Koalana Concert Ukulele

At the risk of being ridiculed, I purchased a Koalana Concert uke in early July. Missed one on ebay and contacted the seller who had 2 more for sale. He agreed to hold one for me as I was scheduled to go to Honolulu and could go to Kaneohe to pick it up. I met him and chose between the 2 he had. I was pleasantly surprised at the looks and sounds it produced after changing the strings to Aquilas. Also was a good price for a solid mahogany uke. I'm very happy with it. Also got Jan Luna of Society of Seven to autograph it as well as Troy Fernandez.
On another note, I then purchased a solid Mango with Koa neck Concert from Edmund Becani strung low g. Love everything about this uke, warm and mellow is the key words. Have a solid Curly Koa Concert on hold again with Edmund which I'll pick up this weekend when I go to Honolulu from Maui where I'm at now. Excellent deals I got from Edmund that I couldn't walk away from.
In closing, anyone know why Koalanas are hard to find?

Aloha Bo. I'm pretty sure KoAloha stopped selling that line. Not 100% sure on it. Do you have pics of the Edmund's? I've never seen one of them. Go Maui! LLWS or bust!

Yeah...Koaloha stopped making them due to quality control. I talked to Brian at Koaloha and he said that they are looking for a new factory. It seems that's the biggest concern with all the "K" brands and finding an affordable alternative. If you look at Pono (Ko'olau),their cheaper model is still more expensive than most brands made in Asia due to additional layers of quality control. I know that Kanilea is coming out with their version and time will tell if they hold up to Kanilea's reputation.

On a side note, I used to finance a lot of foreign companies that moved to China, Vietnam to save costs. They said that even though they send the equipment and managers to oversee the staff, there is definitely a learning curve so quality dips.

Congratulations on the new ukuleles! I'd love to see photos, as I've never seen either type before.

So, what I gathered is that Koalanas are no longer made, hence the rarity of them? Don't know when mine was made, no indication anywhere. All I know is that I love the looks and sounds it provides..............