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After
using a cheap $20 uke for a few months to decide if I was interested
enough to invest in a good instrument, I decided that the time had come,
and I called my uncle, a maestro of a uke player (and slack key
guitarist) and asked him to help me choose one.
He
brought me to Griffin Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto, California,
and told me "There is only one uke for the committed novice, and that's
the Fluke."
We tried out a few in different voices, and I settled on the concert size, in a nice hibiscus finish.
My
fluke is my best friend. It goes everywhere with me, and I pull it out
and play it when stuck in traffic, or when waiting for a meal in a
restaurant, yes, really.
It has a beautiful tone, and the tuning pegs don't slip, something that has bothered me about most of my other ukes.
Perhaps
the best thing about my Fluke is this. I am disabled, and not too
steady on my feet. About five years ago, I took a fall in my house and
landed smack dab on my ukes. Two were completely destroyed. They were
cheapies, and I didn't mourn their loss, but my Fluke.. oh! my Fluke.
The
face and neck of the instrument were fine, but its hard plastic back
was cracked, and a piece of the back the size of a silver dollar had
broken out. I was devastated.
I
called my Uncle in tears, and he drove over to give me one of his ukes
until I could afford to replace the Fluke. He picked up my poor broken
Fluke and plucked at its strings for a few minutes, then began to really
play it..
and
he turned to me and said "Jenn, this thing sounds as good as, if not
better, than before the break!" He went out and grabbed his Fluke from
his car to do some comparisons, and what do you know? Mine actually
played a bit louder and with more resonance than his. After comparing,
he grabbed my Dremel tool and modified his Fluke to have a "backside"
sound hole like mine did.
Any
uke that can not only survive a 285 pound woman landing full weight on
it, AND come out the other side sounding better than before, that's a
uke worth owning. I cannot recommend the Fluke strongly enough.
Review by Jenn
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I picked up a walnut Firefly a couple of months ago. I am in love with
that thing. I keep it at my side. I've started taking it to old time
jams. So cute, so punchy, so light, so good.
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"I want to express my happiness with the job you did on this instrument.
It looks beautiful and with the low G La Bella strings it has a
beautiful and mellow sound that is literally music to my ears. Better
than any other ukulele I own and I own five of them. The set up you
did was everything I was hoping for. I mentioned I have some arthritis
in my hands and getting the action as low as possible without any
buzzing would make a world of difference for me. This you have done to
perfection and I'm very grateful. It plays very nicely.
And
last but not least is that it's made here in my country by my fellow
countrymen and it's made well with attention to detail. I'm proud to
own it and I'm proud of the job you've done in creating such a wonderful
instrument. Kudos to you all and thank you so much." (March, 2014)
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"The Fluke made it safely to Brazil!
I loved the tenor scale, the hardwood fretboard, the Rosette design, the tuners, everything.
It sounds and looks beautiful. Thank you so much.
I'm
mainly an acoustic guitar player, but I have to say ever since I came
across the Fluke in a NYC music shop I was blown away by it's tone.
Thank you for making these beautiful instruments." (August, 2013)
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