After the Not A Ukulele short break, a return with another in the series of smaller than average guitars that may appeal to ukulele players. This is the Fender Sonoran Mini.
The full video review is below, but some brief background here - the Sonoran Mini is a shrunk down version of the bigger standard Sonoran made by Fender. They are all laminate travel guitars that come in a range of wood types /colours, this one being the 'Natural offering'. That is to say this has a laminate spruce top and laminate mahogany back and sides. The 'shrunk down' bit means that this is a ¾ size body with a 24.1 inch scale length making it feel diddy, easy to hold and carry around. Certainly ticks the boxes of 'small guitar' for me. Unlike something like the Jim Dandy whilst this is largely the same overall scale, this has a more conventional neck joined at the 14th, with 20 frets in total. The NuBone nut width here is 43mm which is the same.
I've said on this channel before that I don't care for Fender headstocks on ukuleles, but that is because I find them too large. On an acoustic guitar I kind of get it more, though I still would prefer they left these as electric guitar only!
Still - have a watch of the video to see how it sounds and what I think. A lot of people out there get quite sneery about Fender acoustics and whilst I think they are easily beaten, I certainly think they have upped their game.
I've said on this channel before that I don't care for Fender headstocks on ukuleles, but that is because I find them too large. On an acoustic guitar I kind of get it more, though I still would prefer they left these as electric guitar only!
Still - have a watch of the video to see how it sounds and what I think. A lot of people out there get quite sneery about Fender acoustics and whilst I think they are easily beaten, I certainly think they have upped their game.
GUITAR VIDEO REVIEW
GUITAR SPECS ROUNDUP
Model: Fender Sonoran Mini Guitar
Body: Laminate spruce top, laminate mahogany back and sides. ¾ size
Bridge: Walnut
Neck: Nato
Fingerboard: Walnut
Scale length: 24.1 inch
Frets: 20, joined at 14th.
Nut and saddle: NuBone
Nut width: 43mm
Nut and saddle: NuBone
Nut width: 43mm
Tuners: Vintage / kluson style gears with plastic buttons
Strings: Fender DuraTone 12's
Extras: Gig bag
Weight: 1.625kg
Country of origin: Indonesia
Price: RRP £180
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Thanks for these mini guitar reviews Baz. As a quite new ukulele player who is curious about trying out the guitar, they really are useful.
ReplyDeleteI have often wondered, though, where does the guitarlele fit in this little ecosystem? Are they a bridge between the two or something else entirely?