Uluru ukes

Ukecaster

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Saw this one on Reverb, supposedly solid koa. Anyone tried this brand? Cool body shape, and love those solid koa tuner buttons!

 
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I had a Lehua IIIc tenor cutaway by Uluru, and it was a very nice instrument. The only reason I sold it was because I am just a baritone guy. I would recommend the brand without reservations!
 
There are a couple of positive reviews on Got a Ukulele. World of Ukes carries them
 
I play two of their tenors and both are top notch ukes. I recently wrote a few sencences about these in another thread, see here.
 
I would take the "koa" with a big grain of salt. I doubt that they ship Hawaiian koa to Vietnam for Uke building, more likely they used some locally available stuff and called it "koa".
Yeah, who knows, could be blackwood, acacia, etc.
 
I would take the "koa" with a big grain of salt. I doubt that they ship Hawaiian koa to Vietnam for Uke building, more likely they used some locally available stuff and called it "koa".
Generally good to be a bit cautious with the use of the word koa, however ask Matt at World of Ukes. From all the ukes that he has had in his hands, he chose a Lehua IIIc as his private uke and that is made from Hawaiian Koa and not some other acacia. So is the Pukana La series and you can also choose Hawaiian Koa for their customs. So they definitely get Koa to build with, even very nicely figured as seen on the Lehua.
 
Matt at World of Ukes thinks highly of the Ulurus.
 
I would take the "koa" with a big grain of salt. I doubt that they ship Hawaiian koa to Vietnam for Uke building, more likely they used some locally available stuff and called it "koa".
There are loads of brands that do the same. Romero Creations and Big Island to name a few. I've heard no suspicions of them using anything else than koa for their ukes. Can't really fathom where these suspicions come from.
 
Just to add some family tree: Uluru is the ukulele branch from Ayers Guitars located in Taiwan (but producing their instruments in Vietnam, I think). As far as I know, they also produce instruments for Romero Creations.

They are so persistent in calling their wood "Hawaiian Koa" that it would be quite fraudulent if it wasn't from Hawai'i. However, I have grown cautious about these things. If you think about the prices of real Koa, where an unfinished board may cost more than a finished instrument from the far east....
 
Some people here may still recall the heated discussions on UU back in 2013, when Uluru ran into copyright issues using designs from Moore Bettah.
 
Some people here may still recall the heated discussions on UU back in 2013, when Uluru ran into copyright issues using designs from Moore Bettah.
I had thought to mention this when I wrote in the post linked above about Ulurus being talked about rather sparingly here. But then again their marketing is hardly existent when you compare them to other brands. Regarding this incident, to paint the whole picture, Uluru offers custom builds where, among other options, you can send a drawing or picture to be featured as an inlay on the headstock and body. I haven't used this service, but for the level of customization the price looks very reasonable. And knowing the level of workmanship on my tenors, I would expect them to deliver. (Of course abusing this level of freedom in inlays is not cool.)
Would be interesting if anyone here have an Uluru coming from their custom offering.
 
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And regarding the price of the Koa, it is the priciest of the woods they offer for customs. Also their Lehua with all of its appointments compares in price to, say an Anuenue UT-3K with similar appointments and woods. And Barry on GotAUkulele praised its sound too.
 
Generally good to be a bit cautious with the use of the word koa, however ask Matt at World of Ukes. From all the ukes that he has had in his hands, he chose a Lehua IIIc as his private uke and that is made from Hawaiian Koa and not some other acacia. So is the Pukana La series and you can also choose Hawaiian Koa for their customs. So they definitely get Koa to build with, even very nicely figured as seen on the Lehua.
I consider myself a guitar nerd but have never heard of Ayers guitars let alone seen one, so not sure why connection to Uluru needs to be emphasized. If this Matt likes them that's fine and maybe they are good ukes but their marketing language is unbearable and sure distracts from potential quality For example on their English home page they state
. Made by the best Hawaiian Koa and decent exotic tone woods, along with the luthier shop skills, Uluru soon gets its reputation in handmade ukuleles.
What is this even supposed to mean? And then they use a lot of "mahogany" whatever wood that is supposed to be. Then this Lehua that Matt likes is supposed to be a mermaid. But is this not the flower of ohia tree? And I could go on. Their marketing sure does not give me confidence in the product.
 
Looking at their literature and specs, I thought one thing was strange: all their sopranos are listed as having 35mm nuts, all the concerts bump up to 37mm, then all the tenors back down to 35mm. Kinda weird, at least to me. I know, I know, string spread matters too.
 
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