Cocobolo

Anyone here have had an opportunity to try a Cocobolo Uke? I was interested in purchasing a new tenor with a radius fretboard but did not want to spend major dollars. I have had a few email conversations with the owner/maker. Any opinions?
Also spoke last evening with UU Member MM Stan. I'm on Oahu until Aug. 5 and am going to the Ukulele Festival on Sunday. It would be nice to meet up and put some faces to the names here.

I have one. It's very nicely made with some oddities. The frets are not properly finished on mine and too jagged. The sound is nice but dark - not as much treble as I'm used to. For what it is worth - Kala fretboards are radiused. You can get some really nice Kalas at reasonable prices.

katysax said:

I have one. It's very nicely made with some oddities. The frets are not properly finished on mine and too jagged. The sound is nice but dark - not as much treble as I'm used to. For what it is worth - Kala fretboards are radiused. You can get some really nice Kalas at reasonable prices.

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Are you sure about Kala having a radius fretboard? Everyone I have ever played had a flat fretboard........or I was just not paying attention

I have a concert and a tenor from Cocobolo. The concert had some serious humidity and fret issues, the tenor also had some small humidity issues(even though it was actively humidified and paid close attention to after the experience with the concert) all that being said, I really like the way they both sound, and I feel they were absolutley worth the money(not including the repair cost of the concert). I have the concert strung with the Aquila Reds and the Tenor strung with living water low g set, I play both on a regular basis. Ultimately I would say, i really do like them but do not expect perfection.

I like my Super Concert. There a lot of threads on UU:
https://www.google.com/#q=site:forum.ukuleleunderground.com++cocobolo+ukulele

DownUpDave said:

Are you sure about Kala having a radius fretboard? Everyone I have ever played had a flat fretboard........or I was just not paying attention

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The Kala U=basses have radius frets and for some reason I thought they radiuses the tenors and concerts too but I think I'm wrong.

Katy, maybe you meant the Cocobolo ukes are all radiused fretboard?
Never seen a Kala made like that. My Ubass had a flat one.
I dunno why some of them come with the frets sharp and sticking out, maybe because it's soooo humid in Nicaragua, and they dry out once they come here.
They're really beauful, I've played two of them.

I've bought 3 concerts and ended up selling them only because friends fell in love with them. I ordered a Tenor from Kevin. Very nice for a solid, hand made ukulele.

I had a concert Cocobolo but sold it. It sounded really great and is a nice hand-made instrument but, like katysax, the unfinished fret ends bothered me too. Mine was also one of the earlier ones that they made so it came with a flat fretboard, which I prefer, but what ultimately caused me to sell was the fact that it was so heavy toward the headstock end. It really threw my balance off whenever I played it without a strap. I think they were able to remedy that in the later builds so the weight might not be an issue any longer.

I got a tenor cocobolo uke from Mya-Moe late last year. It took me a while to break it in but I'm pretty happy with it now. No problems so far with the wood and it looks lovely!

It was fun to stumble upon this thread today. I appreciate all of your honest input, and I am happy to see that it is mostly positive.

It is true that we struggled at first with several ukuleles that developed sharp frets... aka "fret sprout". As Nickie suggested, it is humid here in Nicaragua, and even though we dressed the frets properly, as the wood arrived in different climates it slightly contracted, but the frets did not.

We are a young company, but we have made many improvements over the last couple of years. Perhaps the most significant improvement has been finding the right solutions to deal with the humidity in Nicaragua. We have built our own low temperature solar dry kiln to dry all of our tonewoods to a 6% moisture content. Also, we have invested in a climate control system that maintains 40% relative humidity to ensure that the tonewoods do not reabsorb excess moisture after being dried properly.

We are committed to the continual improvement of our ukuleles, and we are always looking for new ways to take our ukuleles to the next level. Many of our biggest improvements have come from recommendations from customers, such as: radius fingerboards standard on all of our ukuleles, using solid bone nut and saddle, offering Peghed geared tuners, and offering many custom options, such as a handmade rosette, strap buttons (with handmade leather straps), and Western Red Cedar soundboards. (Any other ideas are greatly appreciated as well, so don't be shy!).

We are excited about the direction we are moving, and we believe that the best is still to come. We are committed to improve our ukuleles, and we appreciate your patience with any hiccups along the way!

I almost had the first side port but didn't work out. Who here was putting one in with a Dremel? Hmm. Just kidding Kevin!

ubulele said:

Cutaways and side sound ports, please!

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We are up for it if you are!

Be careful with that Dremel Jim!

Kevin was a real pleasure to work with. A real class act. Continued success.

Cocobolo Ukuleles said:

Be careful with that Dremel Jim!

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Haha! Totally a joke Kevin. No way would I commit such a reckless act of barbarism.