DOUBLE NUD: Pono Pro Classic Baritones RBSH C Spruce Top

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.

Like my UU friend Simon (sam13), I'm a huge fan of Pono. Between my wife and me, we own some six different Pono models. The latest one arrived yesterday, and it is our new favorite: Pro Classic Baritone, classic wood combination of Rosewood and Spruce, fully loaded with a slotted headstock and a cutaway, or in short: RBSHC-S.

I knew how great their Tenors are, but their Baritones might be even better. Very well balanced, very well proportioned, lush and firm sound, reminiscent of a good steel string Guitar. And so comfortable to play, with the radius fretboard and a rounded neck profile that fits my hand perfectly.

I have been waiting for this model for a long time, since they are produced in very limited numbers and hardly ever come up for sale, so I'm very thankful to Andrew at HMS for reserving one of these for me. In the meantime, it was great to know that Simon wanted one of these too, so we could exchange our thoughts while we waited.

Picture shows the Pono RBSHC-S next to my ETSHC-C and my Baritone Nui (BN-10D).

Hey Rainer,

I love the picture of your Pono Clan, I will post one shortly as well ... interesting perspective to see the Baritone beside the Baritone Nui (BN-10D).

Happy Strumming my Pono Uke friend.

Congrats to you both!

Happy NUD sam13. You have one smooth sounding and nifty looking new uke. I really love the slot head and cut- away. You must also share your new beauty the next time you go to the Rooster!

How do you find playing the baritone verses the tenor with its different tunings?

Wow. Another benefit to the Baritone: There is more Uke to love and more wood work to admire. Nice.

Count me as another Pono ukulele lover. I hear it phrased often that they offer incredible value. I would like to point out that they are more than incredible value. They are excellent sounding ukuleles at any price range. I would bet that many people would choose them over many higher end and custom ukuleles if it was done in blind testing.

Unfortunately, many of us listen with our eyes. Personally, I've been going back forth over buying another Pono or going for a more expensive ukulele. When I play my Pono MTD and it is nice and quiet in my house, I'm taken aback by the beautiful tones and playability of the instrument. My wife had told me more than a couple of times that my ukulele sings. She's does not give compliments, when they are not deserved. She use to tease me about my guitar playing.

So now I'm seriously considering a Pono even though I will be able to afford a more expensive uke. After all it is the player that makes all the difference in a ukulele. Did you ever notice how similar most of the ukes Corey plays sound. They may have slight tone differences in cedar vs. spruce but there is a consistency to the sound he produces. I''ve begin to question what sound difference you achieve as you move up in price. It seems more about the aesthetic of the instrument, especially when comparing the Pono pros against higher priced ukuleles.


Congratulations on both of your new ukuleles.

Just got my Pono Pro Classic Bari last week

Congratulations on your ukes. I just received mine from HMS - it was also rosewood with a spruce top, but no cutaway since I had it strung left handed. I'm very pleased with it - very crisp tone which "encourages" me to play a cleanly as possible.

One thing I am missing is the dots on the side of the fingerboard (since it's left-handed). I'm surprised how much I miss those when sliding into a higher fret.

Does anyone have any ideas of a white substance that would be safe to paint dots on the side with?

Thanks and I see I'm in good company with my Pono

That's pretty cool! Enjoy!!

I happened to call sam13 the day his bairtone arrived. The postman had dropped it off, he was at home but could not open the box because he was busy with work. Now that is torture. I went over to his house and he had just opened it, what a treat both visually and sound wise.

This is one special ukulele as is Rakele's whom I have gotten to know through UU and consider a friend. Both of these guys have waited patiently and been rewarded. I am not a baritome player but standing in Simon's living room and listening to him play chordial jazz numbers on this..........my god it is smoother than an ice crean sundae. The resonance and mellow overtones envelope you like a cashmere sweater.

Congratulations boys on outstanding baritone ukuleles.

Dancing Seahorse said:

Happy NUD sam13. You have one smooth sounding and nifty looking new uke. I really love the slot head and cut- away. You must also share your new beauty the next time you go to the Rooster!

How do you find playing the baritone verses the tenor with its different tunings?

Click to expand...

Hi Dancing Seahorse,

I think it will be a little bit of time before I play it in public ... still working on the Tenor ... but the Rooster is such a chill, and relaxed jam ... so comfortable, so perhaps sooner that later.

From a playing point of view, there is a lot more room on the frets ... almost too much until you get used to fretting or barring the chord close to the fret otherwise I have found there can be a little buzzing ... but when barring close or on the fret then it is smooth.

It is full of tone when strumming with my finger, but mellow and full when strummed with my thumb.

I am just playing it as though I was playing a Tenor right now, chord shapes and patterns are the same but it is a perfect 4th below the rest so they all have different names. Fun though.

rappsy said:

Wow. Another benefit to the Baritone: There is more Uke to love and more wood work to admire. Nice.

Click to expand...

