Uluru Ukulele
If you’re a smart puppy, you’ll have guessed that Uluru ukuleles come from Australia. If you’re a really smart puppy you’ll have guessed that Uluru ukes are made by Ayers Guitars. Ayers launched the Uluru at NAMM 2010 so there hasn’t been much feedback on them yet. If you’ve tried one out, be sure to leave a review below.
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13 Comments
Well, I have been following those ukes since I saw them first time in Frankfurt Musik Messe 2008. At that time they were looking for OEM clients, that is brands that wanted them to manufacture ukuleles.
The workmanship is superb, only comparable to Martin, Kawiya and BIG,BIG brands.
They are really hand made and the sound is glorious, thanks to their 100% solid wood construction.
This year I bought two ukes from them during Frankfurt Musik Messe: a soprano mahogany and a koa, with pickups
Just a tip, it’s pronounced oo-lar-roo
I have just bought an Uluru tenor, solid mango with a rosewood fretboard. I wanted a more expensive and higher quality instrument and this was the one that blew me away in the shop. The workmanship, as said above, is next to none. The action and playability is superb and the sound is loud and elegant. The asking price was 450quid but I got a discount of 60. It is a top quality instrument and I was happy to pay the extra.
Thought they are a company from Taiwan who have the Ukes made in Vietnam . Also they have been doing exact copy’s of Chuck Moores Ukulele designs . Not Cool !
I’ve had my Uluru Pukana LA IIC for about one year now and it almost cured my UAS (Ukulele Addiction Syndrome) because I robably won’t need another one for a long time… Even my 193? Martin 2K has been put aside more than it deserves. I pretend it’s because of the Uluru’s cutaway and 19 frets but I know the sound is also exactly to my taste. Action, playability, sound, look, everything is first class, up to the nice koa pegs… It is “young”, but evolving pretty well – it is plain Koa, and not laminate. When I first saw it I thought it was on the pricey side. But after a week I knew I had found my favorite uke, and worth much more. (until, of course, I find that unmissable Martin 5K that’s waiting for me in a garage sale- but I’ll miss the jazzy cutaway and the concert playability.)
Robert is right!!! They are from Taiwan (Ayers guitars) and seemingly make them in Vietnam (that what a sales person told me).
And they totally copied Moore Bettah inlay designs (intricate graphics, not just shape of uke or somthing…)
Definitely a reason not to buy for me!
http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?82575-I-Was-Just-Cruising-Uluru-Blog-and-found-more-Moore-Bettah-copies-WOW
hi all. i was lucky enough to buy the exhibition ayers koa soprano uke with mermaid on headstock. he said he could have sold it a thousand times at the 2008 namm show in LA. he said he had made it personally and i must say it is the finest uke I’ve ever played or heard for that matter. there is a picture of it on the internet. i am going to sell it now as i need to raise some cash. it is mint with hard case as per the picture. i am open to offers. a chance to own something very special.
…and, if you’re a really, really, really smart puppy you’ll know that Ayers guitars is a Taiwanese company with production in Vietnam… LOL
Greetings from Bien Hoa, Vietnam, where I’m an English teacher, recently arrived from Nashville, TN.
One thing I knew I’d need quickly in Vietnam was a guitar, and there is a 2-block stretch of street in nearby Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon where the luthiers sell their wares. I kept researching and found that my city of Bien Hoa hosts a guitar factory of its own! All handmade instruments, no CNC machines. Maybe I could get a deal…
Anyway, they’re called Ayers Guitars and sell under their own brand, as well as manufacturing guitars for other brands internationally. AND they own and make the Uluru brand ukes. I contacted the place and will be visiting them soon.
