Fender builds eleven ukuleles. They run from $116 to $360, they are all made to the same standard of fit and finish, and every one of them has a nut measuring exactly 1.375″ across. So the money does not buy you a wider neck, a longer scale for the same size, or better string spacing — the range is more consistent in the hand than almost any other brand’s.
What it does buy, in order as you go up: a bone nut instead of a plastic one, a body made of something other than laminated basswood, a pickup and preamp, a gig bag in the box, and — on exactly one model — a solid top. Knowing which rung you are buying is the whole decision, and Fender publishes enough to work it out.
Fender Avalon Tenor Ukulele
A tenor is the size most adults get on with, and the Avalon is the cheapest one Fender makes. Seventeen-inch scale, nineteen frets, walnut fingerboard, laminated basswood body — a straightforward beginner instrument with a grown-up neck length, at what Fender themselves charge for it. Spend more only if you have a reason from the list below.
The whole range on one screen
Fender publishes a full specification for every ukulele they sell, and reading the eleven of them side by side is more useful than any amount of description. Prices are Fender’s own.
| Model | Size | Body | Nut | Pickup | Bag | Fender’s price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venice | Soprano | Laminated basswood | Plastic | — | — | $115.99 |
| Avalon | Tenor | Laminated basswood | Plastic | — | — | $149.99 |
| Zuma | Concert | Sapele | Bone | — | — | $209.99 |
| Zuma Exotic | Concert | Bocote or spalted maple | Bone | — | — | $229.99 |
| Fullerton Tele | Concert | Spruce top, okoume back | Synthetic bone | Yes | — | $259.99 |
| Fullerton Strat | Concert | Spruce top, okoume back | Synthetic bone | Yes | — | $259.99 |
| Fullerton Jazzmaster | Concert | Spruce top, okoume back | Synthetic bone | Yes | — | $259.99 |
| Rincon | Tenor | Ovangkol | Bone | Yes | Yes | $269.99 |
| Montecito | Tenor | Acacia | Bone | Yes | Yes | $349.99 |
| Dhani Harrison | Tenor | Solid ovangkol top | Bone | Yes | Yes | $349.99 |
| Fullerton P-Bass | Bass uke | Spruce top, okoume back | Synthetic bone | Yes | — | $359.99 |
The solid-top column is the one that decides the top of the range.
Fender writes “Solid Ovangkol” on the Dhani Harrison’s top and “Solid Okoume” on the Fullerton’s back and sides, so they do use the word when it applies — and they do not use it anywhere else in the range. They also write “Laminated Spruce” for the Fullerton top and “Laminated Basswood” for the Venice and Avalon, so the vocabulary is deliberate. If a solid top is the thing you are shopping for, the Dhani is the one instrument in this catalogue that Fender claims it for.
The Fullerton series is the other row worth reading twice. Its selling point is the body shape — a Telecaster, a Stratocaster, a Jazzmaster or a Precision Bass, shrunk — and the marketing line is “spruce top with okoume back and sides”, which reads as though the top is the good bit. Fender’s own spec sheet says the opposite: the back and sides are solid okoume and the top is laminated spruce. It is the sides of the instrument that are solid and the soundboard that is not.
Sizes, and the numbers behind them
Fender only builds one soprano and it is the smallest thing here by a distance. The scale lengths, from their specification sheets:
| Size | Scale length | Frets | Which models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soprano | 13.6″ (345 mm) | 12 | Venice |
| Concert | 15″ (381 mm) | 16 | Zuma, Zuma Exotic |
| Concert (Fullerton) | 15.04″ (382 mm) | 19 | Fullerton Tele, Strat, Jazzmaster |
| Tenor | 17″ (432 mm) | 19 | Avalon, Rincon, Montecito, Dhani |
| Bass uke | 20.25″ (514 mm) | 18 | Fullerton Precision Bass |
The Venice stops at twelve frets, which is four fewer than the Zuma at the same width of neck and seven fewer than the tenors. Twelve is enough for the great majority of ukulele songs, but it does mean the fingerboard runs out where the body starts, so anything that climbs high is off the map. If you already know you want to play beyond the octave, start at concert size.
The Fullerton concert ukes are the odd ones out: essentially the same scale as a Zuma but nineteen frets rather than sixteen. They also carry a maple neck where the rest of the range is nato, and they leave the factory strung with Aquila Nylgut rather than Fender’s house set.
If you are still deciding between body sizes rather than between models, our concert versus tenor comparison works through it on general terms, and the soprano guide covers the smallest size across all brands.
