Tiger Music sent me two ukuleles as review samples and giveaway items. As some of you may know, my very first ukulele is from Tiger and I still like it very much. So I was interested to see how their products compare now a couple of years later and how their solid wood ukulele plays. (Spoiler: You can win this uke at my Christmas giveaway – so stay tuned).
So this is the Tiger Music UKE 14 model. Body and top are solid mahogany with a nice satin finish, white bindings and a red/purplish print around the sound hole. The finish on the head stock, the fretboard and the bridge feels a bit rough and the wood connections at the neck are clearly visible but solid.
There was no funky smell when it came out of the box – that’s a big plus for me. The ukulele came with Aquila Nylgut strings – as you know, they are not my favorite, but then again, that’s something that can be changed very easily. The action at the nut is pretty good – however it is way to high at the bridge. This becomes an issue if you’re going up the neck and starts botherin me from about the 5th fret up. The bridge is also pretty rough, so depending on how you’re holding the ukulele this could be an issue.
The ukulele stays in tune seems to have some quality tuners on it – nothing fancy but it does what it’s supposed to. What I am missing are fret markers on the side of the neck, this of course is personal preference. The sound is very bright – it would be worth a try to put on some fluorocarbon strings to see what happens though.
If you have a smaller budget or you are just starting out, this might be a good deal for you. However, if you’re lucky you might get it for free – so stay tuned for my upcoming giveaway.
xoxo Nikky