Check IMUA And Their Holiday Specials!

rainytown said:

I joined UU recently and just saw this, so I thought I'd chime in. I have an Imua tenor iTN that I got at Music Exchange in Kona, Hawai'i a couple of years ago (great shop, BTW!). I think it was about $650 new which I figured was an awesome deal for a solid Koa ukulele made in Hawai'i. It's a beautiful instrument, very well made, extremely playable even with my fat fingers, and I love the sound when I play it on its own. However, I do a lot of recording and often double uke with guitar, and the Imua doesn't quite have the attack and punch I get from my other ukuleles, tending a little more mid range and kind of competing with the guitar a bit. I didn't really notice this until I recently picked up a vintage Kamaka (yet another impulse buy), which within a few weeks has become my go to recording ukulele.

The Kamaka is a concert and the Imua is a tenor, so I suspect I'm hearing a lot of difference just in body sizes, but I also suspect (after joining UU and reading some posts) that I may need to try some different strings on the Imua - currently it's set up with Aquila new nylgut, I think.

Don't get me wrong - I love playing the Imua and its the one I take out the most when I'm not recording with other instruments. If I ever record solo ukulele (I need to get better playing first ), it would probably be the one I choose of my current set because it has a nice full sound.

Anyway, once I get some new strings on it I'll post a better review if anyone's interested. That said, I think Imua is now just doing custom and limited special orders (https://www.imuabrand.com/shop), so there might not be much new supply of them out there going forward.

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rainytown said:

@Ziret - it just so happens that I have a soprano on order as of yesterday (this is my year for UAS I guess), and I am very excited to try it paired with my guitars. I do a lot of finger picking on the guitar, and I'm loving the ethereal sound of an ukulele in the high ranges as an accompaniment, either also picked or lightly strummed. I don't know much about Kamaka - but the one I picked up recently just sounded too lovely to pass up - whether it's the build or the age of the uke, I can really hear (or imagine I hear!) the wood on that little concert in a way that I don't with any of my other acoustic instruments, including my guitars, and also it has focus and projection that seem larger than would be possible from a small body. Compared to the Imua, I'm getting more sustain and a little more projection out of the Kamaka, but again, strings could be a factor - I don't know what the Kamaka is strung with because I haven't changed them yet. Also keep in mind that I'm still reasonably inexperienced with ukuleles and I play them like a guitarist at the moment, so take my ear's opinion with a grain of salt .

@AlohaKine, thanks for the recommendation! Yes, that definitely lines up with what I'm hearing - a nice sound, but maybe not what I'm looking for at the moment. I'll check out the D'Addarios and see how that sounds.

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