The Fender ukuleles worth buying
Fender Avalon Tenor Ukulele
- Tenor, 17″ scale, 19 frets
- Laminated basswood top, back and sides
- Walnut fingerboard, nato neck
- Plastic nut, open-back geared tuners
- No gig bag
- Around $150
The Avalon is the Venice grown up: the same construction and the same slim C-shaped neck on a tenor body, which gives you a longer string length, a deeper voice and seven more frets for about thirty-five dollars more. For an adult picking up a ukulele for the first time that is the right trade almost every time, because the tenor’s fret spacing suits full-sized fingers and the extra body volume makes it easier to hear what you are doing.
It is honestly specified rather than flattered. The body is laminated basswood, the nut is plastic and there is no bag — this is Fender’s entry rung, and it sounds like one: bright, a little boxy, perfectly pleasant. What you get for the badge is consistency. The neck profile, the walnut board and the no-tie bridge are the same parts Fender fits further up the range, and the instrument arrives set up closely enough that most people never touch it.
Six colors exist; the sunburst and black are the ones that stay in the catalogue longest, and they are the same instrument underneath.
- Cheapest tenor Fender makes
- Full 17″ scale and 19 frets
- Sells at Fender’s own list price
- Slim neck that suits small hands as well as large
- Laminated basswood body throughout
- Plastic nut
- No gig bag, and a tenor needs one
- No pickup
Fender Venice Soprano Ukulele
- Soprano, 13.6″ scale, 12 frets
- Laminated basswood, cream-bound top
- Walnut fingerboard, nato neck
- Plastic nut, 4-in-line Tele headstock
- No gig bag
- Around $116
The Venice is the ukulele most people mean when they say Fender ukulele, and it is the best-reviewed instrument in the range by a wide margin — 4.5 stars across more than eight hundred ratings, which is more feedback than the rest of the line put together. That count is worth something on an instrument this cheap, because the failure mode at this price is inconsistency rather than bad design.
Physically it is a proper soprano: 13.6″ of string, twelve frets, a light bound body and the painted four-in-line Telecaster headstock that is the reason to buy this one rather than a generic. The bridge is a no-tie design, which means restringing is threading rather than knotting — a genuine convenience the first time you do it.
The limits are the ones a soprano always has, plus a plastic nut. Twelve frets and a short scale mean the notes are close together and the tone is bright and short; if you have big hands you will feel it, and the Avalon above is the answer. As a first instrument, a travel instrument or something to leave lying about the house, it is hard to fault at the money.
- 4.5 stars over 800+ ratings, far the most-reviewed here
- Genuine soprano dimensions, not a shrunken concert
- Bound body and painted Tele headstock at the price
- No-tie bridge
- Only 12 frets
- Plastic nut
- Laminated basswood body
- Cramped for large hands
Fender Zuma Concert Ukulele
- Concert, 15″ scale, 16 frets
- Sapele body
- Walnut fingerboard, nato neck
- Pull-through bridge, 4-in-line headstock
- No gig bag
- Around $170
This is the point in the range where the body stops being laminated basswood. The Zuma is built from sapele — a dense, mahogany-like African hardwood that most makers use at three times this money — and the difference is audible rather than theoretical: warmer, rounder and with noticeably more sustain than the Venice or the Avalon. Concert size splits the difference between the two, at 15″ and sixteen frets.
The version at this price is the painted Zuma Classic, with a gloss finish over the top and headstock and the sapele left natural on the back and sides. Fender’s current catalogue version is the plain natural one in open-pore satin, which lists around forty dollars higher; the wood, the scale and the fingerboard are the same, and the finish is the difference.
Twenty dollars over the Avalon for a hardwood body is the best value judgement in the whole Fender range. The reason it is not the outright top pick is size: if you specifically want a tenor, the Avalon is your entry point and the Rincon is the next rung, and there is no sapele tenor in between.
- Sapele body rather than laminated basswood
- Only about $20 over the Avalon
- Concert size suits most adults
- Warmer and longer-sustaining than the entry models
- No pickup
- No gig bag
- Three fewer frets than the Fullerton concerts
- Gloss painted top hides most of the wood
Fender Fullerton Jazzmaster Uke
- Concert, 15.04″ scale, 19 frets
- Laminated spruce top, solid okoume back and sides
- Maple neck, walnut fingerboard
- Fender FE-U01 preamp: volume, tone, built-in tuner
- Aquila Nylgut strings fitted
- Shell pink, Fender part 0970533556
- Around $260
The Fullerton series is a Jazzmaster, Telecaster or Stratocaster body at ukulele scale, complete with pickguard and the matching four-in-line headstock, and it is the only thing in this range that nobody else makes. The Jazzmaster is the pick of the three because its offset waist is the shape that survives the shrink best; the Tele and Strat versions are mechanically identical and cost the same.
