replace the strings and friction tuners and the whole mess costs me a whopping total of $50, in the name of 'science' I consider this a disposable investment.

Even if someone gave me a Flea for FREE, I would not hack it up, instead either I'd keep it as is, or sell it to fund the purchase of 3-4 Schoenhut 5400's for my mad scientist experiments.

Honestly, if the instrument is not up to par with the real Flea, WHO CARES?

(I might lose some friends after this next part)

There is so much rage and willful ignorance on both sides of the argument here, that I have to question the motivation for whichever position is being advocated?

Could it be that those that spent the $178+ for a real Flea are vengeful due to buyers remorse? (seeing this cheapo 'copy' after the fact)

I know brand loyalty runs very strong here on UU, and as one who will ALWAYS recommend a Flea as a starter uke if the budget is available to the buyer, my reasons are no more important than those that will recommend a Dolphin or Lanikai.

When a few months ago I had read all the threads that Kayouker linked to in the beginning of this thread, in the beginning of reading it all I was concerned, and in the end saw that there was an agreement between Magic Fluke Co. and Schoenhut, I was relieved to see a peaceful and legal solution to whatever it was that occurred.

Concerned in much the same way that there was an Asian uke company that was copying headstock inlay designs from Chuck Moore.

It's not fair to copy the work of another without prior permission, or some kind of agreement, regardless if imitation is a sincere form of flattery.

Typically the 'copy' is a shortcut that is derived from thousands of hours and sweat equity of the engineering and design investment from originator, and thus the copier has no costs for this effort and has only benefit by selling a duplicate.

This is WRONG, regardless of where you are in the world. Innovation needs to have an incentive to keep going, otherwise ANY industry will stagnate. Copyright, Trademark and Patents have an important role to protect the rights of the originator of the work, but I do not think that the Schoenhut 5400 being a copy of the Flea is the issue here.

Why do so many feel that if they do not like a particular uke, that they have to trash it?

Some have talked about examples of both the Schoenhut 5400 and also Kala models, with poor bracing or the bridge flying off, this can happen to ANY uke, and it's good practice to SHARE this information so, that we as buyers can make an informed decision, and not piss away our hard earned cash.

I'd had to think that due to brand loyalty, those advocates are so blindly in love with their instruments that they cannot accept the fact that there can and will be defects along the way. It happens EVERYWHERE, and some brands more than most.

Human error (and carelessness) have an effect regardless if it was machine-made or hand-made. One needs to accept this as part of reality.

For example, if you look at the review of the Mahalo Flying-V uke that bazmaz did, or most recently his review of the el cheapo 8-quid uke with the cardboard washers in the friction tuners, you will see some real examples of trash, and if not trash, something that is simply and completely UNPLAYABLE as an instrument.

Barry has demonstrated that this goes beyond his opinion, i.e., the frets on that 8-quid uke were in fact not even spaced properly for any kind of playing real music in the 12-tone even tempered scale that we all know and love, and the intonation was completely out of whack due to this fact, and made even worse by the bridge not even being in the right place for the scale length.(I'm paraphrasing and these are MY words, not his, so please do not slam Barry if your opinion differs)

All of these add up to facts, that show this is not an 'instrument' that will make 'music'.

Now, I know it's not fair to make this comparison, but I will anyway, since logic and critical thinking seem to have been thrown out the window a while ago in this thread - out of the box the Schoenhut 5400 'ON AVERAGE' is in fact playable, the frets are in the right place, the bridge (when it does not fly off) is in the right place, and if the tuners are adjusted OR replaced and the strings replaced, you can in fact finger the instrument and fondle it to generate 'music' as we understand it for the 12-tone even temperament system we expect it to.

UNLESS you are getting a custom uke, and can specify the strings you want installed when it is sent to you, or you are working with MIM or Mike at Uke Republic or ANYONE from HMS, it seems all too common that the FIRST thing that is done is to replace the stock strings, whatever they are. Strings are a hot topic. Since March 1st there are at least 4 new threads talking about string selections, and an even longer very detailed thread from February here.

So to whine about having to replace the strings, even for a beginner, seems to me like crying about the sound of the rain. Ridiculous.

ALMOST Every SINGLE review on AMAZON and other big-box sites says to REPLACE the stock crappy strings on most ukes, and this is for NEWBIES and beginners, and those that have not even yet found UU, so just stop crying about string replacement on the Schoenhut 5400. It's meaningless chatter at this point.

