Uke's Everywhere!

Got my 12 pack of Ashton Soprano Ukuleles at last! These Ukuleles were designed in Australia and manufactured in China. I originally wanted to go for a pack of Mahalo as they are slightly better quality instruments but they have become hard to come by as the chinese company that builds them, TEAMInternational, have decided not to build any Mahalo Soprano Uke's as they are actually making a loss on them. The Ashton Ukuleles have their own draw backs, as I'll explain in a moment.

I spent several days tuning them up, one by one, and numbering each on, it's bag, and it's box, to make things easier. I noticed while I was tuning them a few were creaking, and I got an overwhelming feeling of tension from them. Later, I opened one of the tuned Uke's bags and found this:

The Ukulele had literally exploded. I was bloody thankful this happened while the Uke was in it's bag and not in the hands of a small child. What has happened here is that the bridge just isn't strong enough to take the tension once the strings were tuned. If this is a design fault then at any moment any one of my Uke's could explode. Certainly adds a level of...excitement...to my workshop. 

I contacted Purple Turtle Music, the supplier that sold me Ukuleles in bulk. I had a conversation with a nice guy named Mike, who I've spoken to on the phone before. I like the fact that Purple Turtle Music seem to have only a few employees, and that the employees take the time to contact me via phone rather than an impersonal email. Mi Ukes ke explained that Ashton had some problems with their Uke's about 2 years ago, in that a lot of bridges were being incorrectly fitted. However, nobody has ever had an exploding Uke before. He reckoned the problem was the strings. The strings that automatically fitted on these Ukuleles are very thick. They are far too heavy, and the tension is far too high. It's no wonder that these super heavy strings combined with the shoddy manufacturing on the bridge that the entire thing would buckle. Mike has kindly offered to send me a replacement Uke with newer, lighter strings, and send me replacement strings to fit onto the other Ukuleles. I'm pleased with this offer, though I have never personally restrung a Uke, so it'll be a learning curve for me.

I think I'll build something out of the broken Uke. I'm thinking a clock.