All of them carry Fender’s FE-U01 preamp — volume, tone, and an integrated tuner with an on/off switch and a low-battery light. That tuner is the underrated part: a built-in chromatic tuner on a $260 instrument saves you buying a clip-on, and it is the same unit fitted to the Rincon and Montecito above it.
The honest reservation is what the body is made of. Fender’s spec sheet gives the top as laminated spruce and the back and sides as solid okoume, so the soundboard — the panel that does the work — is the laminated one. Unplugged it sounds fine and no better than the sapele Zuma below it. You are buying the shape, the electronics and the tuner, and those are real things to buy; you are not buying more instrument.
A nineteen-fret neck on a concert body is also genuinely useful, and it is three more than the Zuma gets.
- Preamp with volume, tone and a built-in chromatic tuner
- 19 frets on a concert body
- Maple neck and Aquila Nylgut strings from new
- Nothing else looks like it
- Laminated spruce top despite the solid back and sides
- Unplugged tone no better than the cheaper Zuma
- No gig bag at $260
- Needs a battery
Fender Rincon Tenor Ukulele
- Tenor, 17″ scale, 19 frets
- Ovangkol throughout, open-pore satin
- Bone nut and saddle
- Fender FE-U01 preamp with built-in tuner
- Gig bag included
- Around $265
The Rincon is the first Fender ukulele that stops making compromises you can point at. It is built entirely from ovangkol — a hard, dense West African wood with a rosewood-like ring to it — in an open-pore satin finish that leaves the grain visible and the top free to move. The nut and saddle are bone rather than plastic or synthetic, which is the single cheapest upgrade that changes how an instrument sustains, and Fender fits it here as standard.
It has the same preamp as the Fullerton, and it comes with a gig bag, which the Fullerton at the same money does not. For a tenor that is not a small point: a bag is the difference between the instrument living in a corner and living in the boot of a car.
Against the Montecito at eighty-five dollars more, the Rincon gives up the acacia body, the abalone purfling, the cream binding and the gloss finish, and keeps the electronics, the bone nut, the bag and the scale length. In sound rather than looks, that is a very small gap for the money.
- All-ovangkol body, no basswood or laminate in the marketing
- Bone nut and saddle
- Preamp, tone control and built-in tuner
- Gig bag included at a price where the Fullertons have none
- Only one finish is made
- Fender does not claim a solid top for it
- Few owner ratings so far
- Needs a battery
Fender Dhani Harrison Ukulele
- Tenor, 17″ scale, 19 frets
- Solid ovangkol top, ovangkol back and sides
- Three-quarter body depth
- Bone nut, Aquila Nylgut tenor strings
- Fender FE-U01 preamp, gig bag included
- Around $350
This is the only ukulele in Fender’s catalogue whose top they describe as solid. Everything else in the range is either explicitly laminated or specified without the word, and Fender demonstrably use it when it is true — so if solid-top tone is the reason you are shopping at this price, this is the one instrument that answers.
A solid top is not a cosmetic upgrade. A single piece of wood vibrates as one thing and opens up over years of playing; a laminate is three thin layers with glue between them, which is stiffer, more stable and acoustically deader. On a tenor body with a proper bone nut and Aquila strings from new, the Dhani is a noticeably more resonant instrument than the Rincon underneath it.
The body is built to three-quarter depth, so it sits flatter against the ribs than a full-bodied tenor, and it comes in two finishes with different fingerboard inlays and engraving on the back — the turquoise is the better-reviewed of the pair. Same preamp and tuner as the rest, and a gig bag in the box.
At the same $350 as the Montecito, this is the one to take if you care how it sounds and the Montecito is the one to take if you care how it looks. Both are defensible; only this one has the solid top.
