I love this uke and it sounds great and has such pretty wood. Unfortunately, I bought a Kiwaya KS-5 (same instrument) because it had Gotoh UPT tuners. My bright idea was to switch the tuners on the two and then keep the Famous and resell the Kiwaya. That is not going to work. I decided to keep the Kiwaya even though it's not as good looking, because I decided to go with the tuners instead of the looks. They sound similar.
I bought this from a guy who got it in Japan. There are differences between this and the current KS-5s that can be attributed to when they were built. And while they are just cosmetic, I think the Famous is nicer.
As mentioned, the grain is beautiful on the Famous. It also has a rosewood fretboard as opposed to walnut, a rosewood saddle and, some kind of dark nut. The Famous has smaller outward-facing position markers and more of them than the KS-5, and also more side markers. The markers on the FS-5 are mother of pearl, on the KS-5 they are gray something.
On the other hand, as soon as I bought this the A string knot pulled through the bridge and took out a tiny divot. I had it repaired and it's fine. This shows in the photos. There is also a tiny mark on the headstock and an even smaller one on the body. These also show on the photos.
I have a Timms koa that I love, and all three of these instruments sound similar, which is kind of sad--also kind of nice. Naturally, the Timms is by far the prettiest. I think the Famous sounds a bit more like the Timms. They are all loud and sweet. All have great intonation. All play like butter. All light as feathers. All have slim necks and low frets. I would like $200 including shipping.
I bought this from a guy who got it in Japan. There are differences between this and the current KS-5s that can be attributed to when they were built. And while they are just cosmetic, I think the Famous is nicer.
As mentioned, the grain is beautiful on the Famous. It also has a rosewood fretboard as opposed to walnut, a rosewood saddle and, some kind of dark nut. The Famous has smaller outward-facing position markers and more of them than the KS-5, and also more side markers. The markers on the FS-5 are mother of pearl, on the KS-5 they are gray something.
On the other hand, as soon as I bought this the A string knot pulled through the bridge and took out a tiny divot. I had it repaired and it's fine. This shows in the photos. There is also a tiny mark on the headstock and an even smaller one on the body. These also show on the photos.
I have a Timms koa that I love, and all three of these instruments sound similar, which is kind of sad--also kind of nice. Naturally, the Timms is by far the prettiest. I think the Famous sounds a bit more like the Timms. They are all loud and sweet. All have great intonation. All play like butter. All light as feathers. All have slim necks and low frets. I would like $200 including shipping.
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