First uke, modified Kala ka-s

mlindberg · Nov 7, 2016

I've been playing guitar for about 15 years. Last summer my 6 year old son got a cheap 20 dollar diamond head blue uke for his birthday. Decided to get a cheap uke of my own to be able to show him a few things. Bought a kala ka-s that I've been eyeing at our local music store for months. Everytime I went in it was in tune and sounded better than a the others. I brought it home and swapped put the tuners for some Grover tuners and can't put this thing down.

Booli · Nov 7, 2016

UAS...and so it begins MUUWAAAHHH...

no, but seriously welcome to the forum

Kala/Makala ukes are a great place to start :music:

I have out the black version of those tuners on many of my ukes, the Grover 9NB model (yours looks like the 9NW), even on those with more expensive sealed geared tuners. For ~$15, Grover makes a decent set that are not bad at all.

DownUpDave · Nov 7, 2016

The new tuners look great. congrats on your first uke. As you are finding out they are additive little things......worse than hallowen chocolate bars

Mivo · Nov 7, 2016

Good call to replace the stock tuners!

Welcome to the forum, happy you've joined us here!

mlindberg · Nov 7, 2016

The stock tuners just had too much slack for my tastes. This uke keeps surprising me. I may not know a stellar uke from just OK but after playing guitar for 15 years I feel like I kknow a decent stringed instrument and this kala is really surprising. I've picked up cheap ukuleles in stores off and on for a long time and this one was the first that didn't seem like an out of tune toy and made me take the uke seriously.

Uk3player78 · Nov 8, 2016

Welcome to the club! I had the Makala MK S way back. I think it's pretty much the same uke but the Kala has better tuners and looks.

jollyboy · Nov 8, 2016

Congrats on your new uke

If you're up for a bit more modding you might think about swapping out the stock saddle and nut for cattle bone ones. Pretty easy to find on ebay and can make a noticeable difference to the overall tone.

Nickie · Nov 8, 2016

Congrats on your uke, and kudos on your mod. I like modding my ukes, but haven't messed with the Cocobolo yet. I can't think of a way to improve it, except learning to play it a lot better.
Welcome to UU!

mlindberg · Nov 8, 2016

jollyboy said:
Congrats on your new uke If you're up for a bit more modding you might think about swapping out the stock saddle and nut for cattle bone ones. Pretty easy to find on ebay and can make a noticeable difference to the overall tone.

I do have some bone saddle blanks laying on my bench that I've kept on hand for guitar projects...might be tempting. I had thought about it while putting on the tuners but just wasn't sure if it would really be worth the effort considering this uke comes with the nubone saddle already and I didn't know how much difference bone would make given the laminate construction and already decent saddle material.

wayfarer75 · Nov 8, 2016

The Kala KA-S was my first uke. I still like it, so much fun!

First uke, modified Kala ka-s

mlindberg

Member

Booli

Well-known member

DownUpDave

UU VIP

Mivo

Well-known member

mlindberg

Member

Uk3player78

Well-known member

jollyboy

Well-known member

Nickie

Well-known member

mlindberg

Member

wayfarer75

Well-known member

Similar threads