NUD Imua ICN

Bought this little beauty online.
It's a small concert and it almost feel like a soprano. The wood is beautiful dark koa. I haven't had time to play it much yet, but i noticed that it has a nice "bark" when strummed.
It came setup with a low action, too low for my taste (around 2,2 mm).
When I pick single notes (loud) on the C string there's slight buzz, but nothing serious.
I chose Imua's Natural finish:
"We apply the pore sealer, as we do with the gloss spray style, but instead of a spray, we hand rub the oil and Briwax in multiple stages allowing the natural sound of the wood to come through."

It feels is very smooth and reminds me of the satin finish on my Kanilea K1 concert.

Compared to my Kanilea K1 concert, the Kanilea is the winner, when it comes to sound and volume, but the Kanilea is missing the "soprano bark" quality.
The sn# is 7104041, if anyone know how to decode Imua serial numbers please enlighten me.

Congrats FinnP!

If you didn't know, IMUA makes their Uke bodies slightly smaller then the other Hawaiian builders, it lends to a more traditional sound, that is why the Kanilea is louder, it's not as traditional and a little more modern take on the Uke. But the IMUA has a more balanced tone you should of noticed, whereas the Kanilea has more bass tone, not as balanced, a bit heavier on bass...

By the way, you can simply reach out to IMUA for the Serial number as well as finding out about the buzz...

Even though you are in Denmark, and you just bought it, the Uke is under warranty and the action/buzz can be changed for you, which should not be any charge.

Email or Call them;

https://www.imuabrand.com/contact-us/

Looks a beauty!

AlohaKine said:

Congrats FinnP!

If you didn't know, IMUA makes their Uke bodies slightly smaller then the other Hawaiian builders, it lends to a more traditional sound, that is why the Kanilea is louder, it's not as traditional and a little more modern take on the Uke. But the IMUA has a more balanced tone you should of noticed, whereas the Kanilea has more bass tone, not as balanced, a bit heavier on bass...

By the way, you can simply reach out to IMUA for the Serial number as well as finding out about the buzz...

Even though you are in Denmark, and you just bought it, the Uke is under warranty and the action/buzz can be changed for you, which should not be any charge.

Email or Call them;

https://www.imuabrand.com/contact-us/

Click to expand...

I've been playing it a lot the last couple of weeks, and it's very well balanced as you point out.
I'm sure a new saddle that's about 1 mm higher, would get the action just right (approx. 2.5 mm at the 12th fret) and eliminate the buzzing. I may even add to the overall volume of the instrument.
Warranty is not of much use, when you live on the other side of the globe, and you take shipping and arguing with customs into consideration
But maybe they will offer to send me a new saddle, I can sand to the right height, that's an easy fix.

Forgot to mention, Kanilea's bracing might also lend to a louder tone too...

Actually the warranty might be covered living in another country, by the Uke being taken to a local luthier.

Also have you spoken to the place you bought it, they might even be the one to cover it.

Wow! I like that darker Koa. Congratulations!

Osprey said:

Wow! I like that darker Koa. Congratulations!

Click to expand...

I learned a few weeks ago from the owner Jorma Winkler, in case others didn't know, that darker koa like this he calls, 'High Elevation Koa', because it's growing at high elevation, it lends to darker looking wood.

:shaka: