My First New (to me) Uke Day

Drew Bear

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 17, 2011
Messages
778
Reaction score
1
Location
California
...actually the first time I've even touched a ukulele. I'm a bit overwhelmed. I'd forgotten how wonderful it is to make music like this (played some guitar decades ago). For some reason, I had expected that the strings would be easier to press than on a classical guitar. After an hour of fiddling around, my fingertips tell me otherwise. :eek:

I'm sure I'll have observations and questions aplenty in the coming weeks, but for now let me just post a few photos. These were taken with an iPhone under fluorescent lighting, so they don't really capture the full beauty of this ukulele.
U1.jpgU2.jpgU3.jpg
 
Wow! That's a beautiful ukulele, and welcome back to making music. So please say more about how you picked this uke, where you bought it, what's its backstory, etc. Congratulations on landing an ukulele with such great wood grain!
 
Nice! Even the tuner buttons have pretty grain.
 
Trinimon: Thanks. It is difficult to capture (on photo) the depth and 3D-ness of curly koa.

mds725: Thanks for the warm welcome. I started my ukulele journey about two weeks ago. I don't remember exactly how I even set foot on the path in the first place - maybe a Youtube video? In any case, I've been researching the UU archives and watching & listening to literally hundreds of sound clips. Not exactly an ideal way to evaluate and select a musical instrument, but there you are. I went from considering "beginner" level laminates to solid mahogany ukes and finally to solid koa ukulele. To cut a long story short, over Thanksgiving weekend this particular uke came across my radar and I decided not to wait for some of the other options I was considering. I'm very happy that I can start actually playing the ukulele instead of just reading about it.

bdukes: The original owner had upgraded to Waverly Ukulele tuners with koa knobs. I probably would not have done this myself, but I'm glad he did.

elisdad: And it sounds as beautiful as it looks.

foxfair: Yes. It is a Kanile'a K-1 Tenor with "premium" curly koa and UV cured high gloss polyester finish.
 
Holy Cow! That is your first ukulele! An auspicious start to your UAS. Enjoy.
 
Holy Cow! That is your first ukulele! An auspicious start to your UAS. Enjoy.

Thanks, I certainly will enjoy learning to make music with this instrument. No UAS for me. I decided to find the best uke I could reasonably afford and now will focus on playing & practicing. I'm hoping that learning to play one individual, high quality ukulele will facilitate that process.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! :) Really, though...I can't imagine wanting to buy another uke for a long, long time.
 
this is one jealous uke player, my first uke was a dolphin, that kanile'a is absolutely stunning
 
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! :) Really, though...I can't imagine wanting to buy another uke for a long, long time.[/QUOTE]

I predict you will become "imaginative" very soon.
 
Heck of a starting point, shes a doll. Welcome to the crazy train bruddah :)
 
kaizersoza: I'm sure you've had many happy moments with your Dolphin uke. I heard they're great. Many paths to uke joy.

hmgberg: I fear you may be right.

AC Baltimore: Crazy is the right word. I'm still a bit stunned. BTW, I see you have experience with Worth & Fremont strings. I currently have Worth Clears. Any idea if a single Fremont Low G would fit in with the Worths?
 
Wow, what a beautiful instrument! You went straight for the "gold" right off the bat, didnt' you? I hope you have a wonderful relationship with it for many years!
 
I've not used the LG from either, but they seem pretty close in diameter so I would guess yes. Worth a shot anywho. We change strings like underwear around here.... unless you are my cousin chris that means a lot lol. Its a really personal choice, so I would say get 3 or 4 combos and start testing what works for you and that beautiful uke.

AC Baltimore: Crazy is the right word. I'm still a bit stunned. BTW, I see you have experience with Worth & Fremont strings. I currently have Worth Clears. Any idea if a single Fremont Low G would fit in with the Worths?
 
Wow, what a beautiful instrument! You went straight for the "gold" right off the bat, didnt' you? I hope you have a wonderful relationship with it for many years!
Hi, Nickie. Yeah, I didn't exactly plan it this way, but I plan to make the most of it now that the deed is done. I would ask y'all to help me stick to the straight 'n narrow and be faithful to this one beauty, but I think I'm in the wrong crowd for that kind of help. ;)

I've not used the LG from either, but they seem pretty close in diameter so I would guess yes. Worth a shot anywho. We change strings like underwear around here.... unless you are my cousin chris that means a lot lol. Its a really personal choice, so I would say get 3 or 4 combos and start testing what works for you and that beautiful uke.
TMI about coz chris. :confused: Although I'm enjoying the current high G set, I tended to enjoy the low G sound samples more. These strings are pretty new, so I didn't want to waste them. The only single Worth low G I could find is very thick. I didn't want to expand the nut slot too much larger than all the other low G strings I'll be trying.
 
This is a forum of UAS-Enablers. You'll find no strict parents here saying "YOU SPENT WHAT???" :D

With my first uke, I kind of went down a similar path. I wanted to hear what one was supposed to sound like, so I start with a Koaloha soprano. I have a relative of yours though now, in the K1 superconcert, but only with the dlx wood upgrade. I say "only", but it has some holy crap figuring to the wood. Not as curly as your curly though. :D

Strings I like to rotate on it so far, are the Worth CT low g, and high g Aquilas. I know, I know, no one likes Aquilas on nice ukes anymore, but they're a good match. The next set I'm stoked to try are some southcoast low g flat wound all classical metal strings. The bead ends will solve my knot-tying fail, and it should prove more balanced than the Worths.

Happy New Uke and New-to-Uke day! It'd been a long time since I played anything when I got my first uke too. It really is a big moment. Thanks for sharing it.
 
Thats one of the many reasons we find to tell our spouses we need more ukes... but one has to be setup low G babe lol. I have used and still use the low G aquila set on my mainland, I am going to try the worth LG next order. The aquilas are not bad on there, but like most will tell you, aquilas most shine on laminate ukes. They are not so killer on solid woods.

Tip: While testing string sets, leave them long at the head so you can remove and re use as desired.
 
Congratulations !!!!!

Your ukulele is just stunning with marvelous wood grain.

Also, congratulations on reading and reading and reading before jumping in. That says a lot about you. Being informed is the best way to make the good decision........and you did by buying the best instrument you could afford. You will not regret this. Kanilea is top shelf and will hold its value. Buying used is also a great decision on your part.

I'm already impressed by how you did this and now waiting to be impressed by your music :eek:
 
Holy smokes...Your first ukulele..wow mine is a 24.95 uke and I still play it daily....Congratulations..
Your fingers need to break in too...soon you will get some calleouses...if you still have a hard time you
can change to a lower tension strings..to improve playability and comfort...or drop tune it a half or whole step..
Have fun with your ukelele journey...and Happy strummings...

P.S. I have a feeling you drive a rolls and live in a mansion...:);):D
 
Top Bottom