I’m irked from seeing online that they’ve aped Chuck Moore, but at the same time, Moore has a waiting list and I doubt anyone in the market for one of his ukes would even glance at an Uluru. And, now, I’m no expert, but it seems to me that design elements between uke builders are likely to overlap a good deal anyway. You buy a Moore Bettah ukulele because Mr. Moore built it, and nobody else. And on the Ayers website, they show all the Uluru ukes, and none of them have a side soundhole like Moore’s, nor do they have his individual stamp on decoration or the 10,000 year-old ivory, etc. that he uses. Maybe I’m trying to justify the fact that I’ll probably own an Uluru soon, but anyway, these are my inital thoughts on the matter. I’m looking forward to seeing the factory and I’ll report back on it later. BTW, I love this website, y’all. And the name “uke hunt”? Well-played.
Having just perused the Uluru website, it seems the “Chuck Moore” design controversy has provoked Uluru to issue a statement. 5 ukes they made for a show used inlay design elements brought to Uluru by customers custom builds. Uluru didn’t research the designs thoroughly, built the ukes, and have subsequently posted an apology to Chuck Moore, see the link…
http://www.uluruukulele.com/?post_type=news&p=891
To follow up on my previous posts re: Uluru ukes:
I’ve visited the Ayers/Uluru facility here in Bien Hoa more than once and have made some friends there, very nice people.
Ayers Guitars is based here in Bien Hoa City, Vietnam, and represents a fraction of the bottom line of a larger company which is based in Taiwan. Uluru ukuleles are handmade here in Bien Hoa as well. Both names refer to the big rock in Australia (Uluru is the original Aboriginal name; the name of Ayers was bestowed upon it by a man named Gibbons after a Sir Henry Ayers).
The factory manager has taken me through the whole place, and it’s pretty exciting – everywhere you look, there are workers at benches, hand-shaping braces, sanding bodies, and carving inlays. There are several rooms at varying temperatures which store the different woods – as a batch of wood dries to a certain water content level, it moves from one room to the next, until it’s ready for use.
I mentioned the “Chuck Moore controversy” to the manager, and he certainly was aware of it. The fact is that if you go on the Ayers or Uluru website, you can order a custom instrument, including a custom inlay of anything you can imagine. The company simply received a few individual orders that included inlays that were based on Mr. Moore’s work, and they filled them.
To me, it would be the same if I asked a luthier to build me a copy of a particular customized guitar owned by Brian May. The luthier wouldn’t be expected to hunt down the originator of that guitar – any infraction would have to be held against me, as it is a custom, one-off instrument, not a production model.
Finally, the factory manager told me that it is now policy that when they take a customer’s custom order, the customer must sign a waiver that protects Ayers/Uluru from legal action, which makes sense to me. It would be impossible for anyone to exhaustively search the planet for a particular design to be sure the rights to said design were owned by anyone else.
The point is that someone was impressed with Chuck Moore’s work and wanted a uke with an inlay that looked like Moore’s design. Uluru did as the customer asked, without ever being aware of Mr. Moore or his work.
I can understand that Chuck Moore would be irked by this; I’m posting this in the hope that everyone with an opinion will be sure to have the facts. Uluru has no intention of producing a production model that infringes on Chuck Moore, or Fender, or Martin or anyone else. From my reading, it seems that Chuck Moore got a lot of his news on this subject from his faithful following, some of which strays from the reality of the incident.
I’ve never been anywhere near a Chuck Moore uke, but I bet they are simply awesome, as they should be, considering the craftsmanship that he lends them. I doubt any of his ukuleles would ever be mistaken for one of any other brand on Earth. I’d love to see/play one sometime.
Meanwhile, I am now the owner of a solid mahogany Uluru III (tenor) ukulele, and I would recommend it highly. When the time comes to swap strings, I’ll probably sand down the saddle to lower the action just a bit, but otherwise I couldn’t be happier. In fact, I’m saving up for an Ayers acoustic guitar as well. The value-for-dollar is right there, I’ve seen and played these axes and am really excited about having a handmade guitar.
Thanks for letting me ramble. Again, I love the site!
I have one of these Uluru ukes. Its value for money I love it dearly. Handmade flawlessly, great sound. Run and buy, more detailed review later.
I have a Uluru Uke with chinese astrology cow motif, sound is very good, neck is great intonation is fantastic its handmade in Vietnam. I LOVE IT
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