Hi, just wanted to say thanks for your chanel. I'm new to the Uke, just starting out really. As a nurse working at a major Melbourne Trauma Centre in these strange times, the only thing better than coming home after a shift and grabbing one of my Ukes for a relaxed practice session (yes, already have a ...few) is Monday night [Australian EST], "Got A Ukulele night". Really helps to take my mind off work. Your reviews are always informative and entertaining, even more so when you haven't much to work with, as this weeks instrument shows. Cheers.
About 20 years ago when I ventured into ukulele, the pickins were slim ( no pun intended ), now it's positively raining ukuleles . . . and objects that look and act ( sort of ) like ukuleles. Those storm clouds are blowing in from the East. I guess it's not a bad thing that so many people can include music into their lives, nor that it provides jobs for Chinese factory workers. At least most of those ukes are reasonably playable which encourages and ignites passions. I have to keep this in mind when my knee jerk reaction to instruments like this is disfavor . . . to understate. Thanks again for the thorough and enjoyable review. I watch as much for your reactions as for the information.
Thanks Edward - yes - the increase in variety is a double edged sword of course. Some good ones out there. Some VERY good from China. A lot of very average stuff too though and some howlers!
Hi Barry. Another interesting review. This is not a frivolous question but have you ever thought about having a ukulele built for you to your specifications with total control over the design etc? I would love to see that and who knows, you could manufacture them, I’m sure you’d sell lots. Thanks for working on a bank holiday. Cheers. 👍
I've had a few brands offer - however fraught with issues. Firstly I could never ensure something with my name on it having perfect quality control and I couldn't bear that. Added to that - the site doesn't want to be commercial in that way - would be impossible for me to 'review' my own ukulele impartially! I leave the ukuleles with peoples names (or even faces) on them to the paid influencers!!
Love your channel Barry. I'm a fan. Yeah, I got me a Lohanu LU-C concert and unfortunately it was a bad one. Lots of scuffs on the body, the nut wasn't glued on well etc so had to return it. Keep up the good reviews. Cheers!
Glad you reviewed this. I had both a concert and tenor but returned both. Razor sharp fret ends on mine... and rattling tuning peg that couldn’t be tightened and resulted in buzzing terribly on one of the strings. As a Canadian I wanted to support this Canadian company Chinese made product. But they wanted me to fix the issues myself and also accept the buzzing as typical. I said no and returned them. I bought an Enya it was leagues better. Pretty sure I may have told you this already. :)
For the money you honestly can't beat it. I've been emailing back and forth with a rep from the company and he was extremely accommodating. I told him that because of a thumb injury, I need the action as low as possible, short of buzzing, of course. He told me that if what is delivered does not meet my requirements, I can return it for a replacement, and if the replacement falls short that I can keep it without returning it. No charge!! On top of that, it comes with a lifetime warranty. Who else has that kind of warranty? For a low cost instrument, especially for young children, you can't beat it. It relieves the parents of paying a lot of money for an instrument that might one day end up at the back of the closet. Thumbs up to Lohanu!!
I largely liked it, but... 'for the money'.. Well - I see a LOT of ukuleles, and sorry to disagree, but I think it can be beaten. Easily Not a bad uke at all for the price, but it was more the one dimensional tone that I think is more than matched elsewhere. Each to our own of course. And yes, I do like their after sales too. Fair point.
@@kelalamusic9258 Can't see how my reviews, or more importantly, my scoring can take account of a warranty. Besides - a good ukulele shouldn't NEED a long warranty.
@@GotAUkulele true enough. I'm watching your videos recently because I'm in the market for a new one. I have an older Lanikai. Not bad for the money. Got it on sale at Guitar Center for I believe $75. But the strings are too high. I have a hand full of thumbs, and I know that if I attempt any sort of setup, I will mess it up. There's a shop in Hawaii that will set up every ukulele they sell, but I what to see reviews before I buy. I watched a video of one of their luthiers setting one up, and he did a very thorough job.
@@kelalamusic9258 I think that gets to my point. Sure, you could take Lohanu up on their offer and just keep sending it back over and over until happy - but seems very wasteful. I prefer recommending buyers go to specialist uke dealers. Over here in the UK there are a handful I recommend and they would all ensure that anything they sell will be ready to go. So if you buy with those, you shouldn't need a warranty. There is a high end brand that offers a lifetime, no quibble warranty - that's Koaloha. I think though they can do that because their ukes are so damn good they don't get returns!
Not sure which link you are talking about - the review link - all links are in the description for the video (viewable more easily on a laptop browser, not the RU-vid app)
Got one of these for Christmas as I am a complete beginner. I have to say mine is fine for the price. Having watched many of your reviews I'm already feeling the need to upgrade to an Enya or Flight. This new hobby could prove costly. If the wife asks I'll be blaming you.
I’ve heard of some who had good experiences, but unfortunately many who didn’t - as a reviewer that speaks to me about their quality control not being up to scratch.
