The Lava U. Polycarbonate body, built-in EQ and Effects. Beautiful. It is controversial in the uke world, mostly for the fact that it’s different, that it is not of wood and not made by a conventional uke manufacturer.

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To my eye, it looks great. It comes in a variety of colors, I like them all. There are “purists” in the world of uke, who don’t like it, some who outright hate it.

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The first time I saw a Lava, was at an open mic event. Young girl of 18 was called to perform two songs, pulled a Lava U out of it’s “Space Case” and sat on the stool. Two guys in front of me gasped, practically choked on their food.

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They ragged on about how the Effects were “nothing but gimmickry”, and called the polycarbonate body “Cheap looking plastic”. They called it a plastic ukulele, a toy. Several others with side-ways remarks.

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There were also people who were intrigued by it. It’s very Look is startling at first and that goes for the case as well. The sound? To my ear it was fantastic.

Going online and into ukulele forums, I found much the same. Mostly old-timers and self-proclaimed “purists”. Some were so bothered by it, they ignored the actual sound of the instrument and found other things to complain about … “It doesn’t even have a strap!” they said. “That case is going to get scratched UP!” they said

Then there are the Lava U owners. They love it. You’ll find them all over ytube and other places online. You can find the Uke Genius Feng playing the Lava U, making sounds I never thought possible from a ukulele.

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In the end, there’s no way to convince some crotchety old “purist” or critic that it’s a good instrument, he’ll just tell you the strap costs too much, or that it’s the wrong color … and you just try telling one of the happy owners that it’s “not really a ukulele”. Good luck with that one.

Me? I’m one of those happy owners. In fact, it’s the first ukulele I bought (took me three months to get). And though I’ve bought several “real” ukuleles since, I’m going to love this forever … whatever it is.