- The only solid top Fender puts on a ukulele
- Bone nut and Aquila Nylgut strings from new
- Preamp, tuner and gig bag included
- Best-rated instrument at the top of the range
- Three-quarter depth gives up some low end
- Signature-model engraving is not to everyone’s taste
- Same price as the more decorated Montecito
- Needs a battery
Also worth a look
| Model | Why you might | Why you might not | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montecito Tenor | All acacia — a close relation of koa — with abalone purfling and rosette, cream binding, gloss finish, bone nut, preamp and a gig bag. The prettiest thing Fender makes on four strings. | Fender does not claim a solid top for it, so at the same money the Dhani is the better-specified instrument. Very few ratings. | Around $350 | Check price |
| Fullerton Jazzmaster, sunburst | The same instrument as the shell pink above in three-color sunburst, Fender part 0970533500, and it costs noticeably less. | Only a handful of ratings on this finish, against twenty-seven on the pink. | Around $226 | Check price |
| Fullerton Precision Bass Uke | A real bass in ukulele form: 20.25″ scale, 1.77″ nut, nickel-wound nylon-core strings and an onboard preamp. Nothing else does this job at the size. | The weakest-rated instrument Fender makes in this range, at 3.6 stars. Buy it because you want a bass ukulele, not because it is a good ukulele. | Around $360 | Check price |
What the badge is and is not worth
A Fender ukulele is a competently built instrument at a price that reflects the name on the headstock as well as the wood in the body. The pattern in the range is plain enough: the body stops being laminated basswood at the Zuma, there is no pickup until the Fullerton, and Fender will not call a top solid below the Dhani Harrison. Brands that specialize in ukuleles reach those rungs for less, and our guide to ukulele brands goes through who does what.
What Fender genuinely give you is consistency and parts. Every ukulele in the range shares a 1.375″ nut, a walnut fingerboard, a no-tie or pull-through bridge and the same slim neck profile, so moving up the range does not mean relearning the instrument. The FE-U01 preamp fitted to the Fullerton at $260 is the same one fitted to the Montecito at $350. And the Fullerton bodies are not available from anyone else at any price.
If you want a Fender because you want a Fender, that is a perfectly good reason and the range will not embarrass you. If you want the most instrument for the money and the logo is incidental, buy the Zuma and stop.
Warranty, and the condition attached to it
Fender cover acoustic guitars, basses and ukuleles under a single two-year limited warranty against defects in materials and workmanship. Three conditions in it are worth knowing before you buy:
- It applies to the original retail purchaser only, and only when the instrument was bought from an authorized Fender dealer. It does not transfer if you sell it on, and it does not attach to a second-hand instrument.
- You pay the freight. Transport, insurance and shipping costs for warranty work are the owner’s responsibility in both directions.
- Setup is not covered. Fender treats the initial setup and adjustment as normal dealer preparation, and routine adjustment of any kind is excluded, as are fret wear, saddle and nut wear, strings and batteries.
Keep the receipt. It is the proof of purchase the warranty runs on, and without it there is no claim.
Questions worth answering
Where are Fender ukuleles made?
Fender does not state a country of origin on any ukulele product page or specification sheet. They publish the woods, the hardware, the scale length and the electronics down to the preamp model number, and they say nothing at all about where the instrument is built. Anyone who tells you a specific country is inferring it, and we are not going to add to that.
What is the difference between the California Coast and Fullerton series?
California Coast is the traditional-shaped range — Venice, Avalon, Zuma, Zuma Exotic, Rincon and Montecito — all with nato necks and normal ukulele outlines. Fullerton is the guitar-shaped range, named after the California town where Leo Fender started the company, and every Fullerton has a maple neck, a pickguard, nineteen frets and a preamp fitted as standard. The Dhani Harrison sits in neither; Fender file it under Artist Signature.
Do I need the model with a pickup?
Only if you intend to play through an amp or a PA. A pickup adds nothing to an unplugged instrument and costs about ninety dollars of the difference between the Zuma and the Fullerton. The one genuine bonus is the built-in chromatic tuner that comes with Fender’s preamp, which is a small convenience rather than a reason on its own. If you want to add a pickup later to a ukulele that has none, that is a solved problem.
Which strings do they come with?
The Fullerton ukes and the Dhani Harrison ship with Aquila Nylgut, which is a good set and worth keeping. The California Coast models — Venice, Avalon, Zuma, Rincon, Montecito — leave the factory on Fender’s own house strings, described in the specification only as “standard” for the size. Those are the ones most owners change first, and a set costs less than a takeaway.
The short version
Buy the Avalon if you want a tenor and a sensible price. Buy the Venice if you want the cheapest one that is still properly made. Buy the Zuma if you want the best instrument per dollar in the range, which it is by a clear margin. Buy the Fullerton Jazzmaster if the shape is the point. Buy the Rincon if you need to plug in and want a bag with it. And buy the Dhani Harrison if a solid top is what you came for, because it is the only one that has one.