2017 Risa Tele-Style Steel-String Electric Tenor Ukulele

October 18, 2021

2017 Risa Tele-Style Steel-String Electric Tenor Ukulele

A local customer brought a pair of recent Risa electric tenor ukes in for consignment and this is the Telecaster-style model. Compared to the Les Paul-style one that's also here, it has a narrower neck (and thus it's faster for melody playing) and while the bridge is a humbucking pickup, the neck on this guy is single-coil and gives a bit of a Strat-like tone.

Fit, finish, and build quality on these Risa products is right up there and the product design is well-done, too.

After a light level/dress of the frets, setup, and new strings, this guy plays fast and easy and sounds excellent. In the video I tried to play a bunch of different styles to give an idea of what this could do when approached from a "different instrument" viewpoint, too. Uke players will probably play it bare-fingers but depending on how it's strung and tuned (for example -- CGDA like a mandola? EBF#C# like a mandolin but down a step and a half? DGBE like a baritone uke?) the player might be using a pick or fingerpicks, too.

Anyhow -- I like the style, I like the feel, and I like the miniaturized controls and the choice of hardware -- it's all well-thought-out. My only complaint with this one is that the bridge was fit slightly too far towards the bottom of the instrument and so the saddles have to come right to the edge of the bridge to compensate correctly.

Compared to the brand-new version of this instrument, this slightly-older model still features the Fender-style headstock shape. The new ones had to be changed to avoid legal action on Fender's part.

Repairs included: light level/dress of the frets, setup, adjustments.

Body wood: sugar pine

Bridge: adjustable 4-saddle

Fretboard: maple

Neck wood: maple

Pickups: 1x single coil 1x humbucker -- adjustable poles

Action height at 12th fret: hair-below 1/16" (fast)
String gauges: 26w, 17, 13, 10 (for low-G GCEA)

Neck shape: medium C

Board radius: ~12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: small