The slant heads

I received the two ukes with telecaster style headstocks over the last couple of days. The Fender Nohea arrived yesterday and the Aaron Taylor milo/spruce tenor arrived today.

I never really considered myself a fan of the telecaster style headstock, but I really like these guys. It's something different and I like the fact that all of the tuners are on one side for quick adjustments. These type of headstocks seem to require a longer headstock though, and the Aaron Taylor barely fits in a Lanikai foam case. Looks like I'm going to be looking for a good case for this uke.

The Fender looks very nice and plays well. I believe Elderly Instruments did some setup on it and it's very playable out of the box for me. Being of laminate construction, I didn't expect the sound to blow me away, and it didn't. But what's there is good for the price. Playing it back to back with the Aaron Taylor, however, there is simply no comparison. The Aaron Taylor is in the class of Koa Works, Kanile'a, and William King ukes, with the Kanile'a super tenor being the one that it seems to be most similar to in terms of sound. That's to be expected, of course, since the Aaron Taylor is a custom built uke while the Fender is a mass produced laminate. Each serves its own purpose well, and I'm happy to have them. Once I get more time with them, I'll blog about them some more.

Here are some pics:

L: Fender Nohea, R: Aaron Taylor tenor

L: Fender, R: Aaron Taylor

The Fender actually comes with a compensated saddle.