wickedwahine11
Well-known member
One of our members at UU is thinning out his herd of ukes in order to get a new custom piece (I'll let him remain anonymous unless he wants to chime in to avoid stealing his thunder), so I bought a KoAloha crown bridge tenor from him yesterday.
I strung it up with my favorite strings last night (the Worth CHLGHD set) and it is settling in nicely. My first impressions are that it seems like it is much louder than my other ukes (except for my Pineapple Sunday). It sounds wonderful and I plan to use it as my traveling uke. I have been searching for a crown bridge tenor for a while, and having a one piece top is cool to boot.
My Kamaka will probably always remain my favorite (though I suppose that could change the more I play this one) because I like the curly koa appearance, and the neck and body just seem to fit me really well to make it very playable. But since I keep having seam separation issues with it I decided it probably is time to retire it from traveling, and leave it at home where it won't be subjected to lots of flights each year. I put it back in its case (with humidifiers) but did manage to take one photo of it on the wall with the new KoAloha and some of my other ukes.
I plan to try to do a comparison of my three K tenors in the future. Though I don't have sound clips or videos, I do want to at least consider things that I would like to have known before buying one of them (weight, tuner style, neck measurements, volume, etc.)
As for the KoAloha (named "Lono" after the Hawaiian God of music -- and yes, I do name my ukes), I am debating on getting a strap button or a pickup installed on it. I bought an ebony strap button with paua dot on it to install on it, but now I'm contemplating getting one of those new LR Baggs 5-0 pickups installed instead.
Here is a photo of the new (to me) uke, as well as a family shot -- left to right is my KoAloha Pineapple Sunday, the KoAloha KTM-00 crown bridge tenor, my Kamaka HF-3 tenor, the Kanilea K2 tenor, and my Kamoa soprano. Missing from the family photo is my Hawaiian Ukulele Company soprano.
I strung it up with my favorite strings last night (the Worth CHLGHD set) and it is settling in nicely. My first impressions are that it seems like it is much louder than my other ukes (except for my Pineapple Sunday). It sounds wonderful and I plan to use it as my traveling uke. I have been searching for a crown bridge tenor for a while, and having a one piece top is cool to boot.
My Kamaka will probably always remain my favorite (though I suppose that could change the more I play this one) because I like the curly koa appearance, and the neck and body just seem to fit me really well to make it very playable. But since I keep having seam separation issues with it I decided it probably is time to retire it from traveling, and leave it at home where it won't be subjected to lots of flights each year. I put it back in its case (with humidifiers) but did manage to take one photo of it on the wall with the new KoAloha and some of my other ukes.
I plan to try to do a comparison of my three K tenors in the future. Though I don't have sound clips or videos, I do want to at least consider things that I would like to have known before buying one of them (weight, tuner style, neck measurements, volume, etc.)
As for the KoAloha (named "Lono" after the Hawaiian God of music -- and yes, I do name my ukes), I am debating on getting a strap button or a pickup installed on it. I bought an ebony strap button with paua dot on it to install on it, but now I'm contemplating getting one of those new LR Baggs 5-0 pickups installed instead.
Here is a photo of the new (to me) uke, as well as a family shot -- left to right is my KoAloha Pineapple Sunday, the KoAloha KTM-00 crown bridge tenor, my Kamaka HF-3 tenor, the Kanilea K2 tenor, and my Kamoa soprano. Missing from the family photo is my Hawaiian Ukulele Company soprano.
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Enjoy your crown bridge tenor!
