Rosen Concert Ukulele 23 inch Carbon Fiber Travel Ukelele for Adult Kids Beginners Kit with All Accessories Case, Tuner, Strap, Capo, Strings, Cleaning Cloth, Picks, Ukulele Book(Blue)

I have a $300 wooden ukulele and a $150 wooden ukulele; both were bought directly from Hawaii and shipped to the mainland USA and now this $70 starter set. — No fret markings. No fret stickers in my pack. + It looks cool with the extra sound hole on the top and the thin design. This is about half as thick as my 23-inch uke from Hawaii. > Because it is so thin some may find it more difficult to hold with the pressure of your strumming arm pinning the uke between your arm and your body. At least they provide a neck strap. — It has been two weeks and every day I return to the uke it is very much out of tune, like the tension cannot be held by the things you turn to tighten or loosen the strings (nuts?). Whereas my wood ukes that should be more susceptible to weather changes hold their tun months later after leaving them in the closet. I thought this would be since this is a new set of strings, but two weeks of daily playing and ‘breaking it in’ and it still won’t hold tune. OVERALL: Spend a bit extra money and for something around $120 and wood should do you better. This carbon fiber can withstand weather changes might be true, but if the metal nuts cannot keep the tension, then it’s pointless.Read more

I’ve owned an Enya Nova “carbon fiber” ukulele for a couple of years and just got one of these Rosen “carbon fiber” ukuleles. These 2 instruments cost about the same and have very similar specifications, product descriptions, and even the color options look the same. However, the 2 companies claim that they are completely independent, so I will take their word on that. This review is mostly a comparison of the 2 instruments because they are more different than they appear in the product photos. The first thing I noticed when I opened the Rosen box is that the Rosen ukulele carrying case is practically identical to the Enya case. They are so similar that either instrument will fit comfortably in either case, despite that non-standard shape of these ukuleles. Both Rosen and Enya are advertised as “carbon fiber”, however this is not the woven carbon fiber that you see in many other commercial products. It is really mostly polycarbonate plastic with some loose carbon fibers mixed in. Rosen does not say how much carbon fiber they really use. I think Enya has said their ukulele is 30% carbon fiber. I do not think it is honest to call a product “carbon fiber” when it is actually 70% plastic and only 30% carbon fiber. The Rosen ukulele is noticeably heavier. Rosen advertises 1.2 pounds, but my scale says 1.4 pounds for the Rosen compared to 1.2 pounds for Enya. Because of the slim shape of these ukuleles, playing them without a strap is not difficult despite the weight. Despite the heavier weight, Rosen is slightly shorter and somewhat thinner than Enya. Rosen total length is 24.9 inches compared to 25.2 for Enya. Rosen is 45.5mm thick compared to 53.4mm for Enya. Sorry for mixing units; I was using a micrometer to measure the mm and a tape measure to measure inches. Interestingly, Rosen has a shorter scale length of 15 inches (saddle to nut) compared to 15.75 for Enya. Rosen is more of a traditional concert scale length while Enya is half way between concert and tenor. The Rosen bridge is higher up on the body so the total length of the ukulele is closer to the length of the Enya despite the shorter scale length. Both ukuleles have compensated plastic bridges and molded plastic nuts. The Rosen nut width is 35.0mm while Enya Nova is 34.6. Rosen has a standard flat fretboard while Enya Nova is slightly radiused. I generally prefer wider fretboards and both of these are narrower than I like (I prefer 37-38mm nut widths). The radiused fretboard of the Enya Nova makes it relatively easy to play despite the narrow nut width. Even though the Rosen nut width is only slightly wider than Enya, the Rosen string spacing of 27.5mm (from G to A) is almost 2mm wider than Enya’s 25.6mm. Both ukuleles have plastic frets. I was hoping for metal frets on the Rosen like the new Enya Nova tenor has since the plastic frets on my Enya Nova concert are starting to wear out. Metal frets are surely more durable. Black plastic frets on a black plastic fretboard can be hard to see, especially since neither Enya nor Rosen has inlayed markers on the side of the fretboard. The Enya Nova comes with fret markers on the front of the fretboard that appear to be sturdily installed (like almost all ukuleles have). Rosen gives you stickers that you are supposed to paste on yourself and how durable will that be? Really disappointed in Rosen about this. Neither Enya nor Rosen have fret markers on the side of the fretboard. I am disappointed in both companies about that. I used a metallic marker to draw fret markers on the side of my Rosen. This technique is neither attractive nor durable, but it is cheap. String action on the Rosen is 0.8mm at the first fret and 3.2mm at the 12th fret, which is higher than I like. String action on the Enya Nova is 0.7mm at the first fret and 2.7mm at the 12th fret, which is more comfortable to play. I do not know if the Rosen bridge can be adjusted lower. Both Enya and Rosen have a cutout in the body to the right of the neck, which is a helpful feature that makes playing the frets in that are more easy. However, I really hate that Rosen installed one of the strap buttons right next to that cutout, which makes using the cutout uncomfortable and more difficult. Enya’s strap button is on the other side of the neck where it does not interfere with my fretting hand. For mysterious reasons, Rosen’s ukulele strap does not fit on the pre-installed strap buttons. Who’s idea was that? Rosen has a standard round sound hole in the front of the ukulele while Enya has a stylized logo sound hole that looks kind of cute. Both ukuleles have side sound ports that maybe give the player more a feel of the ukulele’s sound. The side sound port is useful on expensive wooden ukuleles with more rich and dynamic sound quality, but I’m not sure if it is really useful on an inexpensive plastic ukulele. Rosen has a hole in the middle of the headstock, like classical guitars and some ukuleles do. However, those instruments route their strings through the hole, which helps to improve string tension and reduce the chance of string buzzing. Rosen’s strings attach to the tuning posts above the headstock just like most ukuleles, so the hole looks more goofy than interesting. Both Enya and Rosen come with thin low-tension strings pre-installed. Enya says theirs are fluorocarbon. Rosen says theirs are nylon. Honestly, I don’t like either of these. Low-tension strings may be easier to strum, but they are sloppy for finger picking and the sound is weak compared to higher-tension strings. I have already replaced my Enya strings with higher-tension fluorocarbons and will probably do the same with the Rosen. Because I have different strings on the 2 ukuleles, I’m not going to try to compare the sound quality. I will say that the Rosen’s sound quality is comparable to other ukuleles in the $64 price range (the current price on Amazon). It is certainly smoother and brighter than some other ukuleles that Amazon sells in this price range. It does sound somewhat plasticky, though, especially if your fretting or strumming technique is a little sloppy. Should you buy the Rosen ukulele? I think the main feature of this ukulele is the polycarbonate “carbon fiber” body. That makes the ukulele more durable and weather resistant than most wooden ukuleles. If you’re going to play the ukulele outdoors, especially near splashing water or in the rain, then weather resistance is nice to have. Rosen is also good for traveling since the narrow body doesn’t take up much space and the plastic construction should be more durable when rattling around in a car trunk or under an airplane seat. Sound quality of the Rosen is not the best in this price range, but not the worst either, and I expect that it can be improved with better quality strings. Overall, I give it 3 stars for sound quality + 1 star for durability and value at the $64 price.Read more