Nalu Kai a Pele

AKdocmike

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I got a chance to sample a Nalu `ukulele this past weekend at So Fresh Market, care of Mark Hirabayashi. He was kind enough to speak to me after my performance and let me sample out their Kai a Pele model. First of all, the appearance is great. The nice gloss finish to the black spruce top looks amazing. Secondly, the action is really nice and very playable. But most importantly it sounds really nice. For a consumer ukulele, this is a really good buy. It competes right up there with any of the custom models I've seen.

Awesome work guys @ Nalu `Ukulele!
 
Thanks, good info. How was the intonation? Did it keep it's tune all over the neck? They look nice on their website. Never heard of them before, but I might start looking at them now...
 
Intonation was spot on for the one I was playing. He had on light guage strings and I usually play with D'darrio ProArte on my Uke.
 
I'll be demo-ing a few more models in the near future and will post reviews of them...maybe even make a video about them.
 
I think that glossy black top with the cutaway will have crossover appeal to guitar players. Especially electric guitar players who might find the plain wood look of most ukuleles too, I don't know, folksy or something. It looks sharp.
 
I love my Nalu! Good to hear more positive feedback about them.

What's your honest opinion of these Nalu's? I was about to order a Mainland Mahogany Slotted Head Concert when I stumbled across the Nalu's. The black cutaway is just beautiful and I really wanna try it out. How do you think it would compare, sound wise, to the Mainland. I really like the Mellow-ness of the Mahogany. Would the spruce be brighter and "punchier" more like the Red Ceder?

I love Mainlands but it would be nice to have something different as well.

Thoughts?
 
What's your honest opinion of these Nalu's? I was about to order a Mainland Mahogany Slotted Head Concert when I stumbled across the Nalu's. The black cutaway is just beautiful and I really wanna try it out. How do you think it would compare, sound wise, to the Mainland. I really like the Mellow-ness of the Mahogany. Would the spruce be brighter and "punchier" more like the Red Ceder?

I love Mainlands but it would be nice to have something different as well.

Thoughts?

Phanzo, this might help you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USAxXaxHi2A
 

yea, I have seen the video and read the review. I really just wanna know how it stands up to a Mainland. I want to get a Mainland concert (yes, I know this is a tenor) and I want to make sure I'm not missing out on something new and exciting by going with Mainland. I saw that Deach mentioned the Mainland set-up being better but how does it compare sound, intonation, and action-wise (overall playability)?
 
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