It's my birthday and my fiancee got me this fantastic uke! Actually, she just gave me permission to get it ... heh heh. Ahem, anyway, I was very patient for weeks in my searching and research. I already have a Kala solid mahogany SMHT tenor and an Ohana CK-35G concert, and I wanted a solid wood soprano to complete the trifecta. I was on the verge of getting a Mainland or Islander when I stumbled on this beautiful Kiwaya on Guitar Center's website, the Used Gear section. Which is where I had found my Ohana -- for around half of what they usually go for.
This uke was listed at $275 in "excellent" condition. A little Googling told me that it usually sells for $550-650. My heart rate leapt. I was a couple of drinks in, and before I knew it, I had pulled out my card and clicked Buy.
That was a week ago. I picked it up today at the local GC. The sound on this thing is incredible. It just leapt out -- almost startled me. But when I got it home I studied it some more. For one thing, on the interior label it says KTS-4K. My heart leapt again when I wondered whether the K might stand for koa? But it looked kind of like mahogany, and I still can't find any references online to anything other than KTS-4. So I don't know what's up with that.
Second thing is the saddle is uncompensated, and I had read in reviews about how Kiwaya is persnickety about compensated saddles and intonation perfection. So ... I wonder about that too.
The action was also pretty high, which is not what I had read about this uke, although it might explain why someone sold it to GC. I sanded down the saddle and we are good now.
I hated the strings that came on it. Not sure what they were but they were black and sounded more awful the more I played it. I replaced them with a D'Addario Pro Arte classical guitar D string for a low G (sorry, I don't think I can ever go back to high G) and a set of Southcoast fluorocarbons for the other three. Now it sounds .... amazing.
BUT ... is it real? Or is it an incredible knock-off, which would explain the suspiciously low price...?
This uke was listed at $275 in "excellent" condition. A little Googling told me that it usually sells for $550-650. My heart rate leapt. I was a couple of drinks in, and before I knew it, I had pulled out my card and clicked Buy.
That was a week ago. I picked it up today at the local GC. The sound on this thing is incredible. It just leapt out -- almost startled me. But when I got it home I studied it some more. For one thing, on the interior label it says KTS-4K. My heart leapt again when I wondered whether the K might stand for koa? But it looked kind of like mahogany, and I still can't find any references online to anything other than KTS-4. So I don't know what's up with that.
Second thing is the saddle is uncompensated, and I had read in reviews about how Kiwaya is persnickety about compensated saddles and intonation perfection. So ... I wonder about that too.
The action was also pretty high, which is not what I had read about this uke, although it might explain why someone sold it to GC. I sanded down the saddle and we are good now.
I hated the strings that came on it. Not sure what they were but they were black and sounded more awful the more I played it. I replaced them with a D'Addario Pro Arte classical guitar D string for a low G (sorry, I don't think I can ever go back to high G) and a set of Southcoast fluorocarbons for the other three. Now it sounds .... amazing.
BUT ... is it real? Or is it an incredible knock-off, which would explain the suspiciously low price...?
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