So the Schoenhut 5400 does not bleed angel tears like a Kamaka, or have the honey-dew tones of a Mya-Moe - SO WHAT???

Ask yourself:

I think, just maybe, not.

For what it is, and designed to be, a fully-licensed, cheapo knockoff of the Magic Fluke Co. FLEA, is a fact.

Not perfect. Not intended to be. It is what it is. Love it or leave it.

Either way, nobody can fault any (or each) of you for having your OWN opinion, and neither will I.

You are all my ukulele brothers and sisters and I have learned so much from you all in this past year.

I will always love you.

Now can we play nice?

-Booli

I like that post dude!

I have been playing the Schoenhut all night. I am genuinely more divided with it than with any other instrument (and not just in respect of the build, but of the whole ethos of it).

I suspect my review will be either slammed or liked, but I don't really mind which as my review will be my review - I am but just one player.

I have had disagreements with at least one dealer and at least one manufacturer who got in touch to ask about reviews. When I said they are completely impartial, unpaid (if the instrument is too cheap to send back, it goes to charity), but I will not be told what to write, those who disagreed got quite stuffy about it.

Yeah, I know music instrument mags do paid reviews and will gloss over any old s** for a buck, but I won't.

I do however wonder, considering the massive threads on this particular review, who is going to snap back at me the most!

bazmaz said:

I like that post dude!

I have been playing the Schoenhut all night. I am genuinely more divided with it than with any other instrument (and not just in respect of the build, but of the whole ethos of it).

I suspect my review will be either slammed or liked, but I don't really mind which as my review will be my review - I am but just one player.

I have had disagreements with at least one dealer and at least one manufacturer who got in touch to ask about reviews. When I said they are completely impartial, unpaid (if the instrument is too cheap to send back, it goes to charity), but I will not be told what to write, those who disagreed got quite stuffy about it.

Yeah, I know music instrument mags do paid reviews and will gloss over any old s** for a buck, but I won't.

I do however wonder, considering the massive threads on this particular review, who is going to snap back at me the most!

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Don't worry, most people don't attack you personally because they disagree...maybe on a guitar forum but not on UU.

Been on UU long enough to know dude - sadly every forum gets it - my website gets it even more - it's cool!

Booli said:

I own both a Fluke and a Flea, and like them very much, and part of MY interest in the Schoenhut, is as a cheaper test platform for hacks or modifications that I want to do to my Flea. (there are several, but that is a topic for another time)

I am ever the tinkerer and not happy unless I can take something apart and see the inside.

However, since I play my Fluke and Flea every day, and they are each the most I've spent on an instrument thus far, I am hesitant to cause either of them harm from which I can not recover.

If the Schoenhut 5400 is close enough to the Flea, then I am very happy to get one, and tear it a apart (gently) in order for it to be a test subject, without spending $178 for a real Flea.

Even if I replace the strings and friction tuners and the whole mess costs me a whopping total of $50, in the name of 'science' I consider this a disposable investment.

Even if someone gave me a Flea for FREE, I would not hack it up, instead either I'd keep it as is, or sell it to fund the purchase of 3-4 Schoenhut 5400's for my mad scientist experiments.

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GAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! He's working on FrankenFlea!!!:music:

Great post, all points are well taken.

Freeda said:

Looking forward to it. I have Schoenhut for perfectly serviceable club loaners and think they are good beginner instruments. However I wouldn't advise ordering them in the summer, as I had two arrive with detached fretboards from the heat. Other than that, no issues in particular. I think I have had about a dozen of them over the last year or so.

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Since you've had so many pass through your hands, how consistent have the builds been for you..or better yet, what types of inconsistencies have you seen?

Just asking about specifics is all, those little minor things.

A lot of stuff has been said by many of us who've only seen a sample size of '1'. That's typically not very reliable.

Are they getting played enough to notice fretboard wear yet?

Last post of yours on the flakes I read some time ago it didn't seem like you were overly thrilled with them in general. Or just...not very excited?

So I have been playing the heck out of the one whose bridge didn't fly off. The frets are starting to wear down, but I am still enjoying it a great deal. I have been told that you can buy replacement fretboards and bridges via fleamarketmusic. I'm liking mine enough I'll probably order one when I need to. My other 5400 has been prepped for the painting I am going to do on it. I'll be starting it Tuesday. =)