Lanikai Solid AAA Koa Concert Aoustic-Electric Ukulele

I see that this is being offered by Guitar Denter (guitar center). It is a collaboration between Lanikai and GC.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Lanikai-Solid-AAA-Koa-Concert-Aoustic-Electric-Ukulele-H71318-i1789765.gc

I saw that but I have not had a chance to get up there (Columbus, Ohio--- north end of town) and see if they are what the website claims.

Wouldn't pay that kind of money for a Lanikai unless I played it, both plugged and unplugged. Sure is pretty, ambivalent about the slothead on this particular uke.

I played one yesterday. It didn't impress me acoustically ... not for a $450 ukulele. It did look good though. Maybe it sounds better plugged-in. I didn't have a chance to test it out with an amp.

I love how it says:
"The new Fishman Sonitone pickup system cleverly hides the volume and tone controls on the inside of the sound hole, never detracting from the sound or the look of this fine instrument."
That they did. But what's that big black thing on the lower bout? Not very discreet. LOL
It's also a stretch of the imagination to call that koa AAA.

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

I love how it says:
"The new Fishman Sonitone pickup system cleverly hides the volume and tone controls on the inside of the sound hole, never detracting from the sound or the look of this fine instrument."
That they did. But what's that big black thing on the lower bout? Not very discreet. LOL
It's also a stretch of the imagination to call that koa AAA.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your opinion, Chuck. You're the guru.

I'm nobody's guru. I think Lanikai does a fine job for what it does. How's that for a safe opinion?

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

I love how it says:
"The new Fishman Sonitone pickup system cleverly hides the volume and tone controls on the inside of the sound hole, never detracting from the sound or the look of this fine instrument."
That they did. But what's that big black thing on the lower bout? Not very discreet. LOL
It's also a stretch of the imagination to call that koa AAA.

Click to expand...

I agree. It's nice, but not AAA.

My first thought was: appearance-wise, Lanikai is attempting to go up against the Kala solid acacia tenor, (slotted headstock, Grovers, fretboard inlay) but charging more for the "AAA" koa.

My second thought was: I bought a uke that had that kind of Fishman pickup in it. There was not much difference when the pickup's tone and volume controls were at their minimum and maximum settings so I returned it for a uke with a MiSi pickup.

Though, for a solid koa concert uke with pickup (no cutaway?), the price seems pretty reasonable to me. I'm curious about how it sounds.

Lanikai AAA Koa

Has anyone had a chance to play this yet and if so any new thoughts?

I played an AAA Koa at GC today... no way. Not for that money. It's stunning and beautiful and all, but there are several inexpensive laminates that sound leagues better than the one I played. Speaking of laminates, I guess I could see splurging for a CK-S/C/T if you want a Lanikai, but even then, I'd strongly recommend you play it firsthand and compare it to other ukes.

I've owned the Lanikai since last June. I bought it "needing repair" from a large music retailer with no option to return for under $200.00. The required fix was merely to glue the electronics beneath the soundhole. No problem. Glued. Fixed. The koa is pretty. Whether or not it is AAA Koa is not for me to judge but it is nice to look at and the work on the ukulele is flawless to my eye. Typical of Lanikai the instrument plays quietly. But the sound is the sweet sound of koa so the unamplified volume is fine by me. Amplified - well, l turn up the volume and guess what ? It gets loud. The slotted headstock is heavy looking but I don't care for slotted headstocks on ukuleles. I sanded the headstock down a bit to make a smaller, softer looking profile, and reduce the weight. I would not suggest to anyone they pay the full retail price for this ukulele but for what I paid I got value and I enjoy playing the ukulele. Also, my curiosity about this instrument was satisfied.

I have one. So does my boss. We're newbies to the uke world. Went to Guitar Center played around with a bunch of ukes off the shelf. The Lanikai sounded the best of what they had at the time. And the action wasn't too bad. They gave us each a discount and threw in a gig bag for each uke.

When I got mine home, right off the bat I replaced the strings with new nylguts. Tuned it up and laid out a couple of chords. The strings felt a little high off the neck. So I checked the distance between the strings and the frets at the 3rd and 12th frets. They were standing a little high. Took the saddle out and sanded it down a little, knocked a little brass off the frets to smooth them out, and checked the groves at the nut. After restringing, it played better but didn't quite have what I was hoping for. I figured that was probably about as good as it got. Then after a couple of weeks of playing a really sweet mellow tone started emerging. My boss the said the same thing happened to his.

It doesn't sing like my Ko'olau, but I got to say, it's not a bad little uke for the price. Has it's own personality and sweet tone. Good sustain too. Overall I'm very happy with it and thought it was a good deal for being a production run solid Koa.