Kamaka and koaloha and kanilea sopranos

uke philly

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Hey people of the forums, I was wondering if you guys have any feelings on these sopranos. If you do post a response. Thanks
 
Hi uke philly! They all have their fans, and they're all good. Here's what I've learned recently.

My first "K" soprano was my Koaloha Pikake, strung with Worth Clears, which I absolutely adored until my Kamaka came my way. I had tried several Kamakas in stores before and been underwhelmed, but none of them were strung with Aquilas, which made all the difference in the world. While I still think the Koaloha is a fine uke, IMO the Kamaka has a much richer, more complex sound. It's also smaller, which for me, as a not-large person, is a plus, but others may find that a drawback.

I'm currently test-driving a Kanile'a concert - I'd love to get my hands on a soprano for comparison. While the sound is nice and mellow, and the 20 frets are certainly good to have, if I had to choose between a Kanile'a concert and a Kamaka concert, I'd still go for the Kamaka (unless I found a great deal on the Kanile'a, in which case, why not?) Kanile'a ukes have slightly larger necks, and for me they feel a bit awkward.

It's a tough comparison because they're all nice, and I suspect if you were to order any one of them, sight-unseen and sound-unheard, you'd be happy with it.

You might find this thread helpful, as well as this post.
 
I currently own a Kamaka tenor but I have owned (have since sold them) a KoAloha tenor, Kamaka soprano, KoAloha soprano, and a Kanilea concert. I was pretty underwhelmed with the Kanilea. I seem to remember reading that Kanileas can be hit-or-miss whereas Kamakas and KoAlohas are more consistent. Between Kamaka and KoAloha, I like Kamakas a touch more but KoAlohas are amazing also incredible ukes.
 
I too have been underwhelmed by most of the kanileas that I have played with the sound monster tenors being the exception. Kamakas and KoAlohas are different. I do like my Kamaka tenor but i almost put it up for sell to buy another Mele tenor but decided to keep it b/c it is a kamaka and it should only grow in value, right?:) My wife fell in love with a friends old kamaka soprano (1972 model) but she prefers her koaloha long neck soprano. I guess what I am trying to say, is that I am a KoAloha fan. every third person that posts in this thread will recommend a koaloha every third will recommend a kamaka and every third will recommend a kanilea. Really you are going to get a quality soprano in which ever one you pick.
 
not to hijack this thread, but... how about ko'olau?

I did a side by side comparison of my koaloha concert and a ko'olau concert. The koaloha tome was prettier, sounded better, and was louder. The ko'olaus workmanship is second to none though. that sucker was very well made. But to be honest Omega was looking to buy a Kamaka and I brought mine to let him play it. He also played my koaloha concert. He left our uke2gether with a desire to get a koaloha concert. It is that good. It makes my kamaka look bad:)
 
I've never met a Kamaka I didn't like. LOVE my soprano pineapple strung with Worth medium Browns.
 
I'm a KoAloha guy myself. I have a Soprano and I played it next to a Kamaka standard from the 60s that my dad has. We both liked the KoAloha better. My dad recently audition the Kamaka and KoAloha side by side when he was on the Big Island and was surprised that he liked the KoAloha better considering he's been a Kamaka guy all his life. He gave me a lot of flack for buying my KoAloha soprano and tenor so it was nice to hear him say that. :)

I tried Kanileas for the first time last week at the wine country uke fest. I wasn't impressed. The only one that I really liked was this $1800 one that musicguymic had. I have no idea what model it was other than it had really nice figured koa, had a gloss finish, was a tenor and it sounded amazing. However playing their K1 versus my KoAloha tenor, I thought mine sounded brighter, louder and just plain better (purely subjective of course).

That being said, they are all damn good ukes. I'm just like the KoAlohas better. :)
 
Of the few Kamaka's I've played, only a Pineapple soprano impressed me but it was the best sounding ukulele in the store and that store had Martin 5K's, Collings, Maui Music....

I still dream about it ;)

On the whole, I'm a KoAloha fan...
 
Aloha uke philly,
When I look at ukuleles, it's not a matter of big "K" brands.....Every ukulele has it's individual voicing, no matter what brand..
Higher end brands, you pay for sound preformance and consistancy in quality sound and craftsmanship. With that said,
when buying ukuleles, it is preferred for me to do side by side comparisions to be fair...then you'll hear and see the difference
right away. I really believe that out of every 10 ukes, one or two will be great sounding...Your job is to find them....It would
be unfair to judge them by just name brands...that being said, a 500.00 uke could sound better than one over a thousand.
Pick and choose wisely, as you're dropping alot of moolah down...don't get excited and impulse buy...take your time and
Find that gem in the bunch...But my personal preference is kamaka, or whatever you brand is,,find the best one!!it will pay off and you'll be satisfied!!
Good Luck!!! and Have fun!!!!"Keep strumming them strings"" MM Stan..
 
Each brand has its own character, it's not really appropriate to say better or worse but it is appropriate to describe the nature of the beast. Each maker has their own concept of tone and that comes out in each soprano.

I have sopranos from Koaloha, Kanilea, and Ko'olau. The Ko'olau is my favorite, but more because I agree with their concept of tone more than the others. It's a more delicate, almost classical sound, very balanced and sweet. It almost sounds woody and reedy, and Oriental.

