Thanks to Mike at UKE Republic, I am the new owner of a new Ohana! It's the SK-22Z soprano with solid spruce top and zebra wood sides. It arrived in short order and was packed well! Mike sent me pictures of a few ukes that I was interested in to help me through the process. He did a simple setup and sent it my way! It also came in a nice black gig bag. The only issue I have with the gig bag is that it is such a perfect fit that I can't put anything in the outside pocket! The padding on the gig bag is a nice firm foam, better than others I've seen.
The uke looks awesome in person. The back is a book matched zebra wood laminate. The front is a nice spruce with a applied rosette under the finish. The matte feels nice but seems like it would get dented and crack unlike the open pore finish on my KA-S. The top unfortunately has a slight darker area on the bottom right but Mike said this can be seen with spruce. The binding is a nice off-white plastic. The neck feels really nice and smooth and the fret and edge of the fingerboard are beveled slightly so you can't even feel the frets when sliding along. The open geared tuners are nice and precise. I really like the headstock plate made of zebra wood. The logo is under the finish and has a slight holographic look to it. The inside shows solid kerfing with glue seeping out but otherwise everything seems solid and snug. The back is slightly arched or taper forward.
It came with aquila strings. These were a bit more sensitive and "squeaky" than my other uke's but maybe because they aren't broken in yet. I originally thought it was supposed to come with a bone nut and saddle but I guess not. It came with a cheapo plastic saddle that wasn't even wide enough for the bridge slot. It leaned slightly foward in the slot, but even with that, the intonation and sound were great! Much louder than a laminate. Punchier probably from the solid top and the spruce I'm assuming. The sustain is nice too. The action was exactly what I asked for from Mike. I decided to replace the saddle with a tusq I had lying around and now it fits better in the slot and the uke sounds even better. I also changed out the strings to Martin M600 for now and I like it. It's a tiny bit less punchy with them.
See pics below with original aquila nylguts:
The uke looks awesome in person. The back is a book matched zebra wood laminate. The front is a nice spruce with a applied rosette under the finish. The matte feels nice but seems like it would get dented and crack unlike the open pore finish on my KA-S. The top unfortunately has a slight darker area on the bottom right but Mike said this can be seen with spruce. The binding is a nice off-white plastic. The neck feels really nice and smooth and the fret and edge of the fingerboard are beveled slightly so you can't even feel the frets when sliding along. The open geared tuners are nice and precise. I really like the headstock plate made of zebra wood. The logo is under the finish and has a slight holographic look to it. The inside shows solid kerfing with glue seeping out but otherwise everything seems solid and snug. The back is slightly arched or taper forward.
It came with aquila strings. These were a bit more sensitive and "squeaky" than my other uke's but maybe because they aren't broken in yet. I originally thought it was supposed to come with a bone nut and saddle but I guess not. It came with a cheapo plastic saddle that wasn't even wide enough for the bridge slot. It leaned slightly foward in the slot, but even with that, the intonation and sound were great! Much louder than a laminate. Punchier probably from the solid top and the spruce I'm assuming. The sustain is nice too. The action was exactly what I asked for from Mike. I decided to replace the saddle with a tusq I had lying around and now it fits better in the slot and the uke sounds even better. I also changed out the strings to Martin M600 for now and I like it. It's a tiny bit less punchy with them.
See pics below with original aquila nylguts:
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