davo17
Well-known member
Has anyone compared a koaloha tenor with bow tie bridge to the modern bridge?I was just curious if it made much of a sound difference, anyone done a you tube comparison video (i couldn't find one)
i was just wondering if Koaloha changed to make ukulele's less expensive to manufacture or to improve the sound?
i was just wondering if Koaloha changed to make ukulele's less expensive to manufacture or to improve the sound?
i know they went to bow tie from the old crown bridge since the crown was harder to make plus it kept pulling off. Then came generic-looking bowtie, which looked as pale as the underside of an orca next to the beloved but unstable crown, so next they got the current koaloha branded bridge, which some adore, and yet reminds others of a blacklighted velvet elvis poster, earth shoes, tie-dyed bucket hats, and ding-dong carts selling popsuckles in the summertime.
Have had 3 KoAlohas. All sounded great with the distinctive KoAloha sound. My present concert KoAloha is a 2013. It has the modern tie on bridge and is curly koa, a rarity for KoAloha ukes.
I love these threads they go in all sorts of unintended directions , fun to follow, however i still have not got an answer to my original question
has anyone played a bow tie bridge koaloha tenor side by side with a modern koaloha bridge ?
and how much of a volume and or tone difference did they notice?
I like the older bridges. KoAloha has done a ton of work on their bridges and gone through many iterations. There was a "spiky" bridge way back, that I have on a Pineapple Sunday. The crown bridge was used and pretty popular. I have one on a Sceptre and it is awesome. When they switched to the bow tie, there was a lot of disappointment. However, tonally many people think this is their best bridge ever. In fact, if you buy a custom KoAloha, they use the bow tie bridge. They then moved on to variations of the current bridge. People who have played them, myself included, think the new bridges aren't as nice tonally or aesthetically. The differences are not that drastic, though. If you heard them all, I'm not sure one could tell for sure which bridge is which. For better or worse, a KoAloha sounds like a KoAloha. They are remarkably consistent with their tone.
Hope that helps.