Great review Barry, just a quick question here; I am looking for a tenor uke around the £150 mark. Looking on your website it seems the Eden Origin Tenor from WOU is the best option. Would you agree? Especially considering the WOU shop is the opposite end of the country for me to try one so I would appreciate your opinion!
Hi, I was wondering if you know if the action can be adjusted on this ukulele? The saddle won't budge on mine and I don't want to force it. And do you think it's reasonable for me to want to lower it based on the default setup or do think I just need to get used to it?
Yes - the saddle is removeable - sometimes they are just a bit tight in the slot. Having a uke set how you like it is critical. If you can't remove the saddle I would return it.
Impossible to give single recommendations, and people have different ideas on cost. Just too many. My recommendations are the highest scorers here www.gotaukulele.com/p/ukulele-reviews.html?m=0
Over the past year in Lockdown, I have purchased 6 Branded ukes from Amazon & they have been fantastic! Only 1 had rough frets so had to return but replacement came thru fast & perfect!
Interesting review. Even through RU-vid the sound was becoming dead when strumming. So if the build is sound, the top isn't too thick and the setup is ok what could be causing that?
More than likely the somewhat unusual bracing. Must be killing it. Possibly scruffy cuts in nut and poor break angle, but I'd need to take strings of to check that.
It's a very personal thing. I have big hands and long fingers, but dexterity comes into it. All I can say is - this profile is NOT for me. But you might be different. You'd need to find a similar (round neck, narrow nut) and work out with your own hands if that's comfortable for you or not. Afraid we all differ!
I own a lohanu spalted maple electric Uke. I had to call in for warranty on it cause you couldn’t hear the A string when plugged in. They send me another one directly and didn’t want the other one back. I ended up figuring out how the pick up system worked and for the A string making noise and told the company about it as well and they said not to worry they will still ship me another one because I shouldn’t have to mess with them. Well the new one came. Played like it should etc but set up was quite high on it. My fingers would trip over the strings. Not really consistent for sure but they were supportive. I ground the nut and saddle down a bit and then gave it to my cousin to learn to play. It keeps a tune and like I said the customer support was great. But after getting a “real” UKE this one doesn’t sound all that great to me anymore but still overall a good UKE.
GotAUkulele yes and no. The bright side is there is two working ukes out of it at the end of the day. I can see how it can be waist full as they did send a complete package set up again.
You had better customer service than I did. I was never offered to keep my ukes that were gimped... and the seoncd one was a replacement. I had to mail back both... which didn't cost me anything but was still a bit of a pain. I was asked to try and fix it myself... and accept buzzing as normal.
Yeah - just mean - shows you how low value the core uke must be to just give away a whole other pack to fix the problem. Just think getting the QC right in the first place is surely the bettter business model - not least because there are lots of brands out there that DO make that model work.
A little harsh on the looks. I actually think it look quite nice, the edge binding around the fret board is a somewhat rare and nice feature for a low end uke, and I don't think laser etching has to be fancy to look good either. It does sound pedestrian though. Thanks for the review.
@@jetstream6389 Whilst I would never put looks at the forefront of choosing a uke, they do matter as you have to stand and hold the thing. As I say it's not offensive on that, but not startling either. My bigger issue is the generic, bland sound. In the UK at the time of review Amazon had these in UK stock - so were next day. Not on there any longer.
For the same money I think you can do better - see my full review list below and focus on the higher scores - this one misses the mark more than several others do.. Cheap for a reason. www.gotaukulele.com/p/ukulele-reviews.html
Saw one of those once...being fair, I would call it...price appropriate. It was bland looking, the action was way too high, and it just sounded meh. Kind of a standard Amazon ukulele. Thanks for the review, Baz!
Had the LU-T (gave to a co-workers daughter to get her going) .. was pretty good for the money with decent strings. I've since moved on to Pono..AB and AT.... omg the tone and sustain
Hi Barry, nice review as usual. As you said, a pretty generic uke, nothing special, cream binding, colour etc,. Not sure where their coming from regarding the "arched back" as there plenty of other ukes out there with "arched backs", I have a Baton Rouge 8 string with one? The head stock looks similar to my Laka Tenor but I suppose most ukes look similar to each other anyway? Indeed, you managed to find one with a decent build quality as some of the ones purchased on Amazon have been quite poorly put together? Take care!
When i started playing i got a Lohanu LU-S , i think it’s one of the worst instruments i have ever touched, a lot of intonations, sounds terrible, NEVER stayed in tune, it cost me $90 from amazon, I should’ve just add $50-$70 more and get the Kala solid top spruce or something like that, u need to have a pleasant sound in order to enjoy your progress but this “instrument” was a disaster and im very surprised it even got to the point anyone would review it, whatever u do don’t buy this thing, Lohanu is super tricky on amazon, as soon as you leave a bad review they delete that account and use a different one, that’s when i also discovered never to believe amazon reviews, sorry for the negativity but this thing is terrible.
Lohanu asked me not to leave a negative review because "Amazon doesn't like negative reviews on returned items..."I had a chat with an Amazon rep about this... which she found interesting.
