Custom Kanile'a 8 String

wearymicrobe

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Custom Kanile'a 8 String (Spruce/Koa/Ebony K5ish)

Features

  • Made by Joe and Kristan Suza
  • www.kanileaukulele.com
  • 3A Koa Sides, Back, SPRUCE top. Ebony fingerboard, Ebony Top Plate ebony bridge, Mop Tuners, Flat Headstock, New logo Lacewood.
  • UV Spray
  • (Tenor)
  • Compensated Pin Bridge (compensated after factory)
  • (8 String)
  • Neck New Style Kanile'a
  • SoundMonster Bracing.
  • Comes with a case, humidifier, cards.
  • Buy a custom case please at this price level
Action, Fit & Finish

  • Its a Kanile'a built to the same quality extremely high quality as normal, or I would not keep buying them.
  • In this case its way out there on wood choice though.
  • Its a spruce instrument and that comes with some caveats.

  • Polish is done correctly in UV, which is no small feat. All frets level and action set correctly as I requested. Ebony binding looks amazing but I will not order it again. I like rope or tortoise best.
  • Tuners are great.
  • The string spacing is perfect for almost all hand sizes.
  • This instrument takes some major hand strength to play with ko'olau strings. Less with aquila even less with wort's.

  • I had the ukulele compensated for the strings that I like.

Reliability/Durability

  • Will this ukulele withstand live playing?
    • YES
  • Does the hardware seem like it will last?
    • YES, but its spruce
  • It's UV I GIG with this regularly while drinking in with lots of people.
  • Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
    • Yes I do but its not a every song ukulele.

Customer Support

  • Check the website for the war. but I have never heard of a one going back for anything other then humidity issues. Bill does a great job checking these things out and setting them up. I had a few issues but they were humidity related.

Overall Rating

  • How long have you been playing?
    • A while
  • What other gear do you own?
    • Almost every major modern builder
  • Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this ukulele?
    • I in retrospect would have gotten a Koa top.
  • If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
    • Yes with a koa top.
  • What do you love about it?
    • Its a 8 string kanile'a in spruce what more could you want.
  • What is your favorite feature?
    • Ebony fingerboard/bridge/headstock. MP tuners.
Personal Opinion

Copy from other review

The short answer is if you like the modern style, and you want the best modern tone for the money in a larger consistent builder this is what you want.

I personally think that the new bracing style benefits 99.9% of the players 100% of the time. There is a small amount of tone lost at extremely low volume playing with the new bracing. I have A/B them back to back in the same size with the same woods.


Overall on this one.

Big thing on this one is the tone from the top, clean very strong and very very loud. This type of top does scratch if you want have a shop build a top plate protector like a classical.

I have dented the top a few times playing past the 12th because of the shift in right hand position. I don't play a 8 string as often as I thought that I would but I am happy that I got this uke. In the future definitely going to go with the ebony bits I feel the fingerboard plays a bit faster and I like the darker tone against the wood. Minus the binding.

If I do another spruce though I think I am going to tone the rossette down and do just the MOP with no inlay wood. Just a personal preferance.

Also the MOP tuners are really good but mondo money. I will also add the spruce is extremely sensitive to humidity.

FrontSpruce.jpg


 
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