I bought one to use as a couch/travel guitar. Put aome cordoba standard tuning guitalele strings. Out of the box it was awful, sharp fret edges and didnt kept in tune, plus dry fretboard. Once i changed the strings it took like 2 werks till they stayed in tune. I took it to a luthier and he fixed the frets, set it up. Now it plays beautifully, its a very nice instrument. I mostly play fingerstyle and it is my most played instrument lately. I see all your points and agree with some of them. But i dont think its a bad instrument. Kind of pricey but you get grover tuners, solid wood top, real abalony inlays and real bone nut and saddle. I love mine.
It's great to hear that you got it sounding and feeling good! We were just a bit disappointed by ours, especially as we're fans of Gretsch guitars so were expecting it to be on par! We always make sure to review the ukes straight out of the box without changing anything, as that's what the majority of buyers would do, so it's a fair representation of the product. We do however have plans for a future video on how to make a ukulele play better, and your 2 fixes are on the list! ;)
I got mine in 2017-18. I got a ‘floor demo’ model online, and it came with the same nasty fret ends. The fretboard Ovangkol is simply too soft. It’s volatile to humidity changes. I finally stabilized it, then trimmed the fret ends. But, in A tuning, the G string couldn’t stay in tune. Dropping full steps overnight. I switched to high E tuning to double my guitar parts…but the high E snaps and it’s causing bow in the neck from the tension. In the end I’ve come to same conclusion as video. I’m not sure the point of it. I could capo a small classical, put Nashville tuning on a Taylor Big Baby, or get a nice Ukulele. The latter two at least provide a unique sound with the highest pitch string up top. Lastly, the tuner doesn’t have an automatic shut off. If I record a part with it and forget to turn off the tuner, it kills a battery overnight sitting in the corner.
I bought one 9 years ago. Looks are subjective - I thought it looked nicer than the Yamaha GL1 which to me seemed cheap and flimsy (9 years ago), and I got complements for abalone inlays. And sound-wise, I thought it sounded good with the solid top vs the all laminate GL1. It hasn't aged too well - the finish has clouded up on the headstock, the abalone has lost its lustre, the gig bag is falling apart. And now I have this brilliant full solid wood Ohana sopranino ukulele which somehow sounds fuller than despite the difference in size (and strings), and I play the sopranino a lot more instead. Browsed to this video while pondering what might be a good choice of upgrade actually. Maybe I'll try the Cordoba strings mentioned in the other comment first?
I got mine in 2017-18. I got a ‘floor demo’ model online, and it came with the same nasty fret ends. The fretboard Ovangkol is simply too soft. It’s volatile to humidity changes. I finally stabilized it, then trimmed the fret ends. But, in A tuning, the G string couldn’t stay in tune. Dropping full steps overnight. I switched to high E tuning to double my guitar parts…but the high E snaps and it’s causing bow in the neck from the tension. In the end I’ve come to same conclusion as video. I’m not sure the point of it. I could capo a small classical, put Nashville tuning on a Taylor Big Baby, or get a nice Ukulele. The latter two at least provide a unique sound with the highest pitch string up top. Note: I love Gretsch and one of my favorite budget guitars is their Electromatic series, but this was a lazy effort. The tuner doesn’t even turn off automatically after a certain time, so it’ll drain a battery alone in one night if I forget to turn off the tuner after stringing it.
I've had two of these. Luckily both of mine were flawless cosmetically and sounded good, but with any inexpensive acoustic instruments you have to filter through a lot of them to get a good one.
I bought one to use as a couch/travel guitar. Put aome cordoba standard tuning guitalele strings. Out of the box it was awful, sharp fret edges and didnt kept in tune, plus dry fretboard. Once i changed the strings it took like 2 werks till they stayed in tune. I took it to a luthier and he fixed the frets, set it up. Now it plays beautifully, its a very nice instrument. I mostly play fingerstyle and it is my most played instrument lately.
I see all your points and agree with some of them. But i dont think its a bad instrument. Kind of pricey but you get grover tuners, solid wood top, real abalony inlays and real bone nut and saddle. I love mine.
