Dora(emon)

Gambling again, I brought this from the Internet with no more information than a few pictures. It came from a small Shanghai distributor called Gloreal who seems to have a lot of brands with some interesting Ukuleles that I've not really seen outside of China. As they were not very expensive and had a few that I would like to invite to the Corner I thought I would take a punt on one and see what happened. I picked this one because I wanted more Pineapples and I thought the Doraemon theme would be unusual and a little bit cool, (Doraemon is a Japanese Manga Space Cat with no ears who first appeared in the early 70's and is apparently now a bit of a cultural Icon - I checked with Miss Moo because she is into Japanese Manga and she thought it was cool too).

It arrived much quicker than I was expecting, (I was expecting the old "slow Boat from China...). The design looks like a stencil print rather than laser etching, (which is what I thought from the picture), but that's fine, its just more susceptible to scratch damage. It is built solidly and is laminate, (which I expected for the price), it also came with the highest factory setup saddle I have ever seen. Looking the whole thing over, apart from the obvious, (Picture and Headstock), it is identical to a Lanikai LU21p, even the white binding and perloid machine head buttons, (Gloreal also sell Lanikais so I'm 100% its from the same factory). I've sorted the saddle out now and its a very nice player, keeps tune, good intonation and I'm thinking this gamble paid off nicely too.