Nov 24
Electric Ukulele: Which is the best buy?
The ukulele isn’t the loudest instrument around so if you’re looking to go gigging, you’re going to need some form of amplification. There are a few ways to amp up your uke. You could get a transducer pickup – which attaches to the body of your ukulele and picks up the vibrations. Or you could get a semi-acoustic ukulele i.e. a traditional acoustic ukulele with a pickup already installed.
However, doing it those ways can create a problem with feedback if you’re not very careful. So a great way to go is to get a solid body electric ukulele. The choice of solid ukuleles isn’t anywhere near as wide as it is for standard ukuleles, but there’s still a good choice. So which is best?
Solid Electric Ukuleles
I have two solid body electric ukuleles: the RISA Uke Solid and the BugsGear Eleuke. You can read my reviews of them here:
RISA ukulele review
Eleuke review
As you can see, I do have some gripes with both ukes. Overall, I’d say the RISA was the clear winner. It’s very easy to play. And a lot of fun. As you can tell of this video I made to demonstrate it.
I’m told the RISA’s Uke’Ellie fixes all the grumbles I had with the Uke Solid. However, it is quite a bit more expensive. So if you can afford, definitely take a look at that one as well.
May 17th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
nice guide – I play eleuke myself, and am very pleased with it – if you visit my blog I have my own review on there
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:48 pm
Hi,
I can strongly recommend against the Uku’ellie. I’ve had one for 4 years and just recently the bridge tore itself off. Sadly despite being a beautiful little thing, it is badly designed. The tuning pegs are the kind of clunky things you’d expect on a £20 kid’s soprano uke and the bridge is attached in an incredibly flimsy manner which puts the tension of the strings in a way that naturally levers the bridge away from the body (hence the recent death of my own uku’ellie). Other than that it has a beautiful and quite characteristic tone although the intonation is a bit weak once u get to the octave.
Don’t get me wrong, I have loved the instrument dearly. But I’m afraid to say I was ripped.
September 13th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
I have a question about the Ibanez UEW20 Acoustic-Electric Ukulele My son is doing a recording and an outside performance. Is this a good ukelele? solid maple. I need to know asap. thanks