I bought it as a base for adding a passive pickup (I don't like plastic on the sides). It looks and feels very nice. It's not a classic razor ukulele in terms of sound. It produces a really delicious round tone. However, the highs are not as punchy for me. It's still acceptable for solo playing, but if you want to do a duet with a guitar, the highs disappear. If you play a chord and add some curls with your little finger, the curls don't stand out as much, but it can be done. I don't know to what extent this can be eliminated by changing the strings. I didn't try changing the strings and returned the instrument and exchanged it for an F. Victoria, which doesn't have such a beautifully round tone, but the overall balance of the sound is (for me) completely different. I'm giving it 4 stars because the tone is (for me) really beautiful and maybe the punchy highs are only punchy for my ear and maybe just an AP fluorocarbon string would help with that.