Fender Grace VanderWaal Soprano Uke

Incredibly poor workmanship

I'm a guitar player and I bought a Harley Benton UK-12 Ukulele for my little daughter. Since I really enjoyed playing it, I decided to buy a nicer one for me and I chose this Fender (mainly for the brand, being a guitar guy).

I was excited to get it but, when I opened the box, I was blown away by how poorly made this Ukulele was.

The worst part was the neck. The frets were visibly poorly sanded and there were tons of glue residues on each end of the frets. I'm not talking about a little residue, which can happen, but a lot of it and on each single fret, from the first to the last one. Some glue stains could also be seen on the neck itself in several places. The part of wood after the last fret was so poorly sanded that the surface was not flat, but visibly uneven.

On the Ukulele body there was a darker spot of about 0.5cm, clearly visible from a distance, probably a clear coat or paint defect.

Up close, it looked like a 10€/15€ Ukulele you can find in toy shops.

Finally, the strings were very loosely tensioned (the notes were basically one octave below the correct one) and too much wrapped around the tuning machines, so it was difficult to tune the instrument and keep it in tune. This could have been fixed by changing strings but I didn't, since I immediately sent it back.

In my opinion, such workmanship is completely unacceptable considering that this Ukulele costs more than 100€.

I can only recommend this ukulele.

It's sounds great and it feels like a high quality product.

The tuning has to be adjusted regularly in the first week but afterwards it keeps the tune perfectly well.

Good beginner soprano Uke

Pretty decent sound and great features (tele headstock, neck binding, etc). Great for beginners - I bought it for my children and they loved it. Build quality is OK but feels a bit fragile, will see how it holds over time.

Good uke, no gigbag

I wanted a Soprano ukulele since I already had a concerto and wanted to go for a higher-pitched sound. The Grace VDW soprano uke totally delivered, it has a very nice sound. The instrument is beautiful, with nice touches and awesome colors. Everything you expect from a Fender instrument :).

On the other hand, the instrument's finish makes dirt and grease very visible so you have to clean it constantly. As other comments say, I had to tune it every 30 mins when I took it out of the box, but I've been playing it for 5 days and now I only tune it every morning. My only complaint is that it comes with no gigbag, nor any other accessory, so consider that you're gonna have to spend extra for the bag.

I wanted a soprano uke, but given the choice, I would definitely go for the signature Grace Uke (the larger one). It comes with the gigbag, it's electric and comes with three free months of Fender play.

All in all, a good purchase, good sound and nice looking, but not the best bargain. If you don't care for the looks, definitely go for a cheaper one. If you're a Grace VDW fan, I recommend buying the signature instead.