Right Said Fred famously sang 'I'm too sexy for my shirt'. Had they had one of these beautiful Uluru Lehua IIICX ukuleles in their hands at the time, they'd have changed that to 'I'm not sexy enough for my uke'. That was certainly the feeling I had when picking up this wonderful tenor ukulele - that I was not worthy! The second feeling was just how beautiful and light it was, how the slotted headstock really improved the balance and how beautifully made it felt. It simply felt right in the hands.
The Uluru Lehua IIICX is made from AAAA grade Hawaiian koa. I mean, no run of the mill triple A grade for this uke. Perish the thought. Only quadruple A for this beauty! The koa wood lends a woody edge to the super sweet tone, and will improve with age, unlike the rest of us. And if that wasn't all, the all solid body is utterly gorgeous to look at. If you have plenty of spare money but no interest in ukuleles, you should still buy the Lehua IIICX - it looks better than most works of art you'd find at the Saatchi gallery.
There is one drawback to the Uluru Lehua IIICX, and that is that it can spoil you. If you have several ukes in your collection, you may find the others start to feel neglected once you have one of these. Oh, and it isn't cheap. But then luxury usually comes with a price and this is as luxurious as it gets, with utterly sensational looks. Abalone inlay is present and lovely. The padauk binding is stunning, and features between the sides and the top and the back of the uke, as well as up the sides of the fingerboard. It is especially stunning on the top edge, and in the cutaway section, where the wood has been chamfered, making the join between the top and the side a smooth curve, rather than just a right angle join. This chamfered edge is just utterly luxurious, and means greater comfort when resting your arm on the top of the uke, as it sits on a smooth curved edge rather than a traditional join. No red marks on your arm from this uke if you're playing in short sleeves!
The uke is set up perfectly, with a low action and a nice, relatively shallow profile neck - which feels nice in your hand. The compensated saddle helps keep intontation spot on, all the way up the 20 fret neck - making the chamfered cutaway more practical - giving you easy access to accurate high notes. The tuners are exceptionally good too, keeping the uke nicely in tune without adding much weight and spoiling the excellent balance.
The Uluru Lehua IIICX comes with Aquila strings fitted. However, we experimented with Worth Clears and Savarez, both of which lent the tone a little more character in our opinion. Particularly with the Savarez, the tone really lifted and expressed the character of the koa wood - while keeping excellent volume and well seperated treble notes, alongside a background depth and complexity. The uke is supplied with a very tough hard case, the kind the Russian gangsters use to carry around gold bullion in.
So, if you want to spoil yourself, and own a peace of great sounding art, this lovely Uluru Lehua IIICX is just the ticket.
