help with ukulele choice..

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wilco

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hi there! i'm new to the board and i have a question! i am looking at 2 different tenor ukuleles and i'm not sure which one to go with..

a: Lanikai CK-TEQ Tenor
b: KALA MANGO TENOR CUTAWAY UKELELE (w/ pick up)

i already own a mango kala tenor (w/out pick up) and LOVE the way it sounds, but i need a uke with a decent pickup installed and would prefer to not drill into my current model. any suggestions?

thanks so much for your help!

love, ryan - illinois
 
Ok bro this is a question I can finally answer...partly.


I happen to have a Lanikai CK-teq and it is a lovely instrument.

Mine was put together wonderfully. No flaws on it at all. perfect.

I do have some problems with it though.

the action gets slowly higher going down to the saddle.Near the last frets(16-18th frets) It is almost too high to play with. You can manage it but it is kind of annoying.

If you want a deeper sound with the ukulele take off the aquila strings.

put on some worth bt's or some D'ddario strings.

even with the aquila strings you will get a beautiful sound. Rich and bright, it will brighten your day just to hear it.

I totally recomend this uke, expecially if you are just starting out.

now as for your other uke I have never heard it. but if you really like that uke i will suggest you still go with the lanikai.

Im only saying this because playing the ukulele and having fun with them is mostly about trying all the different kinds of ukes you can! Thats the beauty of them. There are so many different kinds of woods, strings, sizes, and makes of them that you just have to try all that you can!


I say go with the Lanikai.
 
you're awesome! thank you so much for the help! that indeed helps very, verymuch. i was thinking along the same lines.. leaning towards lanikai because of something new and different than my kala. i played the lanikai acoustically while i was in oahu and enjoyed it a lot, but at the time decided to go with my kala without a pickup.

i've been playing for a little while and am just now incorporating it into my band's music (which is a ton of fun) and so in order to play out with it, the pick-up would be a huge help.. so my next question is how do you like the pickup sound and such on yours? i play very gently with lots of soft finger-picking patterns. any thoughts on your lanikai's pickup quality? just curious. thank you so much again!

love, ryan - illinois
 
It is definetly good by my standards.

mine has the Shadow P3-Pro system and it works like a charm. nice volume control, bass control, and even a good treble control. Not bad at all. If you have even the crappiest of amplifiers you can make it sound however you want. I hooked up my uke to it and was messing around and you can pretty much do anything with it. I even made mine sound kinda like a guitar!

There is a battery that is located near the sound hole, inside the body that you will have to replace but ive had mine for three years, and even though I dont use the pickup much, the battery is still full and the system is still fully functional.

It really is a great instrument.

have fun!

:music:
 
If your looking at this uke right here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/BRAND-NEW-LANIK...ryZ16224QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It is the same uke I have but with a different pickup.

Actually the one listed above is a nicer uke than mine.

my uke had the input hole right where i rest my uke on my leg to play.

this one has it right in the center which is perfect if your sitting down or standing up.

it uses a different battery but im very sure that you will be happy with it.

If I could go back and buy this uke with this pickup system instead of the one I have now I would, but even still, my ukulele is great!

If you have a problem with your system its no biggy really. you can probubly send it to one of the luthiers here on UU and fix it up.

but more than likely if you have a problem with it you can just send it right back to be fixed.

I am very sure though that you will be happy with this uke.

make sure to put some videos up of it when you get it!

have fun!
 
If you know you already love the way your mango Kala sounds, why try something you're unfamiliar with?
 
Kala's and Lanikai's are great for the price...easy players, good/consistent quality...but I personally don't like the Shadow pickups they come with.

I have an 8-string Lanikai w/pickup and when it works it's really noisy...it's not as noticeable playing through an amp, but it sucked for recording (YMMV, it's entirely possible that I just got a bum unit and I'm unfairly judging all shadow under-saddle pickups as rubbish). I also don't like the position of the pickup jack, makes it difficult to play plugged in and sitting.

...again, YMMV
 
seeso said:
If you know you already love the way your mango Kala sounds, why try something you're unfamiliar with?
Click to expand...

that's true.. i have tried the lanikai as well and i liked it from what i remember, but yeah i really do love my kala and have since i got it. hmm.. i'm just not sure!

does anyone have a tenor kala with a pickup that they can tell me anything about, good or bad?
 
Keonikapila said:
Kala's and Lanikai's are great for the price...easy players, good/consistent quality...but I personally don't like the Shadow pickups they come with.

I have an 8-string Lanikai w/pickup and when it works it's really noisy...it's not as noticeable playing through an amp, but it sucked for recording (YMMV, it's entirely possible that I just got a bum unit and I'm unfairly judging all shadow under-saddle pickups as rubbish). I also don't like the position of the pickup jack, makes it difficult to play plugged in and sitting.

...again, YMMV
Click to expand...

i've heard a few people mention that they're not fans of the shadow systems too.. hmm. i'm just not sure what to do! i'm wondering if i should buy a koa model without a pickup and have a better pickup installed.. my only fear is that here in illinois there aren't very many places familiar with ukulele pickup installation.. and i'm also not sure if the models designed for pickups are best suited, or does it not matter?
 
I have a tenor Kala with a pickup and it's not as loud as the one in my Lanikai.

I don't know what kind either of the pickups are.

But I also agree with Keonikapila. The placement of the jack in the Lanikai stinks for sitting down and playing.
 
I'm with Seeso here -- I'd go with the Kala -- here are a couple that MGM has available -- if you're considering the Koa, then he also carries Kala's Koa variant -- pickups are the same in both, as a matter of fact, you'll find both makers are nearly identical (they share the same roots) -- at MGM you get a case and some other goodies, as well as his popular 'free setup'


Kala Mango Tenor #1


Kala Mango Tenor #2

Honestly, if I were you, I'd get a good pickup installed in your existing uke. I use a fishman AG and it works great -- its passive, so I use an external preamp -- makes it real versatile.


have fun!
 
NotoriousMOK said:
I'm with Seeso here -- I'd go with the Kala -- here are a couple that MGM has available -- if you're considering the Koa, then he also carries Kala's Koa variant -- pickups are the same in both, as a matter of fact, you'll find both makers are nearly identical (they share the same roots) -- at MGM you get a case and some other goodies, as well as his popular 'free setup'


Kala Mango Tenor #1



Kala Mango Tenor #2
Click to expand...

awesome, thank you!
 
seeso, you're from chicago? that's awesome.. i'm from wheaton, il. about an hour outside of the city.
 
agreed.. have you wilco play? they're incredible live.. one of my favorites.
 
I've seen both the band and Jeff Tweedy solo. Amazing shows.
 
I agree with Seeso. As I said before the input hole is in the worst spot.

The one ukulele I showed you had an undersaddle pickup but the input hole was right in the middle of the bottom of the uke, which is pretty much the perfect place for an input hole.

Oh and Seeso, I only recommended that he get the Lanikai over the Kala because I thought it would be cool to try different ukes to just get the feel of all the different ukes out there. I just think having a whole bunch of different kinds of ukes makes playing a lot more fun.

idk just an idear.
 
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