Noah Baritone Ukulele

My last ukulele review of 2024, and I was delighted to arrange it so a brand i've always liked made a return. This the the Noah Baritone Ukulele.

This is the first ukulele in the baritone scale I've looked at from Noah and isn't a brand new model but is fairly recent going back to 2020. Matt Cohen at the brand explains that during the Covid lockdown with time on his hands he started doing some 'uke interviews' on his site, and one of which was with Phil Doleman. That led to Phil being asked to be a 'Noah endorsee' and work with Matt on a baritone to his specifications. Regular readers will know that Phil is a friend who's opinions on ukuleles I rate VERY highly so this one comes to me with great interest!

SUMMARY VIDEO REVIEW

Like other Noah instruments these are hand made in Vietnam by Matt's luthier Mr Anh though in this case taking input from Mr D. Also like other Noah ukes, this is made from all solid tonewoods with the classic pairing of solid spruce for the top and solid mahogany for the back and sides. Whilst I said in my last review that I didn't care for spruce on the smallest ukuleles, this is much used tonewood on larger bodied instruments such as guitars so it's good to see it on a baritone. As ever, that mahogany should serve to tone down the brightness of the spruce. The wood quality looks decent and of course the key feature here is the slight sunburst finish to the spruce. That is to say that unlike some sunburst guitars where you only see a very slight glow of the pale spruce in the central section, this is much bigger on the spruce spruce with the sunburst buffing leaving less of the darker stain around the outer edge. The back too is very pretty with some curved stripe book matched into an attractive V shape. I love it and also the more modern rounded shape of the lower bout which makes it look less generic.

The bridge is a pin style in a Taylor-esque shape and made from the Vietnamese hardwood Go Go Mat. It's tidily finished and holds a bone saddle. Spacing here comes in at 45mm.

Decoration wise this comes with pale maple binding to the top and back with a black and white purfling stripe to edge it. Around the sound hole is an an abalone ring which I am glad to see just here rather than around the whole instrument. It works nicely like this. The body is finished in a hand rubbed satin. Like most Noah's there are a few little marks in the finishing and binding, but remember that this is made by hand, not on a robotic production line. To be fair though these are minor and Noah have improved in this regard in more recent years I've found.

Inside is tidier on the glue than some Noah's I have seen, but still clearly 'hand-done'. The kerfing is notched and the braces fairly thin. I must say I am always a touch surprised at the lack of a bridge plate on Noah ukes I see, though with that central brace running right under it that should provide some strength.

The neck is made from maple in two pieces with the joint in the heel and is also finished in satin. It's not completely pale maple so has some attractive darker streaks in it which I like. The heel is capped in more pale maple and the neck tapers to a roomy 40mm nut width with 32mm spacing. Up at this point you also get a carved veloute 'stopper' which I always quite like on a uke for orientating at first position comfortably.

That's topped in more Go Go Mat for the fingerboard which is in great oiled condition and uniformly dark in colour all over. It's edge bound in something dark which again, like in places on the body carries a few tooling / stain marks, but on the whole is pretty good. You get 19 frets joined to the body at the 14th and the dressing and polishing looks absolutely superb on this example. Pearl position dots face out at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, double 12th and 15th and these are paired down the sides.

Beyond the bone nut is the more normal Noah headstock shape on ukes without a slot head - and in fact, I prefer that it doesn't have a slot head. It's faced in mahogany and holds the Noah logo in a pearl inlay in the top face.

The tuners are generic sealed geared tuners in chrome which I don't normally like on a uke as they are 'guitar style' and come with more weight. But this is a baritone of course which carry them just fine on that front. I do think he should offer tuner 'upgrade' choices though. Just a thought.

Completing the deal are GHS baritone strings if you choose it 'as stock', a strap button and the usual Noah functional gig bag. And the opening price with those strings is a very reasonable £289.99 but Matt can offer them with Worth Browns or Ukes With Alex strings (which are what are on this one with two wound strings) for an extra £10. That price is delivered in the UK too which is great. And yes, he DOES offer international shipping, but you need to contact him direct to work out the shipping cost. Either way for an all solid hand made ukulele that's a great price as they usually are from Noah!

So it's all pretty good so far. My first surprise for a hefty instrument like a baritone, particularly one with a rounded lower bout is how light it feels at only 880g. It's also balanced very well and setup properly too. It's one of the most comfortable baritones i've handled. I particularly like the feel of the neck on this one too which I find extremely comfortable to fret on.

Volume and sustain are never things you tend to worry about with baritones and both are excellent here too. This has a big old voice!

Tone wise is always a bit difficult to do on video in terms of comparison when it comes to baritones, as I don't personally think they suit the usual rhythmical strums I use to test instruments. I think they are far better suited to melody and chord melody as even the best baritones can sound a bit muddy and boomy when strummed at first position. It's the case here, but that's not a criticism as such. There's a tonne of bottom end in the tone of course, but something else going on that almost reminds me of smaller scale ukuleles. Kind of a chimey upper that rounds things off nicely. I don't think it's a string thing as such because I find the nylon on these Ukes With Alex strings actually quite soft on the ear, but notes on the first string in chord strums seem to chime through the bass very well.

Fingerpicking is a joy on this one, not least because of the neck comfort, but it has a very pretty voice up the neck that still delivers on the bottom end but adds something in that isn't strident or overly bright, but just kind of balances it.

I adore the look of this one and again it's a Noah that offers tremendous value for money when you consider it is hand made. It's another Noah recommendation from me!

https://noahukuleles.com/product/noah-baritone/

UKULELE SPECS ROUNDUP

Model: Noah Baritone

Body: Solid spruce top, solid mahogany back and sides

Bridge: Go Go Mat pin bridge

Saddle: Bone

Spacing at saddle: 45mm
Finish: Satin

Neck: Maple

Fingerboard: Go Go Mat
Frets: 19, 14 to body
Nut: Bone

Nut width: 40mm, 32mm D to E
Tuners: Sealed chrome gears

Strings: Choice of GHS, Worth Brown or Ukes With Alex
Extras: Strap button, gig bag

Weight: 880g

Country of origin: Vietnam

Price: £289.99 to £299.99

UKULELE PROS

Great look

Excellent light build
Very nice neck

Great volume and sustain

Warm tone with some fizzy underlying character
Excellent price

UKULELE CONS

Some finish and tool marks

Maybe offer tuner choices?

UKULELE SCORES

Looks - 9.5 out of 10

Fit and finish - 9 out of 10

Sound - 9 out of 10

Value for money - 9.5 out of 10

OVERALL UKULELE SCORE - 9.2 out of 10

UKULELE VIDEO REVIEW

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