(see rating details)

This little Uke is really cool. My daughter plays the Ukulele and really took to the opportunity to plug in and mess around with the sounds of a strat-style, steel-stringed, non-piezo, magnetic pick-up, electric instrument. There was something neat about seeing her dig into what looks like a minture version of one of my guitars; but have it be in a form she was already very familiar with (Uke)...The issue is in the manufacturer's quality control. The Uke was packaged as follows: the manufacturer's original packaging was the Uke placed (unprotected) in the gig bag, and the gig bag placed (unprotected) in a carton. zZounds packaged the manufacturer's package in a box and protected that reasonably well. The problem is the Uke banged around inside the vinyl gig bag for 2 days in transit... when I got it I had to buff a few scuffs out of the otherwise beautiful finish. Also, (unrelated to shipping) the headstock has two spots where the finish was imperfect and was covered over with what looks like a black sharpie? Again, I believe this to have been done at the factory... zZounds (as amazing as they are) can pack this thing with a personal bodyguard and it won't do any good if Vorson just throws it in a box... :/