Where's the love for Ko'olau?

larrypresson

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I am a newer member to the UU community and I would like to pick the brains of you veterans out there. It seems in reading the posts here that come up concerning the big K brands of Hawaiian ukes, it's always the Kamaka, Kanilea and KoAloha brands that get mentioned and recomended. What are your opinions about the Ko'olau brand? I've heard from others not on the UU board that they are a good company and their Pono ukes are some of the best quality and value for their price range. So I was wondering what you thought and why they are not talked about as much here. Thanks.
 
Ko'olau is an excellent brand and John Kitakis is a great guy to deal with. I think the company tends to be overshadowed by the other "K" brands. The Pono line is particularly attractive and the ukuleles are wonderful instruments for the value. We proudly own 5 Ponos (3 Baritones and 2 Tenors) and I am waiting for delivery of a Ko'olau CE-1 Baritone. We also endorse Ko'loau and Pono Ukuleles and play them exclusively when we perform.

One of the great things about the Ko'loau/Pono line is the variety of Tonewoods and configurations that you can choose. Very nice.

Mike
 
In my mind the K brands are Kamaka, KoAloha, Ko'olau, & Kanilea. To me Ko'olau is one of the nicest ukes on the market. Not sure why they're not talked about more.

I'd add Kelii to that list, as they certainly should qualify. Though, in truth, the whole "K" list ought to be replaced with an "H" list of ukes hand crafted in Hawai'i to include I'iwi, Valley Made, G-String, Sonny D, Mele, etc.

That being said, the question regarding Ko'olau could then very well be applied to the rest of those mentioned. They always seem to get lost in the talk of premier ukes. I think it's a matter of great PR (consider how often you see Kamaka mentioned everywhere and who plays them), a bit of luck, and seniority (again, Kamaka is the oldest of the bunch). The other consideration is availability. I think Kamaka, Kanile'a, and KoAloha do a great job of making their instruments available in local shops, while the other makers, either because of lack of notoriety or lack of stock, don't seem to have a shelf presence. It's also why almost everyone who comes to ukes now only seems to know Kala and Lanikai.

I have no doubt that Ko'olau is a superb uke. But I've never seen one in real life.
 
Ko'olau was more or less a custom ukulele builder and their prices were significantly higher than other production ukes made by the other K brands. I think in the last couple of years, they started building some lower priced (for Ko'olau) ukes to spec to compete in the price range of the other production K brand ukes. So Ko'olau probably doesn't get discussed that much because they are/were out of reach for most ukulele players. Ko'olau ukes are very highly regarded.

Pono is Ko'olau's import line, similar to what Islander is to Kanile'a and what KoAlana was to KoAloha. People don't tend to think of Ponos as a "Ko'olau".
 
I don't know about the other scales/sizes, but when I was looking at Tenors, a Ko'olau was virtually impossible to find. The other three "K" brands were also hard to find, but not to the same extent. HMS has a special connection with Ko'olau and do stock some non-custom Tenors, but good luck trying to find one anywhere else. This scarcity translates to fewer reviews and discussions of the ukes.

This was written ~5 months ago by Andrew @HMS and partly explains the scarcity of Ko'olau production models.

...with more custom orders than he could handle, and a consistent distraction with teaching workers and quality controlling these production models, Ko’olau decided to scale back to their original custom shop size. Noa doing all the building and setup, and Kilin doing the finishing.
http://theukulelereview.com/2011/09...pany-15-years-as-hawaiis-custom-ukulele-shop/
 
I've been waiting for someone to get a Pheasant Wood ukulele and talk about it. They are stunning. In photos. ;)
 
I don't know if I would put Ko'olau in the same group as Kamaka, KoAloha and Kanilea. The reason being is that Ko'olau is more of a custom shop uke vs. a production uke. When you get a Ko'olau you get a handmade uke by Noa and finished by Kilin. When you get one of the big K-brands, you get a high quality factory made instrument. I think Ko'olau often gets put in the same category as the other K-brands, because they have a much higher production run than most small custom shops and it's possible to buy a pre-made Ko'olau instead of being exclusively custom order.

Are they a K-brand uke. Yeah, I'd say so, but not exactly like the other ones.
 
We carry Ko'olau and I feel they are wonderful instruments. A very high level of quality and detail for sure. The tenors have as standard an adjustable truss rod which is a nice feature. Yes Pono has them too.
You would think Ko'olau would be more well known as many people buy their strings Ko'olau Golds, Alohi and Mahana. Maybe people thing their just a string Co :)
 
...When you get one of the big K-brands, you get a high quality factory made instrument....

Not too sure about this! Kamaka ukes are handmade and not factory made. I was just at their location in September and it was not a factory, even though they call it a factory tour. Can't speak about Kanile'a and KoAloha, never made it to those locations! Next time!!!!! :D
 
Not too sure about this! Kamaka ukes are handmade and not factory made. I was just at their location in September and it was not a factory, even though they call it a factory tour. Can't speak about Kanile'a and KoAloha, never made it to those locations! Next time!!!!! :D

From the recent videos I've seen Kamaka and KoAloha both look like they have pretty good sized factories running. Nothing like Fender or Gibson (although Kamaka's laser cutter is pretty cool), but compare the vids from the Ko'olau and Kamaka and you'll see what I mean.
 
I think most ukulele are still made by hand, even if they are put together in "factories". From what I can gather from YouTube factory tours and their respective websites, all four "K" brands employ highly skilled craftsman to build their ukes. Machinery is certainly involved, but little of that is purely automated.

Kamaka seems to involve the greatest number of people (dozens?) with KoAloha a distant second. It sounds like Ko'olau now has 3 people involved in uke making and Kanile'a maybe a couple of more. In all cases, the most critical steps of uke building are done by the head luthier or someone near that level.

In contrast, uke makers like Chuck, Eric, et al do not let anyone else get involved in the building process. Aside from the tuners and strings, they literally shape every component of the instrument, including things like internal kerfings and external binding & inlay.
 
Thanks for the info everyone. It makes sense that Ko'olau was mostly a custom builder for so long and not as many of their ukes were out there because of that. Good to hear that they are highly thought of and I wish more players had one because I'd love to see pics and hear what they sound like. Thanks again for your input.
 
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