Kanilea @ Acoustic Vibes

It was a great time! Thanks again to Jeff for hosting the event.

There were a couple of dozen folks attending. Joe Souza gave a very interesting presentation about the history of the uke and his background in the founding of Kanilea Ukuleles. After discussing koa trees and the sources for other woods, he then embarked on a factory tour. He took us through the build process, passing around some uke pieces to illustrate. The UV process for gloss finishing and an analysis of the customizing of the uke built for Aldrine were highlights. Also, a funny story about how the sand was put into the design of the 50th Anniversary model, coincidentally in stock at AV! Joe was kind enough to play and sing a song for the audience, and encored along with Kristen performing a hula dance. Extremely cool.

Side note: Joe mentioned some FASCINATING options available for custom ukes...:drool:

What fascinating options are there, sir?

awesome snapshot of the day cletus. Thanks for making me JEALOUS as all heck!!! AAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!!!!! And fascinating options...ooooh, do tell . I'm drooling here next to brother Lexxy :drool:

Aloha Cletus,
That must have been an awesome time....Thanks for sharing....a friend let me borrow his Kanile'a and it sounds awesome....MM Stan....

Sound like a great time. So, what are the fascinating options??

Lexxy said:

What fascinating options are there, sir?

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Step away from the koa tree, if you can.:rofl:

Joe was talking about the other tonewoods that they have available like Sitka spruce, for one. Rated by the number and closeness of age rings!! Contact them or Jeff at AV and tell them that you are considering. They have some really interesting sources for woods that can't be used for guitar companys, but are fantastic for the uke.

The luthier faction would have loved Joes presentation... the techie stuff becomes blurry to me quickly. How woods are rated, how 'curly' happens, lasers, etc.

Anything regarding the design of the uke, etc? This is getting interesting!

Lexxy said:

Anything regarding the design of the uke, etc? This is getting interesting!

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Man, now I'm over my head!:uhoh: Lots of design talk about wood thickness affecting volume versus sustain particularly with Aldrines uke, bracing (aided by seeing the top and back pieces), kerfling(again Aldrine), width and depth of bodies...