2014-05-20: My Risa Uke Solid arrived yesterday from ukuleleworld! Thanks to UU forum folks for their advice when my A string slipped off of the tuning peg. Thanks also to Roy Cone of ukuleleworld for his helpful advice.

Risa Ukulele Solid - aka Risa Uke-SOLID

I really, really want one of these...

Reviews and comparisons

• 15 minute review of the German Risa uke-solid (soprano) - dated 2014-05-11
• 2011 Risa Uke Solid Concert Review

  In summation, the Risa Uke Solid plays easily and evenly, sounds very good, has excellent intonation, and is very well thought-out in its design. The finish on mine is flawless, too. (And I am unreasonably picky.) So, if you don't mind an unconventional style, it looks great. If, as I suspect, the Soprano and Tenor models are as high-quality as my Concert, these instruments are among the best ukuleles you can buy. They stack up with the best Hawaiian and hand-made ukuleles out there.

• Comparison of Risa Uke Solid vs. Eleuke-Peanut, another solid electric ukulele. The Peanut is around $120 vs. about $300 for the Risa, but the Risa is a much nicer instrument.
• 2008 review of Risa Uke-Solid with mp3 sound samples. Good discussion in the comments about amplifiers.
• RISA Uke-Solid Electric Tenor Ukulele Review (44 comments) - note: this is the older model with friction tuners

Videos and sound samples

Demos and Reviews

• soundcloud test of the tenor Risa stick HSACWDTKDTKTLFO (2020-04-18)
• PuA PuA Ukulele on Oahu - quick demo
• Eleuke Peanut vs Risa Uke Solid - SoundCloud
• Ukulele Review Risa Solid Concert - YouTube
• Electric Ukulele and practice amp sound demo - uke soprano
• RISA Soprana Electric Ukulele Stick with ZOOM G1N - the Zoom G1N is a amazingly compact and affordable guitar effects processor
• Risa Solid without Amp ohne Verstärker (without amplification)
• Solid Blues Shuffle by Rigk Sauer (the guy who designed the Uke Solid) - all three sizes appear in this video. Great electric ukulele sound.
• Risa solid ukulele with Amplug amp - more of a classical piece
• Wacky video entry on why to buy a RISA Uke Solid - caution, a Risa is destroyed in the making of this video! But some nice playing along the way.

Friends of Old Puppy

• Hide Away (Electric Ukulele) - Pip R. Lagenta - featuring Steven Strauss on a soprano Uke and Billy Wilson on tenor Uke. These guys are good and have other videos with other songs
• Begin the Beguine - Steven Strauss on soprano Uke. It looks like there is a tuning change midway through...?
• Sway/Besame Mucho by Strauss and Wilson
• Can't Buy Me Love (Electric Ukulele) by Strauss and Wilson
• Cry me a river (electric uke) by Strauss and Wilson

Other pieces

• Clocks cover on ukulele by Jan Laurenz - on a tenor Risa Uke-Solid - beautiful!
• Earlyguard: Busy Bee (Ukulele) on a Concert Risa Uke-Solid -- very nice.
• Original ad-lib composition: Looking Back Home (as Saturn turns) (uke soprano)
• NOTHING ELSE MATTERS(UKULELE) - Risa Uke-Solid Soprano with the Danelectro Honeytone Mini Amp. Nice clean tones.
• Adios Nonino on Electric Ukulele - Alessandro Perniciano - classical
• I only have eyes for you - Electric Ukulele - Alessandro Perniciano
• Stu Ritchie on RISA electric tenor Ukulele - shredding
• Walk don't run (the Ventures/U900) -- ukulele cover - great dancing monkey - soprano uke
• Johann Krieger minuet on Ukulele Solid
• Bach on electric ukulele - Air on the (low) G string (classical) on a tenor uke
• Earlyguard: Melancholia with the Concert sized Uke
• Sweet Child O Mine (ocarina + electric Ukulele - featuring a Risa Concert Uke-solid (played with some distortion)
• While my ukulele gently weeps - on a Risa Uke-Solid tenor
• Alfie... Ukulele Performance on a Risa Uke Solid Concert (more singing than playing)

