Luna Tattoo Concert Ukulele

First Look: Design and Build

The Luna Tattoo Concert ships in a thin cardboard sleeve with no gig bag included at the 89 dollar price. The laser-etched shark-tooth pattern wraps from the soundhole rosette across the lower bout, and owner photos make it look far less gimmicky than the catalog shots do. The listed weight is an honest 1.3 pounds, which tracks for a concert-scale body.

Luna ships every instrument with standard Aquila Nylgut strings, and owner unboxing reports describe the uke arriving tuned well below pitch. The same reports agree that after an initial stretch and a few retune cycles it holds pitch reliably.

Tone and Sound Character

The Tattoo Concert has the warm, rounded midrange I expect from a mahogany body, even in laminate form. In demo recordings, strummed C-F-G-Am progressions ring with enough sustain to support a light vocal, and the concert scale gives it noticeably more low-end than a soprano like the Luna Honu.

Fingerpicked pieces are where the limits of a laminate body show. In recorded clips of Jake Shimabukuro-style arpeggios, individual notes lose some of the bell-like clarity you get from a solid-top Kala or Pono. That said, for group sing-alongs, classroom use, and porch playing, the Tattoo Concert produces a musical sound that will not embarrass a capable player.

Playability and Factory Setup

Owner measurements put factory action around 2.8mm at the 12th fret, which is high for a ukulele. The nut slots are the culprit: Luna leaves them intentionally shallow so retailers can file them to preference, but most buyers play it as-shipped. Owners who take a proper nut file to the slots report that ten minutes of work lowering string height at the 1st fret transforms the first-position chords.

The 1.375 inch nut width is standard for a concert and gives adult hands room to fret cleanly without muting adjacent strings. Owner reports on fretwork are largely positive, describing smooth fret ends with no sharp points reaching out of the walnut fingerboard binding.

Build Quality and Materials

Owner photos show a satin finish applied evenly, with the orange-peel texture and drip lines I expected to see complaints about at this price point almost never mentioned. The back and sides are laminate mahogany rather than solid, which you can confirm by looking inside the soundhole at the laminate layers along the kerfing strip. Photos taken through the soundhole show clean kerfing with no visible gaps, and an X-bracing pattern that is machine-milled but consistently glued.

The open-gear tuners Luna uses here are the only genuine weak point of the build. They hold tune adequately, but owners describe them as gritty under rotation compared to the sealed die-cast tuners on the Kala KA-C. Long-term owner reviews occasionally mention a tuner developing a faint clicking sound with regular use, which would concern me if I planned to keep the instrument for five years. Upgrading to Grover 9N chrome tuners is a 35 dollar part swap that takes about 20 minutes with a standard Phillips screwdriver.

Who Should Buy the Luna Tattoo Concert Ukulele

This ukulele is aimed squarely at intermediate beginners who want a concert-scale body without stepping up to the 150 dollar tier. If you are stepping up from a toy soprano, the Luna Tattoo Concert will feel like a substantial upgrade in tone, projection, and adult hand comfort. Beach players, classroom music teachers, and songwriters who want a second voice for writing will all find this uke serviceable. The distinctive laser-etched body art also makes it a reasonable gift choice: it looks more expensive than its 89 dollar price suggests on a stand across a room.

If you are shopping for a forever ukulele, skip it. The laminate body simply will not open up the way a solid mahogany Pono MC or Kamaka HF-2 will over ten years of playing. Budget 300 dollars or more if tonal maturation matters to you. Serious ukulele players who intend to perform regularly should also look at the Kala KA-SMHC or Ohana CK-35G, both of which offer solid-top construction at roughly 160 to 200 dollars.