"K" Brand Binding?

kypfer said:

By-the-by ... these mentions of "tortoise" bindings ... is this real tortoise/turtle shell or some kind of fancy wood or other material?

Genuinely interested

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Not on any modern ukes--strictly plastic type stuff. Vintage ukes, they may have real tortoise shell, or it may be celluloid (my guess is that most vintage ukes don't have the real thing).

Camsuke said:

Here you go Yooke, what do you think of this binding? This is my Kanilea K4 Tenor.

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Ah that's the stuff

DaveY said:

Yooke, I never much thought of the lack of binding on the "K" brands -- the "tradition" that you note (and the looks without the binding, and the sound, especially) was what made me consider a Kanilea and KoAloha (and buy a KoAloha). The koa on my KoAloha is so beautiful to me that I think binding and such would detract from it.

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Yeah, I think it may be the traditional ukulele look. I personally thought that you would bind the more expensive models (protection, aesthetics) and leave binding off for entry ukuleles (reduce cost).

If the K brands can afford quality Koa woods, binding material should be nothing to them, so now I believe its just their personal choice. Stevepetergal also made a great point. Thanks for all the answers.

kypfer said:

Well, I, for one, was genuinely interested to know which of the apparent multitude of "K-Brand" instruments were considered to be "the big four".

I've got a Kala. For what I paid for it it's probably not one of these, but it does have binding The chances of me ever seeing one of these fabled big four, let alone playing or owning one, are remote, but it might be interesting to at least know what other people are talking about.

By-the-by ... these mentions of "tortoise" bindings ... is this real tortoise/turtle shell or some kind of fancy wood or other material?

Genuinely interested

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K brand refers to : Kamaka, Koaloha, Kanile'a and KoOlau. These are all hand made in Hawaii by companies started and operated in Hawaii. Seeing as they all start with K they got labeled "K brand".

Tortoise shell binding is made of plastic and looks like tortoise shell........kind of, guess it should be called faux tortoise shell

DownUpDave said:

Tortoise shell binding is made of plastic and looks like tortoise shell........kind of, guess it should be called faux tortoise shell

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Looks more like fire to me

kypfer said:

By-the-by ... these mentions of "tortoise" bindings ... is this real tortoise/turtle shell or some kind of fancy wood or other material?

Genuinely interested

Click to expand...

wayfarer75 said:

Not on any modern ukes--strictly plastic type stuff. Vintage ukes, they may have real tortoise shell, or it may be celluloid (my guess is that most vintage ukes don't have the real thing).

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We had a thread on this a while ago:
http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...Binding-(Kanile-a-K3)&highlight=real+tortoise
Bottom line, real tortoise shell has never been used on ukes. Not legally, anyway.

If I had to play like some of these bound and inlaid ukes look I'd be in big trouble. Keep my ukulele simple and we'll all be better off.

DownUpDave said:

K brand refers to : Kamaka, Koaloha, Kanile'a and KoOlau. These are all hand made in Hawaii by companies started and operated in Hawaii. Seeing as they all start with K they got labeled "K brand".

Tortoise shell binding is made of plastic and looks like tortoise shell........kind of, guess it should be called faux tortoise shell

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Kamaka has been around since 1916....
but 35 years ago Maui Music(Peter Lieberman) was one of the only other production ukulele makers in Hawaii he has been around for a while....

There are other Hawaii-built ukuleles that are every bit as good as K-brands. I play an Imua that is plain and simple and sounds very good. It's built in Honolulu from some of the best Koa available.

What about Valley Made? G String?

eugene ukulele said:

Forget it Steve. I was responding to a complaint but realise now I was both mistaken and over-reacting. Cheers mate

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Thanks for looking out for newbies.

coolkayaker1 said:

Got it, Jon. Thanks, yes.

One thing not yet mentioned is that a binding can protect the edge of the body of the instrument from dings, yooke. It may have a practical purpose in that regard. Some bindings are plastic, like tortoise imitation, and rugged.

A fretboard binding might, in theory, help with this protection, too. I had an inexpensive uke slide off its stand and hit the edge of the fretboard once and a fret lifted just a bit. I could hit the fret bar back down and did. I wonder if it would have been intact if it had a fretboard binging perhaps.

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All binding is primarily functional but it can dress up an uke as well if that's your thing, especially when combined with (strictly decorative) purflings. As mentioned before, the binding materials are made of materials much harder than the body materials, protecting the edges from accidental dings and bumps. However, the primary function of fret board bindings as I see it is to prevent the fret ends from ever protruding over the edge of the fretboard in the event the fret board shrinks. In the process of binding a fret board, the fret tangs are removed from the ends to accommodate the bindings and the frets themselves are finished well within the edges of the board. Sharp fret ends can be painful to play, a condition seldom seen on fret boards that have been bound. It's about 10 X the work to build a bound fret board than an unbound one so naturally that will be reflected in the price. Like body and headstock bindings, many of the higher quality (and obviously more expensive) instruments will have them.

K brand refers to : Kamaka, Koaloha, Kanile'a and KoOlau. These are all hand made in Hawaii by companies started and operated in Hawaii. Seeing as they all start with K they got labeled "K brand".

Tortoise shell binding is made of plastic and looks like tortoise shell........kind of, guess it should be called faux tortoise shell

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Thank you. I'll be able to pay due reverence where appropriate now ... and pleased to hear about the "tortoise shell"

Yooke said:

I just personally would like to see lighter trim because wood binding sort of blends in from a distance.

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Darker trim can also provide contrast, as shown in the Moore Bettah ukulele on the left and the Beau Hannam ukulele on the right..