Tom
TUS-690

Out of the box, this is a very pretty Ukulele. The solid cedar soundboard has a much warmer more honey shade than spruce and this is nicely offset by the very dark, almost ebony, of the rosewood back and sides. The neck is a standard nato affair with a rosewood fretboard and some nice diamond cross fret markers adding a little more class to the overall look. The high gloss finish is very good especially on the back and sides and the iridescent sound hole rosette is a nice touch too. On the down side the bridge looks a little less classy than the rest of the instrument and when you look up close there are a couple of places where the finish could have been better, (but you do have to look up close). These gripes should be set against the price though, for what it sells for the whole finish is far better then you have any right to expect.

On to how it plays; the strings are Aquila so you can't complain there. The factory setup is, as always a little high, (on the basis that it is easier to lower the setup than to raise it), but not so much it is a problem and the intonation is very good all the way up the fret board. The nut and the saddle may be bone rather than plastic as you would expect for the price, but they are not great, just OK. The same can be said for the open gear tuners, the big toffee coloured plastic knobs suit the overall look, they are easy and pretty accurate but quality wise they are just OK. I'm not trying to damn it with faint praise here just be honest, and again for the price everything is at least as good a quality as you could hope for. One thing I do like about Tom when they set up a Ukulele though is they realise that most people are right handed so they string it with the excess string at the bridge pointing down and not digging into your hands as you play, (unlike Kala, Riptide, aNueNue and lots of the others).

Finally the sound; This Ukuleles sounds way, way... way better than you have any right to expect for the money. The cedar gives it a deeper, warmer tone that a spruce soundboard, and in my opinion, a better tone than a lot of my mahogany Ukuleles.

As I've said it's a well enough made Ukulele and very pretty but the tone is exceptional.