Hartwood Renaissance Pineapple Soprano Ukulele - REVIEW

Another big shop own brand ukulele this week, and one i've been trying to fit in for some time. This is the Hartwood Renaissance Pineapple Soprano Ukulele.

This is brand that a number of my readers asked me to take a look at, presumably on account of their easy availability and low price. The Hartwood brand is one of the 'house' brands of the music behemoth Gear4Music and the range covers various woods, scales and shapes as well as prices from around £30 to about £75 depending on spec. They are all laminate ukes, as is this one and whilst this is not quite 'bottom end' it's not far off. And, no, I have no idea why it's called the 'Renaissance'...

SUMMARY VIDEO REVIEW

It seems each of the Hartwood ukuleles go to town with 'marketing speak' using terms like 'meticulously crafted' and 'exceptional quality' throughout the range. I can live with those even if they are just Chinese rebadge laminates, but of course they are pretty silent on that L word, referring to this as simply 'Mahogany'. Cheeky. So laminate it is, and another pineapple hot on the heels of the last review.. Well, I have had a two week break... I have said that I am a fan of pineapple shaped ukes and I particularly like them in soprano scale like this. The laminate mahogany here is a little pale and generic on the wood grain, but it's hardly offensive to look at if very samey. And because of that generic look, if you think it looks like certain other brand models, well.. that's probably because it comes from a shared production line in China.

The bridge is an 'as to be expected' tie bar that is specified as 'artificial rosewood'. It doesn't look like composite wood, so will be another hardwood stained dark. It's screwed in place and is a little untidy in places where you can see whatever they finished it with blistering slightly on the grain which is irritating. It's fitted with a plastic straight topped saddle and has a string spacing of 36mm. Simple.

The decoration is generic insofar as it has the very common cream binding to the top and back with black purfling stripes on the top face. I don't mind the look of these even if they are very common, but the laser etched sound-hole rosette is not my thing at all. I get that this point is subjective, but whilst this is fairly tidy it's overly simple and rather naive looking to me. Back to that binding though - and whilst it adds some visual interest the finishing on the outer edges is positively SHARP. This is not a comfortable ukulele to hold and these need dressing back. The body is then finished in a satin which is open pore and not very thick. Sadly in those open pores are a few specks of white polish that have not been buffed out. Elsewhere on the body are two strap buttons. Personally I see no need for buttons on a soprano, but that is just me.

Inside is tidier than I would expect with regular braces, notched linings and no mess I can see. I must say though that the laminate top is quite thick on this one, so this is clearly not the pro grade laminate you see on some brands like Kiwaya.

The neck is specced as mahogany which is very pale and has obvious joints at the heel and an annoyingly angular one at the headstock. It's a generic round profile at the nut end and a disappointing 34mm nut with with 27mm G to A. Yes, it's a personal thing, but I would never buy a ukulele with these nut dimensions.

It's topped with more artificial rosewood which is in pretty decent condition and very even in colour. Even more surprising is the fact it is edge bound which hides the ends of the 15 frets (12 to the body) which also have no hints of sharp edges. When you see the price of this ukulele you will agree that his is a surprise even if they do need a bit of a polish! Pearly dots face out at the 5th, 7th, 10th, double 12th and 15th, but sadly there are no side dots, which on a beginner instrument will be all the more important. WHY?

Beyond the plastic nut is a simple headstock faced in a veneer of darker mahogany. I don't know how to describe the shape which is a simple top curve with a bite taken out of it, but I don't mind it. The Hartwood logo is laser etched in the top face.

The tuners are very generic guitar style closed gears which I really don't want to see on a ukulele, and certainly not on a soprano. They are largely smooth to use, but one seems a little sloppy.

It comes with nothing else but those strap buttons and strings that 'look' like Aquila but are not specced or labelled as such so will not be. And the asking price is a paltry £39.99 which is not much at all for a ukulele.  Bear in mind the entry level laminate Kala and Ohana sopranos with similar laminate specs and bindings will cost you more than twice this, and you will see how cheap this one is. Sure there are 'Amazon specials' out there for silly low prices too, but they are a bit of a roulette game. Saying that, you will at least get a bag with them..

And to be fair to it and Gear4Music, despite some small QC issues here and there, this is not a badly made ukulele and a well finished one in many areas. It's light at 445g and balances well too which is oh so important for me on a soprano as I don't tend to use a strap with them.  Let's have a play.

I've spoken of my love for pineapples and in particular pineapple sopranos before as that lack of waist can fatten out what can often be a thinner nasal sound from this small scale.  With cheaper laminate I would also hope that this helps even more. Basics first and the volume and sustain are both passable, but not particularly earth shattering. Neither are bad, but just very 'down the middle'.

Sadly on the tone there is a slight intonation issue going on which I think is down to a slightly high action coupled with the fact that sopranos are particularly 'picky' on setup. This comes through in the video tone, but I will try to get beyond that and talk about the core tone. With cheaper laminate I often say they can have a boxy, echoey, nasal tone and when strummed that is what I am getting here. It has a strange harmonic echo which I don't find all that pleasant and can sound muddy and a little confused. It's not the worst tone I have ever heard and it's far better than some of the brightly coloured cheapies you see around, but I suppose the best way I can describe it is that it is as generic to listen to as it is to look at. Boxy.

Fingerpicking is a little better (intonation up the neck aside), with a prettier tone that doesn't get quite so muddled, but through in a slight strum and the boxy tone returns. Setup will improve this on the intonation and wouldn't take long, but the core tone still seems a bit basic to me.

As I say, not the worst I have seen and build wise it's pretty good. It's not much money at all but I can see WHY it's half the price of the entry level Kala and Ohana ukes as the tone is just not there. The setup is a disappointment and whilst an easy fix for me, how many people spending £40 on a first uke are going to tackle that? That's the key reason I suggest buying at uke specialists of course and brings into question how good the value for money really is here. 

So some good here, some not so good. Not a complete howler of a uke at all, but you can easily do better. 

https://www.gear4music.com/

UKULELE SPECS ROUNDUP

Model: Hartwood Renaissance Pineapple

Scale: Soprano

Body: Laminate mahogany

Bridge: Artificial rosewood

Saddle: Plastic

Spacing at saddle: 36mm

Finish: Satin

Neck: Mahogany

Fingerboard: Artificial rosewood

Frets: 15, 12 to body

Nut: Plastic

Nut width: 34mm, 27mm G to A

Tuners: Closed chrome gears

Strings: Unspecified

Weight: 445g
Country of origin: China

Price: £39.99

UKULELE PROS

Generally good core build

Light

Cheap
Works as a uke...

UKULELE CONS

Some scruffy finish elements

Laser etching looks basic

Narrow neck

No side dots

Guitar style tuners

Poor out of the box setup

Boxy tone

UKULELE SCORES

Looks - 8 out of 10

Fit and finish - 7.5 out of 10

Sound - 7 out of 10

Value for money - 9 out of 10

OVERALL UKULELE SCORE - 7.9 out of 10

UKULELE VIDEO REVIEW

© Barry Maz

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