joejeweler
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Kanile'a K-2 S ...a "Lucky" Soprano Find and Some Personal Preference Changes
This is going to be a long post, can't be helped,.......but if you stay with it i think at least some of you will come away with some ideas and initiative to add just a little bit of "you" into one of your favorite instruments. Most of the changes are easily reversable, with a few a little less easy but still reversable if absolutely necessary.
Last week i pulled the trigger over at Elderly Instruments on what was listed as a 2007 Kanile's K-2
Soprano, with super claro walnut B&S and a very nice "bearclaw" spruce top,.....probably sitka spruce.
It arrived and "Model #K-2 S" was noted inside,....the "S" meaning "Spruce" top perhaps, where usually Koa is used, or
possibly the "S" signifies "Special". Probably means spruce top, but it does sound mighty special. If the proverbial
"Opening Up" ever happens on this one it may pop my eardrums!
http://elderly.com/vintage/items/180U-988.htm
I had remembered reading on the Kanile'a website that some of their best sounding ukuleles were in this combination of woods.
From the Kanile'a website:
http://kanileaukulele.com/faq15.php?osCsid=4453c88a8732a7b844b06712f8bbc407
One of the reasons i waited a few weeks before i bought it was because of the 2007 year estimate of production. If i was going to pick up a Kanile'a,.....i wanted one with their newer style "TRU" bracing system. From what i could find out on the net,.....the 2007 date of production would preceed the implimentation of that feature into Kanile'a production by at least a year or more. Not sure of that though........
I never did inquire at Elderly before i ordered it, but i felt like i hit lotto when it arrived a few days later and i eyeballed the telltale "hole-y" braces thru the soundhole! A mirror and flashlight interior view confirmed.....
.....i got the whole bracing package,....all "TRU",.......i sh*t you not! lol
Pic from Kanile'a website: http://kanileaukulele.com/truBracing.php?osCsid=c2d345bb29ad5c4763a956df8371f887
Got my 1st lucky break there for sure. I believe the uke is probably newer than what Elderly estimated it at, as the
serial #0707-1175 makes it appear as dating from July of 2007. (the way that Taylor and some other companies date their production). If 2007 IS the date of production, then this soprano is probably among the 1st batches produced with the TRU bracing system.
Lucky break number 2 was the sound that emerged from this wood combo is truly exceptional! Joe Souza was spot on when he described it on the website, and to my ears is one of the best sounding sopranos i have heard. Spruce tops might not be the most popular choice among the ukulele buying public, but it's not because of anything lacking in tone production. I'd give some credit to the claro walnut B&S also, just not sure why it works so well but i'd encourage others to try one if they get the chance.
Another pleasant surprise was the beefier neck that blended well with the wider than usual nut width. At just about 3/4" thick at the nut, it feels really good to have a "fingerstyle" friendly neck on such a small instrument.
OK,....so i feel like i hit the tri-fecta here,.....used (and near new) Kanile'a soprano with unexpected TRU bracing, sounds fantastic, and came with an unexpected and much appreciated thicker neck profile. Those are the important details, and to be sure i would not change a thing in those areas.
Were there things i wanted to change??? Of course,....but only from a personal preference point of view.
I'll outline some of the changes i made below, and the reasons why i made them. Some of you might not agree, and that's fine, .......that's what makes them personal preferences.
The frets were well finished , and about what you might expect from a higher end instrument factory producted ukulele. I'm pretty picky here, however, and decided to spend in inordinate amount of extra time getting every last shread of sharpness from the very ends of the frets.
Using a very small file i'd used on thousands of diamond setting jobs in the past to round over prongs to keep them from catching, it worked equally well on smoothing over the thin sharper edge on the fret ends. Followed up with a light "polishing" grade rubber wheel, and then with a light jeweler's polish on a 1" polishing wheel. About 90 minutes later the fret ends were about as perfect as anyone could expect. I certainly can't expect this kind of hand time being spent in any factory setting, where time is limited or the factory can't pay the bills. But for your own instruments, spending a little time on an area like this can put a big smile on your face......
One thing i prefer is for my ukes to be set up a little on the higher action side, to prevent buzzes with a harder string attack. Everyone is different here,....but that's my prefered setup. The action on this Kanile'a was fine for most folks probably, at about 2.5mm clearence at the 12th fret. I like a bit more, and was originally going to order a hard african ivory saddle blank from Bob Colosi. The original saddle and nut appear to be Nubone or Tusq material, which can sometimes be a little bright sounding on a spruce top ukulele. A hard african ivory blank would be as well,.....plus i didn't want to wait a week to get it!
