Solid body Uke.... do they exist?

KDS

14 year old daughter has been singing with other students in band type context (Guitar, Keys, Drums) with her GCSE class at school. Dabbled with guitar for a number of years, but seems to prefer picking up her (excellent Kula) Uke to learn the songs and generally dabble about with it.  Which got me thinking, if she wanted to accompany her school band with a instrument and well as singing, I would think that a usual acoustic Use would feedback and be not suitable.

Do solid body, electric P/U Ukes exist, and are they any good?

drofluf

I used to have an Ashbury solid body mandolin from Hobgoblin may be worth checking if they do a ukulele version. Or could you repurpose an e-mandolin?  Not sure about scale length though…

more

There are some solid body ukuleles available , but the ones I have seen are in reality a 4 string electric guitar . There are a number of other options . I have a ukulele with Piezo pickup , but you also need the right amp . There some cabon fibre ukuleles and semi acoustics . 

RiftAmps

https://www.southernukulelestore.co.uk/shop-by-type/electro-acoustic/

entee

@KDS  ;I had a baritone solid body uke made by bear guitars - Bear Custom Guitars (bearguitars.co.uk) - Andy is a great guy and knows what he is doing.  Mine is a 'copy' of a Gretsch BillyBo and sounds amazing.
I also have one made by Marshall Stapleton, that he sold through the Southern Ukulele Store, also a s/b baritone.
Connected to an amp, you can really drive them hard too! 

Mattharrier

There are two main types of solid body, really - nylon strung with a piezo pickup in the bridge, and steel strung with magnetic pickups.

You can buy a solid body nylon from Thomann for about £50 - I have one, it's really good for the money, but it's always going to sound like a nylon strung uke with a piezo.

Steel strung - there are a few of these around - Risa are around £500-£600, in either Les Paul, Strat or Tele style. Really good, but obviously a lot of cash. Flight do some at around £250 I think, and are apparently really good (the Risa ones are better, but at more than double the price of course - Risa are made in Europe, I believe, and the Flight ones are made in the far east, if that makes any difference).

There are also the Clearwater ones (Vorson outside the UK, I think), which are about £175 - also pretty decent, also made in the far east and so as with guitars, you'll see some more QC issues perhaps, but still decent instruments.

Then there are more custom made instruments - Brian Fanner in South Africa makes some amazing looking ukes for instance, at varying prices but more than the Risa ones.

I've not had the chance to play any of the steel strung ones, so all of my information is second hand and anecdotal. The fact that none of the above brands are up for sale second hand very often, and they aren't dirt cheap when they are, suggests that they are all pretty decent instruments.

Winny_Pooh

These are really good, professional level instruments. Hand made and nitro finished so expect a vintage vibe rather than CNC perfection. 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/fannerguitarworks/

entee

I have spoken to Brian previously and he's a font of knowledge where ukes are concerned.  They are at the high end of custom builds but still a lot less than guitar builds.  I have never played one but only ever heard good things about his work.

ICBM

There's no reason an acoustic uke with a pickup will feed back at sensible volumes - they're less prone to it than electro-acoustic guitars, as the body is smaller and less likely to resonate, and people use those on stage at high volumes. You can get proper factory-made electro-acoustic ukes too.

Personally I tend to think that ukes should have nylon strings - solid electric ones with steel strings are really more of a form of tenor guitar.

Mattharrier

ICBM said:

There's no reason an acoustic uke with a pickup will feed back at sensible volumes - they're less prone to it than electro-acoustic guitars, as the body is smaller and less likely to resonate, and people use those on stage at high volumes. You can get proper factory-made electro-acoustic ukes too.

Personally I tend to think that ukes should have nylon strings - solid electric ones with steel strings are really more of a form of tenor guitar.

I am pondering the idea of, one day, sticking a humbucker in my Harley Benton and chucking some steel strings on it (maple neck so I'm told a lack of truss rod shouldn't be a deal breaker), but I would agree that nylon (or fluorocarbon or whatever) are a huge part of the uke sound.

Lots of ukes come with factory pickups, feedback isn't generally a major issue unless high gain is involved -  sure there are some who want that sound but I can't imagine there are many!

pigface

How about an oil-can type? Steel strings, pickup, inexpensive. This is mine:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/obm1cgc56svc0t1/uke.jpg?raw=1

From Bohemian Guitars (plenty dealers in the UK).

JayGee

ICBM said:

Personally I tend to think that ukes should have nylon strings - solid electric ones with steel strings are really more of a form of tenor guitar.

Speaking as someone who’s recently turned to The Uke Side[1] I think the magic is in the reentrant tuning - if the G string[2] is tuned higher than the C then it’s a ukulele and on some level sounds like one, if you haven’t then it isn’t and doesn’t… The solid, steel-strung, electromagnetic pickup instruments do often seem to come strung and setup with a low G but I don’t see any good reason you can’t pop a light plain string on there in its place and tune them like a proper use

[1] With a not terribly expensive “Snail” brand electro-acoustic “concert” instrument I bought for 1 (one) song with my current band project but which has actually turned out to be a surprisingly satisfying and fun little instrument to have around the place…

[2] Which is where you’d normally expect to find the lowest pitch on a guitar-like instrument.

Mattharrier

Regarding the re-entrant tuning, low G is better for finger picking and the like. You get doubled notes on a lot of chords with the high G which sounds naff.

deejayen

There's the Godin one, which is similar to their nylon guitars.  I tried one in a shop a few years ago and although my memory is a bit hazy, I think it played nicely and sounded pretty good, especially compared to the cheaper ukes in the shop.  However, it's a tenor, and at the time I wanted a small, traditional uke.