Stores

• ukulele.de, the site owned by the guy who designed the Risa Uke-SOLID. One forum site noted: "The Risa site would be shipping through USPS Priority Mail and I did some research which said I could be paying up to $16 in duty fees." -- About $350 with shipping + $17 would be $367.
  • an ebay article about import duties and international taxation
  • Merchandise processing fee calculator from Germany - 5% sales tax plus merchant processing fee, depends on state ($17.50 on $350)
• Ukulele Pua Pua - $359 there + $15.10 Priority Mail 3 Day = $374.10.
• ukuleleworld in Texas - Tenor is $379 with free shipping.
• DISCUSSION:
  • Any good online places to buy a Risa ukulele in the U.S.? 2012
  • Where to buy a Risa stick from 2013
  • Question about Risa Solid Uke build quality - 2013
  • Risa Concert Electric (Stick) - Where to Buy? - 2013
• ukuleleunderground list of ukulele stores in the USA

Tenor vs. Concert vs. Soprano

• Which size would you choose for a beginner?: I've owned all three sizes. I sold the soprano when the "one in, one out" rule was in effect, and the concert replaced it. I've since gotten a tenor. They are great instruments. The concert is my favorite size in general, but my tenor gets lots of play time. The tenor has more alternate tuning possibilities (mine is tuned dGBE), but the concert fits in my backpack better and gets taken on more outings.
• Concert vs. Soprano plus amplifier discussion

Amplifier research

• 2014 comparison of three mini amps
• Vox Amplug discussion, which might be useful for a place to plug in headphones
• Best amp to buy for a Risa Solid? Roland Microcubes seem to be mentioned often; they are about $150. Vox Mini 3 is also mentioned (more powerful; maybe $100?)
• Battery powered amplifiers and page 9 of this thread
• best mini guitar amp -- a very nice comparative review.
• Roland Mobile Cube: I found my amp! - appears to have a really good sound with a Risa but it is around $179

nut lube, and other advice

• How to restring a Risa solid ukulele
• Some players use something called nut lube (graphite) on the metal roller
• What to do about sharp fret edges that might come without proper humidity?
• discussion about strings on a mandolin forum
• How to tune a tenor ukulele
• Unwound low G on Risa Solid concert stick uke?
• How is a RISA stick uke tuned? -- looks like Snark SN-6 Ukulele Tuner can fit fine clipped onto the little bit of the end of the Uke-Solid

Strums

• Strumming patterns

Tabs and Chords

• Chord progressions
• Theory: Circle of Fifths - the chords that go well together (rule of thumb)
• chordie - has guitar and ukulele tunings of many songs and artists, including many public ukulele song books that gather these up.
• I'm Yours Uke Tab by Jason Mraz
• Complete ukuchords chart
• Ukulele tenor chords chart
• 11 Must-know chords for beginners
• Chord tables for different tuning schemes
• Javascript chord finder online application to graphically see on the ukulele the fingering.
• Downloadable PDF ebooks with scales for different tunings
• Fingerstyle rules - many great finger-style tabs
• This page searches from a list of more than 6000 songs from
  • Our website: Club iPad, More Songs and Books 1, 2 and 3. (1436 songs as of 6/19/2018)
  • Uke Jams (591 songs) Nicely formatted songs that fit on 1 page.
  • San Jose Uke Club (679 songs) Formatted to show measures and alignment of beats to syllables.
  • Turlock Uke Jamz (547 songs) Clean, many 2 pages
  • Doctor Uke (2223 songs) Songs and instruction
  • Daily Ukulele Yellow and Blue song books (729 songs)

I'm just an ordinary guy without any ukulele experience (as of 2014-05-11). I have an acoustic steel-string guitar that I've toyed with on and off over the years but have never gotten to the point of sufficient protective callouses. I spotted the Risa Uke-Solid while browsing portable instruments online. I've seen comparisons with the Traveler Ultra-Lite Ukelele, but the Risa looks to be the nicer instrument for a similar price.

Ukulele/instrument selection criteria I am interested in:

• Ability to practice quietly!
• Playability (I like the thought of the Risa Uke-Solid's low action and nylon strings)
• Portability (for trips or jaunts into the wilderness) / Minimal storage space requirements
• Quality
• Flexibility in output sound (I like classical, folk, rock, etc) and wouldn't mind an occasional rocking out
• Tone range (soprano ukuleles sometimes sound a bit too high pitched)

There appears to be quite a lot of information about the Risa available online, so I thought I would organize my research in case it is helpful to others.

• Learning how to play the ukulele
• Comprehensive guide on how to choose a guitar, 15 factors to consider according to science (a lot of this applies to ukuleles too)