It's great to hear that you got it sounding and feeling good! We were just a bit disappointed by ours, especially as we're fans of Gretsch guitars so were expecting it to be on par!
We always make sure to review the ukes straight out of the box without changing anything, as that's what the majority of buyers would do, so it's a fair representation of the product.
We do however have plans for a future video on how to make a ukulele play better, and your 2 fixes are on the list! ;)
I got mine in 2017-18. I got a ‘floor demo’ model online, and it came with the same nasty fret ends.
The fretboard Ovangkol is simply too soft. It’s volatile to humidity changes. I finally stabilized it, then trimmed the fret ends. But, in A tuning, the G string couldn’t stay in tune. Dropping full steps overnight.
I switched to high E tuning to double my guitar parts…but the high E snaps and it’s causing bow in the neck from the tension.
In the end I’ve come to same conclusion as video. I’m not sure the point of it. I could capo a small classical, put Nashville tuning on a Taylor Big Baby, or get a nice Ukulele. The latter two at least provide a unique sound with the highest pitch string up top.
Lastly, the tuner doesn’t have an automatic shut off. If I record a part with it and forget to turn off the tuner, it kills a battery overnight sitting in the corner.
I bought one 9 years ago. Looks are subjective - I thought it looked nicer than the Yamaha GL1 which to me seemed cheap and flimsy (9 years ago), and I got complements for abalone inlays. And sound-wise, I thought it sounded good with the solid top vs the all laminate GL1.
It hasn't aged too well - the finish has clouded up on the headstock, the abalone has lost its lustre, the gig bag is falling apart. And now I have this brilliant full solid wood Ohana sopranino ukulele which somehow sounds fuller than despite the difference in size (and strings), and I play the sopranino a lot more instead. Browsed to this video while pondering what might be a good choice of upgrade actually.
Maybe I'll try the Cordoba strings mentioned in the other comment first?
Let us know how you get on if you change the strings!
I got mine in 2017-18. I got a ‘floor demo’ model online, and it came with the same nasty fret ends.
The fretboard Ovangkol is simply too soft. It’s volatile to humidity changes. I finally stabilized it, then trimmed the fret ends. But, in A tuning, the G string couldn’t stay in tune. Dropping full steps overnight.
I switched to high E tuning to double my guitar parts…but the high E snaps and it’s causing bow in the neck from the tension.
In the end I’ve come to same conclusion as video. I’m not sure the point of it. I could capo a small classical, put Nashville tuning on a Taylor Big Baby, or get a nice Ukulele. The latter two at least provide a unique sound with the highest pitch string up top.
Note: I love Gretsch and one of my favorite budget guitars is their Electromatic series, but this was a lazy effort. The tuner doesn’t even turn off automatically after a certain time, so it’ll drain a battery alone in one night if I forget to turn off the tuner after stringing it.
I've had two of these. Luckily both of mine were flawless cosmetically and sounded good, but with any inexpensive acoustic instruments you have to filter through a lot of them to get a good one.
Good to hear there are good ones out there!
Nice playing buddy
Thanks Paulo!
I enjoy your playing. Nice little guitar but I like ukulele’s better 😊
We like ukes much better!
The guitelele is a legit instrument in its own right.
Does any company make a high-quality guitelele with good materials and quality control.
We've only had 2 - this Gretsch, and a Yamaha. Both of which were fairly dire! Ibanez does one called the 'Piccolo', which looks good!
I’ll stick with my Yamaha Guitalele, that I paid £25 for second hand
The Yamaha is so much better!
Saved me from buying it!!!
Yikes! I was expecting more from this instrument. Sad.
Yes I was too! A real shame!
I’ll be honest there KD, you haven’t sold me on it.
Seriously, though, it looks and sounds *terrible*.
Are you sure??? You can have it for just the exact price we paid for it!!
@@AnarchyInTheUkuleleTV now that’s an offer hard to resist, but I think I’ll manage. ;)