2 belated NUD

OK, so I have had these 2 ukes for a few months now and 1 of them is my current favourite uke for tone. So its maybe not so much a NUD than a NUQ ( new uke quarter)

1) Ko'olau CS Custom Sinker redwood / Guatemalan rosewood

What can I say, the fit and finish is second to none. Easily the best crafted uke in my collection. Not only does it look perfect with not a finish flaw in sight, it sounds superb to boot. The notes ring on like no tomorrow and are clear and articulate, so much so that all my wrong notes are amplified across the room....hmmm... tuning is also sublime with the Waverly tuners

The uke went thru what seems like a kazillion string changes and has finally settled on her preferred set of Thomastik Infield G and C paired with Saverez KF alliance E and A. Awkwardly, this uke snapped 3 HML-RW A strings in a row. They all snapped whilst the uke was in the case overnight and all snapped at the knotted end over 3 consecutive nights. I thought It was because the bridge pins might have been a tad sharp but this only happened to the HML -RW... never to the other kazillion strings.

As usual, made possible by the magical elves at HMS. Thank you guys !!

2) Lanikai Haleiwa Soprano prototype built by IMUA.

So this was an eBay purchase. Think this may have given the seller ( really nice guy) a near heart attack as shortly after shipping it out, it fell off the tracking radar... called my destination delivery agent and their response was there is no such tracking number in the system. Long story short, it arrived almost a month later and upon arrival, I actually called up my destination delivery agent and lo and behold, their answer was... no such package has entered their warehouse and officially, the package does not exist... whatever...I am now holding it .. ( For the record, I did not file a missing item complaint )

This little fella unfortunately does not get much play time. Only gets called upon when the airlines I travel on impose restrictions on carry on instrument sizes. None the less, this uke is a neat novelty item as it bears both the LANIKAI and IMUA logos on the headstock. Made of all Koa and equipped with friction tuners which drive me nuts, here are the photos.... ps. Is it true Shinji Takahashi ( T's / Seilen ) builds the Imua prototypes and could this possibly be built by him? The previous owner bought it whilst at the factory.

Congrats! Love that Ko'olau CS!

Very Nice Ko'olau..I think I saw your uke before it was shipped out...yes Noa and Ryan build the Ko'olau ukes perfect..no flaws...

I used to be a South Coast HML-RW fan...but hard to get the same strings when they change stock and the A and C string tend to break....I switched to the Thomastik-Infield G and C strings too....and still use Oasis E and A

That is a great looking ukulele. Congrats!

My favorite string combo on tenor (after an incredible amount of experimentation) is the Thomastik Infield G and C paired with Saverez KF alliance E and A. Nice balance across the strings volume wise and no boominess on the low end. Sometimes, I will use Freemont soloist with Savarez KF alliance C, E and A as well.

Love the Ko'olau CS - really beautiful instrument! I'm also a fan of Savarez KF strings and have used them for years on my ukes. Which diameter strings did you select for A and E? I've been using the 0.57 and 0.69 mm (same as the 150R set) on my tenor, but was thinking about notching that up a bit and going with the 0.60 and 0.71 mm next time - also paired with the Thomastik Infeld CF27 and CF30.

-Steve

Congratulations Neal.

Telperion said:

Love the Ko'olau CS - really beautiful instrument! I'm also a fan of Savarez KF strings and have used them for years on my ukes. Which diameter strings did you select for A and E? I've been using the 0.57 and 0.69 mm (same as the 150R set) on my tenor, but was thinking about notching that up a bit and going with the 0.60 and 0.71 mm next time - also paired with the Thomastik Infeld CF27 and CF30.

-Steve

Click to expand...

These are the diameters I am using:

Thomastik-Infeld CF30 - 4th string (D) .030 chrome steel flat wound
Thomastik-Infeld CF27 - 3rd string (g) .027 chrome steel flat wound
Savarez Alliance KF 542R - 2nd string (b) normal tension .0272
Savarez Alliance KF 541R - 1st string (e), normal tension .0244