Lanikai QM-BLCEC Concert

Regular readers may immediately recognize from the title that on the blog's ninth birthday — last December — they could read the review of my Lanikai QM-BLCETtenor ukulele . The ukulele I am introducing now is that instrument's little sibling, or more precisely its concert-size counterpart. Apart from the difference in size, the most obvious distinction between the two is the shape of the cutaway. The tenor's cutaway is slightly more pronounced, while the concert version is more rounded:

concert (QM-BLCEC)	tenor (QM-BLCET)

The two pictures side by side are slightly misleading, because in reality the concert model is not as tall as the tenor.

We can decode the model designation much as we did with the tenor: QM = quilted maple. I do not know whether instrument makers have an exact Hungarian term for "quilted" maple (if they do, I am sure my literal attempt at describing it as "padded" made them smile). If you lose yourself in the pattern, it really does look as if huge blue tufts of cotton have been twisted and pressed into the body of the ukulele. BLCEC refers to the blue color, concert size and the fact that the ukulele is electro-acoustic.

The first moment of holding a ukulele is usually an important experience for me, so I like to write about my first impressions. In this case that is difficult, because the tenor big brother is my own number-one instrument, so the concert model did not contain many surprises. Apart from obviously being a little smaller, it offers the same Lanikai quality: it feels incredibly comfortable in the hand, and the neck thickness is ideal — for me, at least. The body is wide and easy to hold securely. The fingerboard feels almost silky. The headstock is slotted, which both looks good and reduces its weight. And it is beautiful: minutes hours can pass while you admire the wood grain. I think the particular instrument that visited me could even be used for a Rorschach test, because in several places I can see huge eyes and faces in the pattern. Or perhaps that is simply a sign of developing (?) ukulele madness .

Many thanks to Attila for letting me try his beautiful ukulele! If you would like one like this, you can buy it from the Ukulele.hu webshop. The manufacturer supplies this ukulele with a hard case .

Instead of the usual demonstration video, this time I simply play the instrument for a little while and have made a few close-up shots so we can feast our eyes on this beautiful creature: