Hola! Concert Uke, revisited

cpmusic

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A while back I wrote about an Hola spruce and rosewood concert ukulele I bought, which had a poorly placed bridge that caused sharp intonation. I contacted Hola via Amazon, and within 24 hours I got an email apologizing for the problem, assuring me that I would receive a refund, and asking for details to forward to the factory. What I may not have written is that I was told to keep the ukulele.

I didn't play it much because of the intonation, but I remembered a recommendation here at UU to cut a thicker saddle with an upside-down L shape to fit the existing slot but place the break point behind the slot. This made sense, and to test it, I inserted a couple of finish nails behind the saddle. They gave me a new break point and raised the strings just enough to clear the saddle, and the difference is remarkable. I'd leave the nails, but they look funky. I'll cut a new saddle one of these days.

In the meantime, I am happy with this uke. I can't recommend it until I know that Hola has fixed the problem or that mine is an aberration. And that's a shame, because it's got a clean, punchy tone, and it's very pretty.

The model number is HR-224SSR+. It has a solid spruce top; laminated rosewood back and sides; mahogany binding with purfling; an abalone rosette; a three-piece; straight-grained nato neck with a rosewood headstock overlay and MOP logo; a rosewood fretboard with MOP diamond-shaped fret markers and side fret markers; and a rosewood bridge with two MOP dots, most likely to hide mounting screws.

Here are some pictures:

cp_hola-rosewood-1.jpg cp_hola-rosewood-2.jpg cp_hola-rosewood-3.jpg cp_hola-rosewood-4.jpg cp_hola-rosewood-5.jpg
 
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