I still have a chunk of 5mm thick ebony from an archtop pickguard i've been canniblizing,.....and there was no wait! Initially i made the new saddle 2mm taller, which comes out to a 1mm increase in action height at the 12th fret. It ended up just a little less than that when i noticed just a very slight hump at the bottom of the saddle channel, and after a few strokes of a fine sandpaper strip pressed against a flat edge got rid of that hump and ended up with a level saddle base. I netted maybe a .8mm increase in action height at the 12th fret,....to about 3.3mm (around 1/8")
I had a set of ebony bridge pins with abalone dots that i replaced the factory white plastic bridge pins with. I also cut off all the extra length, leaving just a few millimeters beyond the string end knot as seen with a mirror and flashlight thru the soundhole. I put a black magic marker line on one of the original bridge pins about where i estimated it should be, and noted how it looked thru the soundhole. Then i used this as a guide to cut all the ebony pins.
Here's a pic of the original replacement ebony saddle along with some ebony bridge pins i had laying around that i switched in place of the original white plastic ones.
The tone i found had mellowed a bit,...and i found the warmer tone was very appealing. I still may get around to making an hard african ivory one and swap them out when the whim hits,....but for now the uke is loud and sweet sounding.
However, the new saddle was just a little to plain to my eyes, and the replacement ebony bridgepins still looked a bit out of place on a soprano. I decided to add some curves to the saddle, which is called "scalloping" for those who may not know the term. One direct benefit of the proceedure is that individual string height adjustment is much easier, if that is needed. It's "cool" factor is enough to do the job, and finished up with 600 grit sandpaper, followed by OOOO steel wool and finally polished with a 1" polishing wheel really makes the ebony appear glasslike.
These ebony bridgepins have a slot cut into the sides which are not needed here, so i have a new set on order from stewmac without the slot. As an experiment to see how it would look, i decided to cut down the ball of the pins to the least i could get away with, and still have a functioning bridgepin. I also figured any weight i could get rid of could only improve the sound. When the new unslotted pins arrive i will cut them down also,....i like the look better!
Here's a few pics of the changes made to the new saddle and bridge pins:
(still plenty of a lip to grab to remove pins)
......more to follow..........
This is going to be a long post, can't be helped,.......but if you stay with it i think at least some of you will come away with some ideas and initiative to add just a little bit of "you" into one of your favorite instruments. Most of the changes are easily reversable, with a few a little less easy but still reversable if absolutely necessary.
Last week i pulled the trigger over at Elderly Instruments on what was listed as a 2007 Kanile's K-2
Soprano, with super claro walnut B&S and a very nice "bearclaw" spruce top,.....probably sitka spruce.
It arrived and "Model #K-2 S" was noted inside,....the "S" meaning "Spruce" top perhaps, where usually Koa is used, or
possibly the "S" signifies "Special". Probably means spruce top, but it does sound mighty special. If the proverbial
"Opening Up" ever happens on this one it may pop my eardrums!
http://elderly.com/vintage/items/180U-988.htm
I had remembered reading on the Kanile'a website that some of their best sounding ukuleles were in this combination of woods.
From the Kanile'a website:
http://kanileaukulele.com/faq15.php?osCsid=4453c88a8732a7b844b06712f8bbc407
The Kanile'a soprano had been up on the Elderly site for a little while, and i had thought about it most of that time. I didn't really "need" another soprano, as i find the concert size easier to play for me. Both of my Moore Bettah ukes are fabulous soprano's, as well as a few others. Another point worth noting was the bit wider fingerboard width,...listed as 1-9/16" (actually measured in at 1-15/32 but close enough at just a hair under 1 1/2") I figured that, especially at the soprano scale,....going a bit wider would make fingerstyle play a little easier for some tighter passages.Why would I have a 'ukulele made with anything else but Koa?
Koa is a very fine tonal wood. Its popularity in the guitar world has grown considerably. The guitar builders have found out what 'ukulele builders have known for years, Koa produces a very bright and vibrant sound with little over tones. This bright sound is what made the 'ukulele so popular. Now, some customers have trained their ear to a mellower/warmer sound. We will work together and design an instrument with a particular sound in mind. Koa is a beautiful tonal wood, but not the only tonal wood available. Some of the best sounding 'ukuleles we have built have been of Claro Walnut back and sides with a Sitka spruce soundboard. This wood combination is very popular with custom and production guitar builders............
One of the reasons i waited a few weeks before i bought it was because of the 2007 year estimate of production. If i was going to pick up a Kanile'a,.....i wanted one with their newer style "TRU" bracing system. From what i could find out on the net,.....the 2007 date of production would preceed the implimentation of that feature into Kanile'a production by at least a year or more. Not sure of that though........
I never did inquire at Elderly before i ordered it, but i felt like i hit lotto when it arrived a few days later and i eyeballed the telltale "hole-y" braces thru the soundhole! A mirror and flashlight interior view confirmed.....