Well said Rappsy, I am a fan of Spruce tops ... very guitar sounding but only 4 strings ... lol.

sopher said:

Congratulations on your ukes. I just received mine from HMS - it was also rosewood with a spruce top, but no cutaway since I had it strung left handed. I'm very pleased with it - very crisp tone which "encourages" me to play a cleanly as possible.

One thing I am missing is the dots on the side of the fingerboard (since it's left-handed). I'm surprised how much I miss those when sliding into a higher fret.

Does anyone have any ideas of a white substance that would be safe to paint dots on the side with?

Thanks and I see I'm in good company with my Pono

Click to expand...

Sopher,

Welcome to UU, I see you joined this month. Congrats on the new Uke ... great place to get the Baritone and an EXCELLENT CHOICE of tone woods ... lol. :agree: I have two other Tenor Pro Classics without a cutaway and they are just awesome.

Regarding your lefty situation ... that is a good question. How about something that will stay but isn't permanent ... you know ... how about a tiny dab of liquid paper until you find something more permanent? Also, as you are new to UU ... this would be a great question for the luthier lounge or Uke Talk as the are great areas to get input on all kinds of subjects.

Enjoy your new Uke.

Cheers.

JustinJ said:

Count me as another Pono ukulele lover. I hear it phrased often that they offer incredible value. I would like to point out that they are more than incredible value. They are excellent sounding ukuleles at any price range. I would bet that many people would choose them over many higher end and custom ukuleles if it was done in blind testing.

Unfortunately, many of us listen with our eyes. Personally, I've been going back forth over buying another Pono or going for a more expensive ukulele. When I play my Pono MTD and it is nice and quiet in my house, I'm taken aback by the beautiful tones and playability of the instrument. My wife had told me more than a couple of times that my ukulele sings. She's does not give compliments, when they are not deserved. She use to tease me about my guitar playing.

So now I'm seriously considering a Pono even though I will be able to afford a more expensive uke. After all it is the player that makes all the difference in a ukulele. Did you ever notice how similar most of the ukes Corey plays sound. They may have slight tone differences in cedar vs. spruce but there is a consistency to the sound he produces. I''ve begin to question what sound difference you achieve as you move up in price. It seems more about the aesthetic of the instrument, especially when comparing the Pono pros against higher priced ukuleles.


Congratulations on both of your new ukuleles.

Click to expand...

Always great to meet another Pono fan!

I agree with you whole heartedly that they offer tremendous quality at all price ranges. Really great to hear about your comments on the MTD, as I would like to pick up a Mahogany Tenor re entrant strung, and then I think my Tenor fix is done. I like the beautiful tones of it as well.

Pono Pro Classics hold their own to many other higher end brands, IMHO. However, it just depends on each person's taste. A UU friend of mine prefers Ko'Aloha Ukuleles over Ponos ... each to their own. You might just like an Engelmann Spruce top, with Rosewood or Mahogany back and sides.

And I agree with your comment about Corey's playing ... one can hear the different tone woods but his playing is so consistent and the better one can play they will pull more out of an instrument.

Congrats on both the new ukes.

My wife thinks she wants to pick up the guitar...
I am hoping to convince her that a baritone will be better for her to learn on and more enjoyable to play.
A Pono baritone. =)

I also own a Pono. The MGT. I love my Pono!

DownUpDave said:

This is one special ukulele as is Rakele's whom I have gotten to know through UU and consider a friend. Both of these guys have waited patiently and been rewarded. I am not a baritome player but standing in Simon's living room and listening to him play chordial jazz numbers on this..........my god it is smoother than an ice crean sundae. The resonance and mellow overtones envelope you like a cashmere sweater.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Dave. You're right, these Baritones are great for Jazz and Blues, but other styles as well. Your description nails it: They're the Cashmere Sweaters of Ukuleles. Just so comfy to play and listen to.

I must say that my own approach was almost the opposite of Simon's. While he has accumulated an Armada of Spruce tops, I wanted to try different wood combos in different sizes. So after an Ebony/Cedar in Tenor, a Mango Pineapple and an All Accacia Baritone Nui, the combination of Rosewood and Spruce in a Baritone was the consequential next step for me.

pono baritones are great value. I also have a pono baritone, solid mahog with all ebony parts.

Still loving my Pono MGB I don't need another baritone... I don't want another baritone... but I'm still jealous! Your new ones look and sound lush. Great choices :drool:

@johnson430 - You are right .. you need a Pono Baritone. Play your wife a few songs and ask her if she likes the sound of the Baritone ... like a blind test and then get a response ... if she isn't looking she might not know. Also, the strings of the Baritone are the top four strings of the guitar ... so they are pretty close.

@tangimango = You are right ... I have played the Mahogany baritones and thought it was a beautiful sound ... enjoyed the warmth and mellow nature of it.

@wayward - Mango Baritones are wonderful ... just a little brighter than the Mahogany ... Thanks for the compliments ... I think all Pono Baritone's offer that lush sound ... just each has their own flavouring of it ...

Congratulations! Wow I'd say there seems to be a feeding frenzy of baritone purchases lately!