My Koaloha is very interesting, it's the loudest and projects well. The tone sounds aged and mature right out of the box. It looks (and sounds) like you're on the bow of one of those outrigger canoes strumming to the beat of 100 drums. I have baritone strings on it, which really bring out the sound. It's not as slick an action as the others, I think of it as a strummer and the tone is better for strumming than anything else I have.

The Kanilea is excellent, probably the best made of all. The neck is very playable. It feels big because it has 14 frets to the body, but it's not any bigger than the others. It's a modern instrument, not traditional, it plays like a mini Les Paul and the sound is also very professional. It has a lot of sustain, it almost sounds electric, especially with flourocarbon strings. To me the tone is a little cold, has less personality, but is very strong and even throughout the whole instrument. It has the best dynamic range - you can play quietly and then whale on it and get very loud. It's probably the most versatile of all. If you want to play jazz or play with other people it's probably the best choice.

My thing is to do these delicate melodies and the Ko'olau does that the best, but if I was a professional in a variety of situations, including recording, and gigs, I would pick the Kanilea as the one that would never let me down.
 
I did a side by side comparison of my koaloha concert and a ko'olau concert. The koaloha tome was prettier, sounded better, and was louder. The ko'olaus workmanship is second to none though. that sucker was very well made. But to be honest Omega was looking to buy a Kamaka and I brought mine to let him play it. He also played my koaloha concert. He left our uke2gether with a desire to get a koaloha concert. It is that good. It makes my kamaka look bad:)

My KoAloha concert is also a great sounding ukulele! Got it last November from MGM, my first K brand. Defnitely a keeper as are my KoAloha and Kamaka sopranos.
 
Honestly not a fan of Kanilea's - all four that I've played had playability or structural issues except one, and that one just wasn;t responsive - beautiful looking but dead sounding. These were older Kanilea's though and I've heard they've significantly improved their quality control. But I have no desire to try another one.

I love KoAloha's. They are responsive in my experience and have a rather unique tone as well as a unique look. I've played Pikakae and regualr models of sopranis and long neck sopranos and liked them a lot, but I especially loved a Pikakae soprano I once had and foolishly sold. If you dig the look and sound, you can't go wrong with a KoAloha. I also appreciate their "all weather" guarantee against cracking for the life of the uke as long as you promise to keep a humidifier in the ukes case. Apparently too, the small Hawaiian factory is family owned, and a member of the Okami family works on each uke they produce. I think that's cool.

Never had a chance to play the really big K though! I'd love to try out a Kamaka someday.

There's another little K made on the islands - Keli'i. I LOVE the all koa Keli'is - they are so responsive and just ring with resoanance. They are also quite inexpensive compared to the other K's, though I think they've been going up in price, but still a lot cheaper than the other K's. They tend to not be as decorated as some other ukes, but they got the tone. I think of them as sounding very hawaiian. Anyway, made in a small factory on the islands.

There's another K too - Ko'olau. Beautiful ukes made in Hawaii, but the two I tried had very high string tension which made them hard for me to play well - they had a low action, but high string tensiosn becasue of the way they angle the neck of the instrument. This allows for greater projection and a broader tonal range if you have the playing technique to evoke it. Me, I don't have the technique and I usually don't play with my nails anymore (they break off), but if you are a nail player and like hard tension, you really might want to consider these babies. in my hands though, they're quite dead sounding with a low volume.

That's all the experience I have with the Hawaiian made K's!

Have fun!
 
Look what I found for you :)



Keep in mind they all have different brand strings and that most deff makes a difference(ex: worth clears vs black GHS's = night and day difference). Also note video cameras do not reproduce exact sound

For bright sopranos/concerts I'm in to KoAloha's sound for life
 
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Look what I found for you :)


Keep in mind they all have different brand strings and that most deff makes a difference(ex: worth clears vs black GHS's = night and day difference). Also note video cameras do not reproduce exact sound

For bright sopranos/concerts I'm in to KoAloha's sound for life

Great Video! Thanks for posting that!
 
I personally think that the Kamaka soprano has the really classic and traditional ukulele sound if that is what you're going for. There's really just nothing else that can produce the tone that comes to mind when you think of old-school hawaiian music.

But I do prefer the KoAloha soprano to the Kamaka soprano. I still regret trading my KoAloha soprano away about a year and a half ago. But I did get a super soprano to replace it. (Nevertheless, neither my KoAloha or Kamaka sopranos have seen the light of day in at least 6 months. Life is hectic, and when I have time to play, I usually grab a tenor.) The appeal of the KoAloha is that it is just more resonant and bright and responsive. I find these traits especially important when you have a small-bodied, short-scaled soprano. I enjoy(ed) playing the KoAloha much more than the Kamaka.

As for Kanilea, I have not had much experience with the current build of their soprano, at least not outside of the store. But I know that I preferred the KoAloha.
 
Wow, great video. Thanks for all of your hard work!!! What a great comparison.
 
Great video! Love the comparisons. The KoAloha really shines through! The Kamaka sounds good too, but I prefer Fremont Blackline strings to the standard strings. The Fremont Blacklines made a major difference in the sound of my Kamaka soprano.

The other ukuleles sound great too! A matter of preference. Individual differences even within the same make. This video definitely gives good general comparisons though.
 
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