hehehe...you are right that I prefer spruce but I just wanna show how good these Ko'olau are. If you love Cedar, you like the Jay Lichty even no cutaway on HMS? I personally think these Ko'olaus blow it away!! BTW, I love, love cutaways too! Suburst is not too bad either
I own a koolau T100SP and a mya moe tenor. I think the Koolau feels better and sounds better. I still love my mya moe... but I feel the koolau is a better instrument in looks, feel and sound. Just my two cents.
I own a koolau T100SP and a mya moe tenor. I think the Koolau feels better and sounds better. I still love my mya moe... but I feel the koolau is a better instrument in looks, feel and sound. Just my two cents.
I agree 100%. Noa's ukes are outstanding, and are true custom ukes with very high attention to detail. I think I would call Mya Moe more of a "customizable production uke". They're great players, and look and sound very good, but Ko'olau is on a different level. I'm sure there are many Mya Moe fans that would defend them to the death. Nothing wrong with that, and my comment is not at all meant as a slight to MM. Just my opinion from personal observation.
I owned many ukes, including Mya Moe, KoOlau, KoAloha, etc. . I agree with everything UCLAman and Telperion have written.
Plus, I consider the KoOlau to be the best Hawaiian "K" brand out there, based on my experience. Noa rules.
And I will add: although Pono is made by the same parent company, the thick neck on the Pono (much thicker than on a KoOlua) is an absolute buzzkill. Ponos lack the finesse and light weight of a KoOlau. Ponos are rather heavily constructed, KoOlaus are not. Ponos have rather thick finishes (glosses), KoOlaus do not.
Here's another KoOlau video, since we're throwing those up here for brother drose: the incomparable Paul Hemmings rocking his cutaway (and yes, he does use the cut, esp. at the intro and 3 minutes plus. Way to go, Paul!)