The UEW5E is an UEW series acoustic/ electric ukulele model introduced by Ibanez for 2015. It is made in China. The UEW5EJ is an identical model sold in Japan.
The UEW5E features a concert style EW body with a soft Florentine cutaway constructed of laminated mahogany top, back, and sides with an open pore finish. The round soundhole has an abalone rosette. The mahogany neck joins the body at the 14th fret and has a 19-fret rosewood fingerboard with maple dot position markers. Components include an ivory plastic saddle in a rosewood bridge, a plastic nut and Ibanez open gear tuning machines. Electronics consist of an Ibanez under saddle pickup feeding a UK-300T preamp with onboard tuner powered by a pair of 2032 coin cells, and a ¼" endpin output jack.
For 2018 the top, back and sides were changed to sapele, the rosewood fretboard and bridge were changed to purpleheart and the UK-300T preamp was replaced with the AEQ2U preamp. For 2019 the mahogany neck was replaced with okoume. The body depth was very slightly increased for 2024.
The UEW5 is a standard acoustic version. The UEW15E, UEW13MEE, UEW13E, UEW12E, UEW12ACE are related models with flamed mahogany, Macassar ebony, bocote, flamed maple and acacia bodies, respectively. The UEWT5E is a related tenor model.