.....i got the whole bracing package,....all "TRU",.......i sh*t you not! lol
Pic from Kanile'a website: http://kanileaukulele.com/truBracing.php?osCsid=c2d345bb29ad5c4763a956df8371f887
Got my 1st lucky break there for sure. I believe the uke is probably newer than what Elderly estimated it at, as the
serial #0707-1175 makes it appear as dating from July of 2007. (the way that Taylor and some other companies date their production). If 2007 IS the date of production, then this soprano is probably among the 1st batches produced with the TRU bracing system.
Lucky break number 2 was the sound that emerged from this wood combo is truly exceptional! Joe Souza was spot on when he described it on the website, and to my ears is one of the best sounding sopranos i have heard. Spruce tops might not be the most popular choice among the ukulele buying public, but it's not because of anything lacking in tone production. I'd give some credit to the claro walnut B&S also, just not sure why it works so well but i'd encourage others to try one if they get the chance.
Another pleasant surprise was the beefier neck that blended well with the wider than usual nut width. At just about 3/4" thick at the nut, it feels really good to have a "fingerstyle" friendly neck on such a small instrument.
OK,....so i feel like i hit the tri-fecta here,.....used (and near new) Kanile'a soprano with unexpected TRU bracing, sounds fantastic, and came with an unexpected and much appreciated thicker neck profile. Those are the important details, and to be sure i would not change a thing in those areas.
Were there things i wanted to change??? Of course,....but only from a personal preference point of view.
I'll outline some of the changes i made below, and the reasons why i made them. Some of you might not agree, and that's fine, .......that's what makes them personal preferences.
The frets were well finished , and about what you might expect from a higher end instrument factory producted ukulele. I'm pretty picky here, however, and decided to spend in inordinate amount of extra time getting every last shread of sharpness from the very ends of the frets.
Using a very small file i'd used on thousands of diamond setting jobs in the past to round over prongs to keep them from catching, it worked equally well on smoothing over the thin sharper edge on the fret ends. Followed up with a light "polishing" grade rubber wheel, and then with a light jeweler's polish on a 1" polishing wheel. About 90 minutes later the fret ends were about as perfect as anyone could expect. I certainly can't expect this kind of hand time being spent in any factory setting, where time is limited or the factory can't pay the bills. But for your own instruments, spending a little time on an area like this can put a big smile on your face......
One thing i prefer is for my ukes to be set up a little on the higher action side, to prevent buzzes with a harder string attack. Everyone is different here,....but that's my prefered setup. The action on this Kanile'a was fine for most folks probably, at about 2.5mm clearence at the 12th fret. I like a bit more, and was originally going to order a hard african ivory saddle blank from Bob Colosi. The original saddle and nut appear to be Nubone or Tusq material, which can sometimes be a little bright sounding on a spruce top ukulele. A hard african ivory blank would be as well,.....plus i didn't want to wait a week to get it!
I still have a chunk of 5mm thick ebony from an archtop pickguard i've been canniblizing,.....and there was no wait! Initially i made the new saddle 2mm taller, which comes out to a 1mm increase in action height at the 12th fret. It ended up just a little less than that when i noticed just a very slight hump at the bottom of the saddle channel, and after a few strokes of a fine sandpaper strip pressed against a flat edge got rid of that hump and ended up with a level saddle base. I netted maybe a .8mm increase in action height at the 12th fret,....to about 3.3mm (around 1/8")
I had a set of ebony bridge pins with abalone dots that i replaced the factory white plastic bridge pins with. I also cut off all the extra length, leaving just a few millimeters beyond the string end knot as seen with a mirror and flashlight thru the soundhole. I put a black magic marker line on one of the original bridge pins about where i estimated it should be, and noted how it looked thru the soundhole. Then i used this as a guide to cut all the ebony pins.
Here's a pic of the original replacement ebony saddle along with some ebony bridge pins i had laying around that i switched in place of the original white plastic ones.
The tone i found had mellowed a bit,...and i found the warmer tone was very appealing. I still may get around to making an hard african ivory one and swap them out when the whim hits,....but for now the uke is loud and sweet sounding.
However, the new saddle was just a little to plain to my eyes, and the replacement ebony bridgepins still looked a bit out of place on a soprano. I decided to add some curves to the saddle, which is called "scalloping" for those who may not know the term. One direct benefit of the proceedure is that individual string height adjustment is much easier, if that is needed. It's "cool" factor is enough to do the job, and finished up with 600 grit sandpaper, followed by OOOO steel wool and finally polished with a 1" polishing wheel really makes the ebony appear glasslike.
These ebony bridgepins have a slot cut into the sides which are not needed here, so i have a new set on order from stewmac without the slot. As an experiment to see how it would look, i decided to cut down the ball of the pins to the least i could get away with, and still have a functioning bridgepin. I also figured any weight i could get rid of could only improve the sound. When the new unslotted pins arrive i will cut them down also,....i like the look better!
Here's a few pics of the changes made to the new saddle and bridge pins:
(still plenty of a lip to grab to remove pins)
......more to follow..........
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