Martin Smith UK-212-A Soprano Ukulele with Ukulele Bag & Chord Book, Natural

Product Information

The 0X build structure will seem like a wood instrument, including a bridge and fingerboard crafted from Sipo wood and Sitka spruce braces. It doesn't get much use these days, but is an old friend, and represents a stage in my ukulele journey.

We will come on to their choice of product description at the end of this review to see how it squares up. Soprano Ukulele with Sapele Mahogany Body: Hardwearing, pleasing at the eye, and generating a beautifully warm tone the Sapele wood used in this ukulele provides a premium feel. In the 1990s, just after Martin had discontinued ukulele production, interest in the instrument again began a slow but steady climb.As demand for ukuleles grew on the East Coast in the mid-teens, one of New York City’s largest music retailers, Chas. Changes in temp and humidity will cause the wood to expand and contract, and this may cause friction tuners to require adjustment if not holding properly or not easy to turn. A rich history defines the proliferation of the ukulele, as well as Martin’s legacy in its manufacturing. Those tuners though are very fussy and annoying to work with, having lot's of play on some of them making it hard to dial the note in. Yeah - don't want to pre-judge it as I've not spent a lot of time with it yet, but seems to be ticking the boxes that always worry me.

That is topped with more unspecified wood for the fingerboard which, to be fair, is in quite good condition if a little naturally too pale for my tastes. If you want to tune this Martin Smith ukulele, you will need to stick to the classic GCEA tuning because that is what is featured in this ukulele. While the taropatch had been offered with four strings since its introduction, the new concert model was different in that it had a narrower neck and a standard soprano-size bridge.In the realm of stringed instruments, the brand has established itself as a trusted name for a long.

The largest of the Ditson guitar models was dubbed the “dreadnought,” and although not a lot of these Ditson guitars were sold, the body size and shape would later become Martin’s iconic dreadnought guitar. The wider Ditson ukuleles mirrored the shape of the new guitars that Martin was also making for Ditson.The Morado fingerboard aids in keeping the melody in balance and lets you have a sleek playing experience. In 1919, Martin first offered all three ukulele models in Hawaiian koa wood, tacking a “K” onto the style number to denote the different wood. That's not quite the saving grace you may think it is though as a lot of cheap laminate ukuleles tend to have half decent volume. Like some of the very cheap laminate ukuleles this has a boxy echo to the tone which really grates on me.