Enya Nova UE/BK Black Electro Concert Slimline Ukulele with accessories

The Nova UE is a thinline concert ukulele with a body made of a unique polycarbonate and carbon fiber material. The finish is satin which is a nice surprise considering the synthetic materials and it is extremely lightweight in the hands.

The neck profile is similar to the brands we already know and love at this price but with a slight radius which aids many people playing barre chords. The polycarbonate bridge feels a bit strange for the first few minutes... For me, as somebody that looks at ukuleles all day every day; I can't remember a time an instrument at this kind of price offered so much in the overall presentation.

The tuner buttons match the body, the fret dots (start shaped) match the body, the bridge is the same material as the body and also colour matched and the hardware and matching strap buttons feel very good quality. It even comes with a colour matched gigbag although the quality of the gigbag is a bit sketchy. The bag looks the part but is more of a rigid dust cover than something that could offer any real protection in the hold of an aircraft. Still, it's a nice cherry on top of what is already a really cool cake!

This EQ model comes fitted with Enya's famous exclusive TransAcoustic pickup system from double which works very similar to the soundwave system on Flight ukuleles - a side mounted preamp and USB rechargeable preamp can power either an internal speaker or plug it in to an amp to give yourself a more powerful voice for a crowd... The internal transducer is interesting because it doesn't really produce any extra volume but does act as a speaker to amplify the optional onboard reverb/chorus.

The cutaway is really well designed too which a bevel going into the back of the body - this allows real access to the upper frets!

How does it sound? Well actually, surprisingly good. The first time I heard one of these at the NAMM show a year or two back it was a loud room and I thought they sounded overly bright. But, when I played one of these for the first time in the shop I heard some lovely colourful undertones and even some nice darker sustain on the bass. Please do understand though that a polycarbonate ukulele at this price will always sound quite bright and the plastic nature of the fingerboard does reflect slightly in the tone.

Even so, colour me impressed - these would make a great present or a quirky addition to a ukulele collection!

Specification:

Concert size
30% carbon fiber and 70% polycarbonate body, neck and bridge
Satin finish
Lightweight slimline design
Cutaway to body
TransAcoustic preamp/pickup system with effects
Gold hardware with colour matching
Radiused fingerboard
35mm nut width, with 28mm G to A string spacing
Strap, capo, spare strings and clamshell case included