I actually bought one of those and the ABS plastic is actually quite soft when compared to the back of the Fluke or Flea. I feel that this would melt in the summer heat if left in the car, even just from the string tension, as it would likely bow the neck.
Yes, the plastic feels THAT soft to me.
As it is, even with the lightest strings with the lowest tension I could find (Worth CL) when you pluck or strum even open strings, you can hear the pitch waver about 15 cents sharp, and then back again, almost like a chorus effect, but in a very bad way to my ear, and the effect is worse and more pronounced as you go up past the 3rd fret when fingering notes or chords.
Aside from that the intonation was also pretty bad no matter any of the 10 sets of strings I tried in all materials and guages, bad as in no better than 10 cents sharp at the 1st and also 12 frets...and there is no way really to adjust the nut since it uses a zero fret. Going sharp at the first fret is usually caused by the string height at the nut and NOT the saddle. I have also swapped out the saddle, and compensated the replacement with one made of Nubone, and there is just not enough space to get the E and C string in tune with the 2.5mm width that is the breakpoint of the string area of the saddle itself...
Aside from the intonation problems, it has very little sustain, regardless of strings used, and several boomy sympathetic frequencies on like every
harmonic pitch of C4, all across the strings, and these are not PLEASANT frequencies. I had used some small 10mm fridge magnets placed on opposing sides of the top, right in front of the bridge in a line parallel and touching the bridge, and this has served to dampen these offending harmonics, which to my ear, are overwhelming to most other notes you might play, whether in a chord or single-note melody lines...maybe these harmonics were intentional since a uke is typically tuned for C6, but using a frequency counter instead of ones own ear seems to be working against this instrument on all accounts.
Some folks lack the hearing perception to actually notice these problems and they are lucky (as they can be satisfied playing such a uke and not know the difference), but
for me it is unplayable, even as a novelty or emergency backup, and I would feel bad giving it away and inflicting someone with one of these.
Better to just get a Shark or Dolphin from Uke Republic and ask them to correct for intonation problems in their setup. These Makala ukes are double the price of the Vorson, but you are buying a problem with the Vorson IMHO.
There is a reason we have a 12-tone equal temperament scale for most western instruments, and this one is like an exception to this convention and not worth the $25, IMHO.
I do NOT recommend it. 'Buy cheap, buy twice' is in full effect here with this so-called 'instrument'.
I am likely going to buy a small AA-powered clock-kit thingy, and using an old CDROM as the clock's face, mount it in the sound hole and then as a wall-hanger, I will have a nice ORANGE uke-shaped clock.
