“ TunaUke “ - did they build it with fishbones ?

No, they mean " tune a uke ".

The name refers to the new TunaUke system that incorporates a compensated nut and moveable saddles. Due to the short scale, the rather low string tension and nylon strings ( or similar materials ), a good intonation is often a problem. Especially with low budget ukes. You might experienced this as well: the ukulele is tuned, you grip some chords and aaaaargh … It sounds not right. The exact tone is determined by your fingers, the action and the strings. Change the player or the strings and the tone pitch may differ. I saw a moveable saddle on a ukulele once, but with the TunaUke your able to adjust the amount of compensation for each string in order to get a good intonation.

In this video you can see how it works.

Construction / Design

It's a laminated mahagony construction with a mahagony neck and a rosewood fretboard. There's a total of 18 frets neck and body joined at the 14th. This one is a tenor. But they buid them in all sizes from soprano to baritone. Well, due to the short scale this TunaUke system would be redundant in a sopranissimo uke anyway. They even offer a soprano with a pineapple body.

The TunaUke came with a stabile gig bag, an instruction booklet and an extra set of tall saddles.

Fit and Finish / Playability

The action is good. If you want it higher ( e.g. if you want to use it for sliding ) , you just have to change the saddles and put the taller ones in. The intonation wasn't so bad at all, just a few cents ( comparing open string and gripping the 12th fret ). In order to test the TunaUke system quickly I adjusted the length of one string. You can see how it's done and it's described in the manual as well. It was easy and improved the intonation as I could see on the display of my tuner. Mission accomplished. The playability of the neck is good and the uke is fretted well.

The geared tuners do their job.

I see some little minor irregularities in the satin finish. But you really must have a close look. And in this price range it's absolutely normal and no big deal.

Tone

It's rather loud and sounds good. Well, not really special. I played some tenor ukes that sounded better, but they were much more expensive. So for this price no complaints from me. It's stringed with Aquilas. I would recommend to change to carbon strings like Martin M620 or Worth ( respectively Risa ). Aquila strings are just not my cup of tea.

Overall impressions

This is a fine instrument. The TunaUke system really helps to improve the intonation. I hope to see it used in more models in the future.  A simple ukulele with a revolutionary finetuning.

The tenor model of the TunaUke is available on Amazon and ebay for 139 $. 

If you play a pricy custom build ukulele, you might not need a TunaUke. And if you prefer vintage instruments, this model with moveable plastic parts on the top and geared tuners might be a gremlin for you.

For anybody else – a recommendation to buy from me.

FriendlyFred

Check out the price of the Tunauke on Amazon