Pacific Ukulele?

Cheapo knockoff brand that I have only seen at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet. I have a Pacific Travel Tenor I bought used from someone here, and it is surprisingly good. I will probably pick up another on my next trip to Honolulu.
 
greenie44 said:
Cheapo knockoff brand that I have only seen at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet. I have a Pacific Travel Tenor I bought used from someone here, and it is surprisingly good. I will probably pick up another on my next trip to Honolulu.
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Wow. I am surprised it is a knock off. It is a well built uke. I didn't pay much for it. Judging from the sound, I thought I got a good deal.
 
ceobob said:
Wow. I am surprised it is a knock off. It is a well built uke. I didn't pay much for it. Judging from the sound, I thought I got a good deal.
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Knock off of what? It looks like a pretty good ukulele to me, and if it sounds good, then nothing else really matters.
 
The bridge and the rosette and purfling look very KPK to me. There are KPK branded ukes that don't have the same headstock as we are used to seeing here.

That would account for the good sound.
 
Jeffelele said:
The bridge and the rosette and purfling look very KPK to me. There are KPK branded ukes that don't have the same headstock as we are used to seeing here.

That would account for the good sound.
Click to expand...

It is really heavy as well. The width is actually a little thicker than a Kala Travel series but thinner than your traditional uke. It is kind of growing on me. ;)
 
Just found out what I was looking for:
http://pacificukes.com/

He is a custom builder.

Each Piece is custom made with a standard that includes the following: Book-matched Koa wood (Not only book-matched side to side but book-matched top to bottom as well), Honduran Mahogany neck, Ebony Fingerboard, Ebony Bridge, Bone Nut & Saddle, Mother of Pearl Rosette and Porpoise inlays.

I will be calling him today with the unique model number to see if it is a knock off. It looks like the real thing though.
 
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A pic to him would settle it. Your uke doesn't doesn't seem like his in several ways. For one thing, I looked at his site and saw no bridges like yours.

Whatever the answer is, of all the things that effect sound and playability, uncertainty of origin isn't one.

Let us know what you find.
 
The guy that builds the uke in the picture is named Ken. I bought one of his Mahogany sopranos with the same turtle emblem for $50 bucks (with a soft case). I play it more than my Kala's, Lanikai and Flea. The guy spent better than an hour showing me different things on his ukes, from the cheap ones to the high doller koa's. He also had a pickup that you can push under the strings at the bridge to "Electrify" it for larger crowds. He wouldn't give out cards or any way to get ahold of him. He didn't want to get into shipping out his ukes. He said he was happy doing what he was doing. Now I wish I bought a few more. I tried like crazy to get a number from him so I could order more of his own design pickups. My problem was that I met him on the last day of our 9 days on the island. This to reaffirm was at the Aloha Stadium swap meet, turn down first row to the left and go about 1/4 mile around and he (I hope) is there. I will try to post a picture of mine when I get home.
 
Pacific Ukuleles at Aloha Swap meet.

uke1.jpg
uke2.jpg
uke3.jpg
uke4.jpg

The other is Kala Walnut one.
 
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I just bought my first Ukulele from him as well at the Aloha Swap Meet. A 30 year guitar player, I think I could tell the difference if it is quality or not. I bought a tenor Uke. made from spotted maple, from him and love it. I believe he makes them by hand but cheats in some ways, Im sure he buys the fretboard etc. The only thing I think could be better are the tuning pegs. Ken added a wound 4th string for more bass, and the tuning peg couldn't keep it in tune but the nylon string is fine. I may change them out. I compared mine to a bunch of Ukes at another store. They are not the $2,000+ quality but I compared mine to a $500 Uke.
 
Bought a travel mahogany soprano from the same guy a couple years back (Aloha Stadium with the turtle emblem with "Pacific Ukulele" on the inside) and loved it. I was recently back in Hawai'i and decided to see if he was still there to pick up another ukulele and he was! This time he was passing out business cards, he has a website now www.pacificukulele.com and he does personalized lasering on them.
 
I checked out these ukes at the swap meet last week and they are all laminate but set up nice, good fretting, convex backs, and played well. He was a little unclear on where they are made so I did some research which lead to import information at www.seair.co.in/us-importers/pacific-ukulele-llc.aspx which gives info that implies that he imports the ukuleles from a China company: www.east-start.com/about-us . His label reads only "Honolulu, Hawaii" which is misleading. The prices were fair, I was looking at tenors which were all $150 regardless of wood type including spalted maple, koa, and other woods and included a case. Acoustic-electric were $180. A lot of them had Hawaii themed laser art which, to me, made them look more like tourist model ukes. I didn't see one that really stood out, and my Ohana sounds just as good, so didn't buy one.
 
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Thanks for all the information!

I found a Pacific mahogany concert model on goodwill finds for $58 shipped, with the case. Looks just the one on the website.

Appears to be in great condition. I will let you all know how it is when I get it.

Usually takes about a week for them to ship.
 
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