GKK
Well-known member
My wife and I just returned from our anniversary vacation in Oahu and we had a Great time!
We took the #42 Bus from Waikiki which dropped us off about 250 yards from the Koaloha factory since we didn't rent a car and even though we walked the wrong direction, Mrs. Okami guided us back to their shop.
There were only five people working at the time and it was amazing how so, few people could produce so, many quality Ukulele's!
One really interesting fact too, me was when the wood is placed in the drying room, All the water released from the wood is collected in 5 gallon buckets and is heated (with the coleman stove) and used to help bend and shape the sides of the ukulele body. Nothing from the Koa wood is wasted!
Another interesting fact: Curly Koa grain is only found towards the bottom of the trunk where the weight compresses the grain and makes the "curly" grain pattern, which is another reason for the high cost of this beautiful pattern.
Our tour guide was Dominic and he was very funny, sincere, humble and down to earth. Dominic even refused a $20 tip we tried to give him. We also, had the pleasure of meeting Papa (Koaloha) Okami himself! He was busy at the time but, he still came by shook our hands, introduced himself and thanked us for taking the tour.
Mr. Okami made a Fret cutting machine which was really cool and Dominic even gave us a couple acrylic toothpaste tube squeezers which Mr. Okami invented and patented then sold to a company.
Anyways, here are the pictures.
Paul Okami, teaching another worker how to select and cut the boards.
Curly Koa wood blanks (sorry for the blurry picture).
We took the #42 Bus from Waikiki which dropped us off about 250 yards from the Koaloha factory since we didn't rent a car and even though we walked the wrong direction, Mrs. Okami guided us back to their shop.
There were only five people working at the time and it was amazing how so, few people could produce so, many quality Ukulele's!
One really interesting fact too, me was when the wood is placed in the drying room, All the water released from the wood is collected in 5 gallon buckets and is heated (with the coleman stove) and used to help bend and shape the sides of the ukulele body. Nothing from the Koa wood is wasted!
Another interesting fact: Curly Koa grain is only found towards the bottom of the trunk where the weight compresses the grain and makes the "curly" grain pattern, which is another reason for the high cost of this beautiful pattern.
Our tour guide was Dominic and he was very funny, sincere, humble and down to earth. Dominic even refused a $20 tip we tried to give him. We also, had the pleasure of meeting Papa (Koaloha) Okami himself! He was busy at the time but, he still came by shook our hands, introduced himself and thanked us for taking the tour.
Mr. Okami made a Fret cutting machine which was really cool and Dominic even gave us a couple acrylic toothpaste tube squeezers which Mr. Okami invented and patented then sold to a company.
Anyways, here are the pictures.
Paul Okami, teaching another worker how to select and cut the boards.
Curly Koa wood blanks (sorry for the blurry picture).
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