This is a sweet sounding Singer RS1K soprano ukulele, part of aNueNue’s Singer range - which has nothing to do with sewing machines, but is ‘sew good’. Sorry, that was a poor joke which I doubt had you in stitches. Anyway, where was I… I seemed to have lost my thread.

The RS1K has a lovely sunburst finish, called ‘Ice Tea’ (hence the IT in the product code), which goes from a rich red towards the more natural tones of the koa body. This is all solid wood, with a nice bit of visible grain through the flawless, thin gloss finish. There’s a flash of abalone shell around the soundhole and the maple binding looks classy too. With a rosewood veneer on the vintage inspired headstock, the whole thing looks very pleasing indeed.

The Singer ukulele range is an attempt by aNueNue to create an instrument with a more old-school aesthetic and sound, with different bracing than used with their famous bird series instruments, to get more of a vintage bark, and a slightly more clipped sustain that you’d get with their ‘modern’ style instruments. That said, the DNA of aNueNue’s impressive builds is retained, with both flawless finish and construction, and plenty of clarity paired with a lovely, bubbly warmth. So when I say ‘clipped sustain’, this is slight - the sustain still beats many many other ukuleles!

This Singer soprano uke has a nut width a shade over 36mm, with a radius on the fretboard - delivering a slight curve that matches that of your finger, making it easier to form barre chords, particularly when the action is lowered (they arrive with 3mm at the 12th fret, and leave World of Ukes with 2.5mm or lower). It is fitted with aNueNue Black Water fluorocarbon strings, which are great, and Gotoh UPT rear facing tuners which are the Rolls Royce of tuners (classy, reliable, smooth and expensive!)

So that’s the RS1K from Singer, a really fab, comfortable uke with a clarity that’s underpinned with koa sweetness and warmth. It’s definitely not ‘sew sew’, it’s excellent. (Sorry if I ‘seam’ a bit silly, why don’t ‘eyelet’ you carry on without any more sewing machine jokes).

There are a number of easy to add extras at the bottom of the page. One thing you don’t need is a hard case as the Singer RS1K comes with a really good, stylish dark green hard case. You can add strap buttons and (at a push), a low G, though I am not the biggest fan of a low G on a soprano, if I’m honest!