Silly me. I should like Kala

steel rider

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I'm the type who likes to have something different than most people. I'd never buy a Prius or Accord or Camry for example, no matter how good they are. BUT I am also a guy who loves to support local businesses, or at least NorCal businesses.

I just noticed Kala is based in Petaluma. How did I not know this? To me there is a coolness in that. Yes it's not Hawaii and most if not all (except Elite Series?) the products are made in Asia, but they are my NorCal brothers and sisters.

Maybe I will go buy a Kala.
 
I have an Asian-maufactured La la Tenor and I couldn't be happier with it.
 
Heck, yeah, why not? I bought a Fluke (even though I wasn't crazy about them at the time) because the MF Co was based in CT and the people were friendly, real, and I appreciated what they were doing. I don't regret it for a second.
 
kala is really good at mass producing consistency.
Also.. they make some pretty decent ukes on the low and mid range.
I really like their cedar top models.

Some people dish on Kala.. because they're the big box poster child.. but really you don't get to be that company without having a decent product.
 
i played one of the elite series that are made in Petaluma and it was a very nice instrument.

also, i've been happy with my spruce top Kala that was my first uke. i own "nicer" ukes but still play the Kala a lot
 
I have more ukes than I should, but three of my favorites are my Kala solid acacia concert, tenor, and baritone. Why don't I have the soprano? I should rectify that immediately.
 
My go to uke is my Kala cedar top cut away with preamp.
 
I believe the elite series is made in California not Hawaii. I could be wrong though!
 
My Kala Koa tenor is all laminated and has amazing tone. I prefer the tone over my Pono mahogany tenor and my Cordoba 32T. The Kala also has great playability and is gorgeous.
 
only brand i know is kala. i have ka-cem, and my son has ka-s. i like way ka-s sounds. after looking at it for awhile, i noticed that my son's uke has been setup. there are file makes on the frets and the uke sounds really nice. the fret work wasn't exactly clean, it needs crowning. my ka-cem is not set up at all. it's going back to amazon. doesn't sound as good as my son's ka-s. another ka-cem is coming from hms. i'm hoping that thing will sound much better than current hms. we do have a shop near by that does set up and things for ukes. i'll have to stop by once i can play a tune or two to see what other brand ukes sound like.
 
I have two Kalas, my first ukulele is a KA-TEM. It plays and sounds pretty good for a laminate. My other Kala is an all solid acacia 10th Anniversary edition. It sounds very nice and plays like a dream. I think their quality control makes the Chinese manufacturing work.
 
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I have two Kalashnikov, my first ukulele is a KA-TEM. It plays and sounds pretty good for a laminate. My other Kala is an all solid acacia 10th Anniversary edition. It sounds very nice and plays like a dream. I think their quality control makes the Chinese manufacturing work.

Not sure I want to jam with anyone playing with Kalashnikovs! Could be a bit dangerous, particularly if they're loaded.
 
My KA-SEM is my most played uke with a KA-GAS in the running for second. I dont own a Kalashnikov but I do have an old Chinese SKS which uses the same 7.62x39mm Cartridge. I haven't played that one in quite a few years and got yelled at for playing it too fast the last time I had her out.
 
The first uke I bought as per tons of recommendations here on UU when I was a uke noob, was for Kala and I went with a KA-T laminate mahogany, which I got at a local B&M store for $119. That was almost exactly 3 yrs ago.

I installed a Mi-Si pickup in it after having it about 9 months, and still play it ALL the time, in spite of having more exotic or more expensive ukes since then.

Maybe there is some truth to instruments 'opening up', because for the first 6 months or so, when it was my ONLY uke, I played that thing AT LEAST 2 hrs per day...it sounds better now than ever...but maybe that's just confirmation bias - LOL.

I'll never let it go.
 
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