Well, you’ll standout from the crowd with this Le Ocean EQ tenor electro ukulele! L.Luthier ukuleles have always stayed away from traditional waters, but the Le Ocean model takes their modern design cues and adds to them with a natural to blue sunburst on the quilted maple top, back and sides. The wood is gorgeous anyway but maple tends to divide people – with plenty not keen on ‘plain’ maple because of its pale colour.

That’s not an issue here, it’s anything but plain, both with the quilting and the blue stain. You also get the interesting off-centre soundhole and more blue on the headstock, as well a cutaway body shape. Sensibly the neck is satin.

Maple tends to have a smoothness and warmth and that’s in evidence with this Le Ocean model, but it’s combined with a clarity that definitely doesn’t appear with all maple ukes – some of which I can find are muddy in tone. This is punchy, but with a soft edge, so you get your clarity and note separation but that punch is wrapped in a smooth softness that’s very attractive, particularly when picked.

The tuners are excellent, pro-quality Gotoh models, with cream buttons, and like other L.Luthiers, it’s fitted with French- made Savarez strings – which are clear, clean-sounding strings that also seem to emphasise deeper tones. I like the choice – particularly as they probably aren’t the easiest strings to get hold of in Asia, so it’s something that’s been done from preference as opposed to convenience. There’s also an LU active pickup which offers a blend of internal mic and undersaddle piezo, a blend that can be adjusted. Like all units of this nature, put the mic to max and you can get feedback, but used more subtly, it can add a lovely character to the amplified sound. It comes with a fabulous gig bag.

The nut width is 37mm, with a fairly flat, gently curved neck profile which seems a nice combination. While there’s only the one bird-patterned inlaid position marker on the fretboard, side markers are in evidence on the neck.

There are some really well priced L.Luthier models, but this one is a lot more expensive. It’s made from the most stunning wood, so you can see where some of the extra money goes, and that silky-smooth tone is exotic, different and frankly, lovely. It might be one where you close your eyes when you hand over your credit card, but in the long run, I don’t think you’d regret it.

There are some optional added extras at the bottom of the page that can easily be added. You can ignore the case and gig bag options as the included L.Luthier gig bag is brilliant. You might want to add a low G however. The jack socket doubles as a strap button but it’s possible for me to install another at the neck if you wish.

For a video demo of the L.Luthier Le Ocean EQ tenor electro ukulele, click additional info below.