Korean ukulele review - Countess tenor

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I just played a very nice solid tenor uke in a Yamaha store next to exit 1 of Nampodong subway station here in Busan, South Korea. The instrument, branded Countess and strung with what look like Aquila strings is Korean made and was shown to me with some pride by the very friendly shop assistant.

The top is solid spruce and the back and sides mahogany. Sound is strong and clean. Build seems a little rough with some machining marks visible at the top of the sound-hole under the end if the fret board. The neck is accurate but the ends of the metals are a little rough and scratchy in the hand as I play. Tuners are well geared and smooth and the head is slotted. Overall a good instrument but lacking in finish and not really worth the 485,000 won (~AU$430) they want for it.

In the same shop I also played another tenor branded Dexter. This one was unimpressive but had an unremarkable set of strings. It was priced around 250,000 won.

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