YogiTom
Well-known member
I’ve been absolutely awful at posting these, and am finally finding some time each day to devote to more things ukulele. And today, it was time to post impressions of this lovely instrument.
I’m a sucker for the contrasting sap/heartwood found in koa, and when I saw and heard it for sale at HMS, it was UAS driven love at first sight. 24 hours later, and I’ve committed.
I’ve had some time to get used to playing it, and all I can say is “wow.” The build is incredibly light, making me forget when I pick it up that it is indeed a tenor-sized body. The feel is...soft? If that at all makes sense. Very easy to cradle, especially with the beveled armrest.
The front and back are book matched and are clearly from cuts of the same piece of koa; the grain pattern and sap/heartwood match so perfectly. The sides are also very well matched. I could be mistaken, but the neck seems to be a solid piece of wood. I can’t find any joints at the headstock or heel. Beautiful curl and wavy grain that shimmers as it moves in the light.
As for playing, I absolutely love picking this up. Resonance in spades, it feels almost like the entire body is humming with each strum or pick. The sustain is fantastic, and the dynamic range is unlike any other uke I’ve played (admittedly not nearly as many as others here!). While the fretboard is flat, the neck is thin and wide in a flat-D shape, making barre chords extremely comfortable.
This ukulele also ticked off a lot of firsts for me, and I think I quite like the appointments on this build:
• Satin finished neck: feels amazingly smooth to move around on the neck.
• Slotted headstock/stealth tuners: love the look and profile. I almost forget the tuners exist when not in use.
• Pineapple body: I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy the shape as much as I do!
• Side sound hole: love the added volume, and the pineapple shape is a fun touch
• Pin bridge: have yet to change the strings, so I can’t really judge yet. I will say I like the clean look of not seeing excess string or loops/knots.
I still haven’t put together a good way to record and post sound samples (I’m sure a few minutes searching the forums would help), but there’s a much better sample than I could ever play in the HMS listing here: https://www.theukulelesite.com/kanile-a-limited-edition-pineapple-koa-tenor-platinum-2019-21017.html
Perhaps unsurprisingly to folks here, this did not stop my UAS. I ended up with three more ukuleles since this arrived, and have been putting together my first custom build.
Until that custom build, though, I think I’ll be pretty damn happy playing this sweet pineapple. I’ll get a sound sample up when possible. :shaka:
