After dropping my wife off at JoAnn Fabric, I walked over to Guitar Center to wander around a bit. I did not need/buy anything, but I did get interested in checking out a used Kamaka Soprano ukulele hanging on the wall in the acoustic section.
I think it was an HF-1 (since it looked exactly like the one on Kamaka's site and seems to be the only Soprano they showed), with a hard shell case and from the 1990s (according to the sales guy). It had a white label inside, so I assume that is what people mean when they talk here about "white label" Kamakas. It was selling for $499, and they would let it go for closer to $400.
Anyway, I tried it (not that I have $400 to spend anyway...) and did not care for it. It is quite different from my Ohta-San. The Ohta-San has really smooth tuners, called "Planetary" tuners that make tuning really easy. The Soprano had tuners that looked somewhat like the tuners on my Ohta-San, but seemed too sensitive, making tuning more difficult than on my Ohta-San. I could not seem to get the entire ukulele in tune. If it was in tune with the open strings, it was a bit out of tune playing chords a few frets up the neck. The E string seemed to have a slight intonation problem.
The out-of-tuneness was subtle, but really bothersome to me. Electric guitars often seem to have that same sort of thing going on, which may be one reason I have never wanted to own one.
Edit: I tried a couple of different ways of tuning, as has been discussed in other threads and none of them seemed to resolve the issues completely. Often, you can compensate for certain issues when tuning, but none of that seemed to completely clear up the problem. I am wondering if the very short size/scale contributes to the problem. It wasn't a quality issue, from what I could tell. Kamaka is a quality instrument.
What I don't know is if this sort of thing is common with Soprano ukuleles in general, since I have no experience with them. The Kamaka apparently sells for $995 new, so it must be a pretty darn nice ukulele in the Soprano market segment.
Even if the issues I mentioned were non-existent, I realize that the Concert size is probably as small as I would care to go. For me, the Soprano is too small. Maybe there is a different way of holding them that I don't yet know about. Reading in these forums, it is clear to me that there is a lot I don't know about ukuleles and, as I readily admit, my sample size of experience with different ukuleles is rather small since I don't make it a habit to go around shopping for new instruments to add to my admittedly small collection.
On the positive side, this little Soprano has a big sound and looked very, very nice. I don't care for the all-Koa look on guitars, but find it quite appealing on ukuleles.
I think that sometimes, we can avoid UAS by realizing that we already did it "right" with the instruments we may already have. I have a concert size (Ohta-San) that is low G, and a Ko'olau Tenor size (re-entrant high G), and now I know for sure that I don't need a Soprano (any Soprano, because it is too small for me to handle comfortably).
My ukuleles play in tune and don't seem to exhibit intonation issues. I have not played many other ukuleles, and only one Soprano, so I really don't know what other ukuleles are like in terms of how well they play and remain in tune, how easy to get around the fretboard they are, etc.
Those things are important to me, so I am fortunate that my two ukuleles don't have those types of issues. Sometimes, it is good to reflect on what we have and be grateful for it. If what we have seems good to us, then maybe the urge to get something else may thankfully fade, to be replaced by a sense of satisfaction and the desire to simply play. I don't think this sense of satisfaction and being grateful for what we have needs to be tied at all to how much we paid for our ukuleles, but instead with how suitable they are for the music we want to make. There will always be something out there that is better than what we have, but also plenty that are not as good (at least for our individual needs).
Tony
I think it was an HF-1 (since it looked exactly like the one on Kamaka's site and seems to be the only Soprano they showed), with a hard shell case and from the 1990s (according to the sales guy). It had a white label inside, so I assume that is what people mean when they talk here about "white label" Kamakas. It was selling for $499, and they would let it go for closer to $400.
Anyway, I tried it (not that I have $400 to spend anyway...) and did not care for it. It is quite different from my Ohta-San. The Ohta-San has really smooth tuners, called "Planetary" tuners that make tuning really easy. The Soprano had tuners that looked somewhat like the tuners on my Ohta-San, but seemed too sensitive, making tuning more difficult than on my Ohta-San. I could not seem to get the entire ukulele in tune. If it was in tune with the open strings, it was a bit out of tune playing chords a few frets up the neck. The E string seemed to have a slight intonation problem.
The out-of-tuneness was subtle, but really bothersome to me. Electric guitars often seem to have that same sort of thing going on, which may be one reason I have never wanted to own one.
Edit: I tried a couple of different ways of tuning, as has been discussed in other threads and none of them seemed to resolve the issues completely. Often, you can compensate for certain issues when tuning, but none of that seemed to completely clear up the problem. I am wondering if the very short size/scale contributes to the problem. It wasn't a quality issue, from what I could tell. Kamaka is a quality instrument.
What I don't know is if this sort of thing is common with Soprano ukuleles in general, since I have no experience with them. The Kamaka apparently sells for $995 new, so it must be a pretty darn nice ukulele in the Soprano market segment.
Even if the issues I mentioned were non-existent, I realize that the Concert size is probably as small as I would care to go. For me, the Soprano is too small. Maybe there is a different way of holding them that I don't yet know about. Reading in these forums, it is clear to me that there is a lot I don't know about ukuleles and, as I readily admit, my sample size of experience with different ukuleles is rather small since I don't make it a habit to go around shopping for new instruments to add to my admittedly small collection.
On the positive side, this little Soprano has a big sound and looked very, very nice. I don't care for the all-Koa look on guitars, but find it quite appealing on ukuleles.
I think that sometimes, we can avoid UAS by realizing that we already did it "right" with the instruments we may already have. I have a concert size (Ohta-San) that is low G, and a Ko'olau Tenor size (re-entrant high G), and now I know for sure that I don't need a Soprano (any Soprano, because it is too small for me to handle comfortably).
My ukuleles play in tune and don't seem to exhibit intonation issues. I have not played many other ukuleles, and only one Soprano, so I really don't know what other ukuleles are like in terms of how well they play and remain in tune, how easy to get around the fretboard they are, etc.
Those things are important to me, so I am fortunate that my two ukuleles don't have those types of issues. Sometimes, it is good to reflect on what we have and be grateful for it. If what we have seems good to us, then maybe the urge to get something else may thankfully fade, to be replaced by a sense of satisfaction and the desire to simply play. I don't think this sense of satisfaction and being grateful for what we have needs to be tied at all to how much we paid for our ukuleles, but instead with how suitable they are for the music we want to make. There will always be something out there that is better than what we have, but also plenty that are not as good (at least for our individual needs).
Tony
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