Risa Musical Instruments Uke-Stick

This is a Uke-Stick made in June, 2002. I'm not sure where it is made, but Risa is a German company. It's a 4-string electric ukulele without a sound chamber--really just a flat piece of wood. The body and neck are made from one piece of alder, with a hole cut all the way through the body. There is no truss rod since the nylon strings are low tension. Dimensions are 18.3" long, 4.3" wide, and 1.4" thick. It is a zero-fret headless design, with the tuning machines located on the upper side of the body. One piezo pickup is located in the bridge. No controls. Satin finish, non-geared tuners (unknown brand), 14.3" scale, 14 frets, nylon strings, two strap buttons. A gig bag is available for $16. The gig bag strap can be used as a guitar strap.

One issue with the Uke-Stick is keeping it in place when playing. It is very light (13 oz) and will move about when making chord changes. You can rest your right hand behind the bridge to keep it steady, but then you can't strum as effectively. After having the Uke-Stick for two months I discovered that the gig bag strap would fit tightly around my torso when fully shortened. If I use it this way, instead of around my shoulder, the Uke-Stick is completely stable. I can even walk around without my hands on the Uke-Stick and it stays in perfect playing position. I don't think this is how the strap was intended to be used, but it works for me!

The features are very basic, but it's a no-frills instrument which makes sense considering the price. My only real complaint is the lack of a volume control. Although it would be hard to find a place to put one, I miss not having one.

I bought this as a travel instrument because a guitar won't fit in my suitcase. I play mostly classic rock but this is used to keep in practice while traveling. I use it with a Zoom PS02--together they make a nice travel package. The piezo pickup has plenty of volume. Together with the varied effects of the PS02 it can sound like a classical guitar or an electric (no one's going to mistake it for a Les Paul, but with a little distortion it sounds okay). Note that the Uke-Stick makes very little sound on its own so without some type of amp you won't hear much (although surprisingly it *does* make some sound, enough for me to hear what I'm playing late at night without an amp).

Note that the default tuning is like a ukulele, GCEA, with the G string an octave above what it would be on a guitar if it were tuned to A (the intervals on a ukulele are the same as on a guitar except for the G being an octave high). This is okay for playing chords (and if you like a ukulele sound) but since I am primarily a guitar player I wanted the G string to be an octave lower. This can be done by replacing the nylon G string with a classical wound D string. However, after I did this I was not happy with the sound difference between the nylon strings and the wound string. In general, I don't like the sound of nylon strings so I decided to replace all the nylon strings with wound strings. I used the lightest three wound Requinto strings (.022, .028, .033) as the top three strings and a .044 wound classical string as the 4th string (a Requinto is a small-scale Spanish guitar). Now the Uke-Stick is tuned to G instead of A because I didn't want to put too much tension on the neck (I think G# would be okay tension-wise but that tuning doesn't work well with most songs).

My only issue with the sound is the intonation, which is okay for the lower frets but not so good as you progress up the neck. In all fairness, ukeleles are generally played with open chords on the lower frets, so maybe this is not a big issue. Solos played on the upper frets are okay but if you move chords up the neck you will discover some nasty beats. There is no way to set intonation on the Uke-Stick, however, so you have to live with it. Again, for the price you can't ask for too much.

With all wound strings I really like the sound of the Uke-Stick! It was not bad with nylon, but I think it sounds much better with wound strings--it has a lot more sustain and has a fuller sound than with nylon strings. Let's face it, we're not talking about a $1000 instrument here, but the Uke-Stick has its own unique sound--I give it a 6 with nylon strings and an 8 with wound strings (of course, if you're looking for the ukulele sound you'll probably like the nylon strings more than I did).

The Uke-Stick set-up was fine from the factory, but needed to be tuned (all strings were low). The action is fine--very low on the lower frets and moderately high on the upper frets, but with the low tension of nylon (or wound nylon) strings it doesn't really matter. The Uke-Stick is very well made--nice wood, nice finish, nice fretwork, nice hardware. Really much more than you'd expect for the price.

Tuning is a not as easy as on a guitar. Because the strings bend around a grooved metal bar, there is some friction which means as you turn the tuner nothing will happen for a while and then the friction will be overcome and the string will slip around the metal bar. It's not really as bad as it sounds, but getting an exact pitch is a bit more difficult that with a guitar. However, once it is in tune it stays in tune well, as long as the screws on the tuners are tight (these are non-geared tuners).

Be aware that the Uke-Stick's 14" scale length causes things to get a bit cramped on the higher frets. Even with my small hands, some higher fret chordings are difficult.

I don't play live so I can't judge it on that account, but there's not much that could go wrong with a Uke-Stick. I've had it for four months now and everything is like new. However, I only play it about once a week so it's not getting a lot of wear. The strap buttons are solid. I think it is a dependable instrument. I can't rate it higher, though, since I don't play live.

Great customer support! Rigk Sauer is the person who answers the email and he also designs the instruments. He is very helpful and goes out of his way to assist customers. I almost felt bad about only spending $115 ($99 Uke-Stick + $16 gig bag) after all the time Rigk spent answering my emails. Thanks Rigk!

Nothing has gone wrong, so no repair info. I don't know what the warranty is, but I suppose it would have to be sent back to Germany to be repaired and that might cost as much as a new one. Since there's very little to go wrong I don't think it will ever be necessary.

I've been playing guitar on and off for 20 years (mostly off except for the last two years). In addition to the Uke-Stick I own a Gretsch SuperAxe, a Guild S-100 Polara, and some other instruments not worth mentioning. I'm very happy with the Uke-Stick, especially since I have changed the strings. If it were lost I would definitely buy another one. It is a great travel instrument--small enough to fit in my suitcase and inexpensive so I can easily buy a new one if my suitcase gets lost by the airlines.

Note that the price has gone up since I bought mine: now $125 with gig bag. Also, Risa has just announced a slightly larger 6-string version of the Uke-Stick, called the G-Stick (17" scale, 21" long, $195). Risa Musical Instruments URL: www.risa-music.de/english.html

I'm giving the Uke-Stick an 8 rating, because of its usefulness as a travel instrument and its value. While it has some shortcomings, you get a decent, well-made instrument for around $100. It's not going to compete with my Gretsch or Guild, but then I wouldn't throw my good guitars in a suitcase (if they'd fit) and give them to baggage handlers to abuse. Having said that, I'd gladly pay a bit more for a volume control, smoother tuning, and better intonation but that might double the price. As it is, the Uke-Stick it a great travel instrument, a good value, and it's a lot of fun to play!