2018 Risa Les Paul-Style Steel-String Electric Tenor Ukulele

This is the second of two Risa electric tenor ukuleles a customer dropped-off for consignment. He's moved-over to tenor guitars and so has been downsizing his uke herd like a madman. His loss!

The benefit of a steel-string electric uke is that it can be restrung and retuned to suit a variety of players. Mandola/tenor guitar CGDA comes to mind -- as does EBG#C# like a mandolin detuned a step and a half (useful for playing with guitars in E and B) and DGBE like a baritone uke or "Chicago-tuned" tenor guitar. In the second part of the video I switch to playing it with a pick so you can get a sense of what a mandolin-style approach might be.

As for the instrument? It's lovely. These Risa electric ukes are well-thought-out and the build quality is high. Yes -- it's a miniaturized Les Paul -- mahogany body, set neck, fancy inlay, arched top, lots of binding -- what's not to like? The neck on this is a little more generous side-to-side than their Strat and Tele-style models and so I think that this actually makes a much nicer "uke-style" instrument because there's more spacing for fingerpicked chords up and down the neck.

The pickups here are a pair of humbuckers and, fortunately, they have adjustable poles all-around which makes it easy to dial-in a balanced tone (something very important if you, as a player, plan to restring and/or retune an instrument like this for other uses).

After a light level/dress of the frets, restring, and setup, this thing plays absolutely spot-on and is good to go. It's essentially as-new, too, though it does have the mildest playwear evident and one tiny little finish flaw/ding on the side that I've pictured later in the post.

Repairs included: fret level/dress, setup, adjustments.

Body wood: solid mahogany

Bridge: adjustable 4-saddle

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Pickups: 2x RISA humbuckers

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

Neck shape: medium C

Board radius: ~12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: small

Scale length: 17"

Nut width: 1 7/16"

Body width: 9"

Body depth: 1 1/2"

Weight: 3 lbs 9 oz

Condition notes: it's basically as-new and only very lightly played save for one tiny finish blem/flaw on the side (pictured) that looks like it was a bubble when sprayed at the factory. You've gotta really search for it. 

It comes with: either a free gigbag or upgrade to a fancy Mono tenor gigbag (+$75).