guitarjunky
Well-known member
Any owner can tell me what they think?
What is the general perception about those two brands?
thanks
What is the general perception about those two brands?
thanks
I can't say anything for LoPrinzi, but I'm in love with my soprano mahogany Kiwaya. It is flawlessly made and produces a wonderful sound. I haven't heard much about Kiwaya's koa line but the mahogany is considered top-notch.
so are you saying that if I bought a Kiwaya artist series it is likely to have been made by Shinji.?Hello All!
I'm going to let the cat out of the bag- Kiwaya ukes are made in Japan by Shinji Takahashi of T's guitars. He's been making ukes for many of the famous brand names in Japan for over 10 years! Don't let the "guitars" in the name of his company fool you. He's been making instruments for around 30 years and 10 - 15 years ago, he got the ukulele bug (far before most of the others jumped on the bandwagon recently) and has been winning awards in Hawaii for the last three years consecutively at the Ukulele Guild event they have every year. His factory basically does two things- He (along with about 10 employees) makes ukulele and his brother makes electric guitars and basses. Shinji himself stopped making guitars regularly once he started doing ukes many years ago.
He is basically THE sought after Japanese ukulele maker in Japan. His ukuleles are played by so many famous Japanese musicians. But because he did OEM for the other makers for so many years, not many players or users really knew about him, until fairly recently in Japan and even less in the US. That's the way the OEM owners, like Kiwaya, like it to stay. It's their best kept secret. But you cannot stay hidden forever when you make as good of an ukulele as he does. He and I shared a booth at NAMM and the public was very impressed, but much to the chagrin of the Kiwaya distributor about 5 booths down!
If anyone wants to get a hold of a T's brand ukulele from Japan, let me know. I'm working on the logistics of getting it to customers in the US. Since I have operations in Japan and Hawaii, and my own ukes often travel back and forth between the two places, I should be able to get an uke to anyone shipped from Hawaii. If anyone is interested in getting an original T's ukulele, I will put you directly in touch with Shinji directly to work out and I'll work out getting you the uke.
Music Guy Mike has original T's for sale occasionally- usually just after a trade show. I think he might still have some...
take care! Aloha, Jorma