sam13
Well-known member
Hello All,
BACK STORY:
I love Ukulele. Unabashedly. Passionate, and a full support of quality UAS.
UU is a tremendous chat board and have met virtually, and personally great people and developed friends that I appreciate and value greatly. Turns out DownUpDave lives in the next city.
And Rakelele lives in Switzerland. We have very similar tastes in Ukuleles (Pono Fans). Perhaps cheese, Beer and chocolates as well?!! LOL.
I really love jazz, and pop and as a singer, I want to accompany myself.
Being 6’5”, I have big hands and long arms. A radius fretboards significantly enhances to help produce quality sound or tone when barring (jazz tunes have a lot of barring) with less stress on my wrist. Hence, Pono Pro Classic instruments are a wonderful fit for me.
My first Tenor Uke I bought was the ETSH5 (Macassar Ebony Slot Head, with Cedar Top) from Andrew Kitakis from The Hawaii Music Supply.
It has tremendous tone, and it is beautiful to look at. I just love it. Kimo plays it in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FikKhJ2glww I called Andrew within 10 minutes of him posting the video and bought it.
It was February 2014 and about 11:30 pm EST. I went to bed and stayed away for a few hours thinking about it. So excited. The sustain, warmth of overtones is just amazing. Andrew has such integrity and care with his clients and the Ukulele: before, during and after sales support, I knew I would buy my Baritone from him.
Baritone UAS calling:
Over a year ago, Baritones were calling me as well: Pono Pro Classic Slot Head Cut Away … Cedar or Spruce Top??!! Agonizing decisions … LOL. :iwant:
I contacted my good friend Andrew who suggested the EBSH (Macassar Ebony Baritone Cedar Top). Ultimately I was looking for more sparkle and higher overtones and chose the RBSH C Spruce top with Cutaway which would be coming in late March 2015. :agree:
I am a Tenor lover, but wanted a Baritone to give me options vocally with my band so I really wanted one that ticked off all the boxes (Spruce, Slot Head, Cutaway).
During that time, Rakelele and I started chatting and we both wanted the same one. So this is a first I think … a Double NUD. The shipment of Ponos arrived and Andrew sorted through them and picked one out for me and my friend Rakelele.
I am thoroughly pleased and so happy with the instrument and my Baritone dreams are fulfilled.
Overall tone is warm, with bright resonance and wonderful sustain. As luck would have it, Corey played a sample of it. Here it is:
https://vimeo.com/122084454
The instrument:
As it turns out Andrew did the set up of the Ukulele and the action is wonderful
I had the wound Mahana’s 3rd and 4th strings left on but Andrew changed the 1st and 2nd strings to Pro D’addario strings. Tone: warm, even and mellow across the strings.
Sustain is wonderful. I love the wood combo of Spruce top and the density of a Rosewood back. It allows a long decay and convergence of overtones. Yumbo!
Barring takes more pressure near the fret, but the radius makes it easier to obtain a great tone
I love the cutaway … something different and fun.
The string tension is some what floppy when compared to the South Coast string tension on my Pono Pro Classic Tenors. But this is a Baritone not a Tenor. I have read many comments about Tenor players trying Baritones and getting used to the different scale. It makes finger picking very easy.
Pono’s quality tremendous, I love the Pono brand … and John Kitakis and his crew are top notch … have no reservations to anyone to buy a Pono Ukulele.
With several Pono Pro Classics and I am very happy to add this to my quiver.
Thanks for reading … now onto Rakelele.
BACK STORY:
I love Ukulele. Unabashedly. Passionate, and a full support of quality UAS.
UU is a tremendous chat board and have met virtually, and personally great people and developed friends that I appreciate and value greatly. Turns out DownUpDave lives in the next city.
And Rakelele lives in Switzerland. We have very similar tastes in Ukuleles (Pono Fans). Perhaps cheese, Beer and chocolates as well?!! LOL.
I really love jazz, and pop and as a singer, I want to accompany myself.
Being 6’5”, I have big hands and long arms. A radius fretboards significantly enhances to help produce quality sound or tone when barring (jazz tunes have a lot of barring) with less stress on my wrist. Hence, Pono Pro Classic instruments are a wonderful fit for me.
My first Tenor Uke I bought was the ETSH5 (Macassar Ebony Slot Head, with Cedar Top) from Andrew Kitakis from The Hawaii Music Supply.
It has tremendous tone, and it is beautiful to look at. I just love it. Kimo plays it in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FikKhJ2glww I called Andrew within 10 minutes of him posting the video and bought it.
It was February 2014 and about 11:30 pm EST. I went to bed and stayed away for a few hours thinking about it. So excited. The sustain, warmth of overtones is just amazing. Andrew has such integrity and care with his clients and the Ukulele: before, during and after sales support, I knew I would buy my Baritone from him.
Baritone UAS calling:
Over a year ago, Baritones were calling me as well: Pono Pro Classic Slot Head Cut Away … Cedar or Spruce Top??!! Agonizing decisions … LOL. :iwant:
I contacted my good friend Andrew who suggested the EBSH (Macassar Ebony Baritone Cedar Top). Ultimately I was looking for more sparkle and higher overtones and chose the RBSH C Spruce top with Cutaway which would be coming in late March 2015. :agree:
I am a Tenor lover, but wanted a Baritone to give me options vocally with my band so I really wanted one that ticked off all the boxes (Spruce, Slot Head, Cutaway).
During that time, Rakelele and I started chatting and we both wanted the same one. So this is a first I think … a Double NUD. The shipment of Ponos arrived and Andrew sorted through them and picked one out for me and my friend Rakelele.
I am thoroughly pleased and so happy with the instrument and my Baritone dreams are fulfilled.
Overall tone is warm, with bright resonance and wonderful sustain. As luck would have it, Corey played a sample of it. Here it is:
https://vimeo.com/122084454
The instrument:
As it turns out Andrew did the set up of the Ukulele and the action is wonderful
I had the wound Mahana’s 3rd and 4th strings left on but Andrew changed the 1st and 2nd strings to Pro D’addario strings. Tone: warm, even and mellow across the strings.
Sustain is wonderful. I love the wood combo of Spruce top and the density of a Rosewood back. It allows a long decay and convergence of overtones. Yumbo!
Barring takes more pressure near the fret, but the radius makes it easier to obtain a great tone
I love the cutaway … something different and fun.
The string tension is some what floppy when compared to the South Coast string tension on my Pono Pro Classic Tenors. But this is a Baritone not a Tenor. I have read many comments about Tenor players trying Baritones and getting used to the different scale. It makes finger picking very easy.
Pono’s quality tremendous, I love the Pono brand … and John Kitakis and his crew are top notch … have no reservations to anyone to buy a Pono Ukulele.
With several Pono Pro Classics and I am very happy to add this to my quiver.
Thanks for reading … now onto Rakelele.