New Uke Day!

bynapkinart

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Last week I decided to trade a board member here my KoAloha soprano for this Pono PTK-1-E. I loved the KoAloha but I found myself not really playing the soprano at all, just because I was writing better and feeling better with my Fender Tenor. I thought that it was a little ridiculous of me to hold onto a $500 uke that I wasn't playing, so I decided to try and trade for a tenor of equal value.

When a member offered up the PTK1, I jumped on it. It is basically everything that I was looking for out of a tenor...solid wood, good build, electronics, and KOA! When it got here last week my jaw dropped, it is gorgeous:

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As much as I loved the KoAloha, I definitely like the look of this wood much more. It is very pretty, but still somewhat understated. The overall look of the Pono is very classy and professional; the rope rosette and the Koa are plain yet elegant. The ebony looks fantastic next to the rich orange of the Koa, highlighting it a bit more than the Koa board- Koa top combo on the KoAloha. Overall I'm extremely happy by the look of this instrument.

When I picked it up I was surprised by its weight. The KoAloha was featherlight, and this tenor is probably two or three times that weight. Surprisingly enough it is actually marginally heavier than my Fender tenor, which is a laminate. It doesn't feel too heavy at all, but compared to the KoAloha it seems heavy. It feels a good deal sturdier, too, which is good for me...I plan on taking this out and gigging with it often as my only uke, so it's important that it can hold up and I can't imagine being too worried about it out.

Weight obviously has an effect on tone, so I was a bit worried when I picked it up for the first time. I shouldn't have. It is a bit on the quiet side for a solid tenor, but it holds up nicely with my Johnny Marvin that I think of as the benchmark for volume. I attribute that to the heavy build, there's probably some unnecessary wood in there somewhere but I'm not complaining. The sound is very, very rich. It is much more complex than the KoAloha was, with a lot more low end (strung with Worth Low G's) and a much tamer high end. I feel like I can hear individual notes much more clearly on the Pono that I could on the KoAloha, which tended to get a little intense and compressed when pushed. I don't have to let back with the Pono, I can punch up the volume and back it off and still get the same clarity and response. I'm very impressed by the tone of this uke, considering I went from Hawaiian to Indonesian I'm a little taken aback by the quality of the Pono!

It also can do electric, too. The pickup...well, the amplified sound sucks. There's no way past that. I'll probably pick up a MiSi Acoustic Trio to drop into it because an outboard would cost more and be another thing I have to take around. I jammed with it a few days ago and got it to where it sounded good in a band setting, but it doesn't sound at all natural or anything at all like my uke. Not a huge bummer, but I guess it functions well for now as long as I don't have to gig with it. I'm a bit of a stickler for getting the right sound, so if I do play out I'll most likely just mic it for now.

The only problem with the uke is an as-yet-unidentified buzz coming from somewhere. It is probably fret buzz because the neck looks very, very straight and doesn't have the typical slight bend in it. I worked a new saddle for it and it settled some of the buzzing, but I strum hard and I'll probably need to get the upper frets filed down somewhat. It doesn't drive me crazy and it's something I can control, so it's not a huge thing, but it's there and should be brought up. Any other ideas as to how to fix it are welcome! I don't think it's a loose nut or wire because everything is secure in there. I guess a good description of it would be a slight, quick and not sustaining buzz that happens when strumming harder and fretting either the C or G strings. It doesn't happen when they're left open, and it's less consistent as I go higher up the fretboard. The good thing is, it doesn't effect the sustain of the uke.

Overall I'm extremely pleased with this uke! I've heard that Pono is building lighter in their 2012 models, which really makes me interested in picking up one of their spruce-top models. It is unfortunate that they're not building with Koa anymore because this is some of the prettiest Koa I think I've seen. It was great to deal with the trader, and I'll pick up a KoAloha concert most likely in the next couple of years, but for right now I think I feel a little more comfortable in the tenor size, and now I've got a very professional and modern sounding solid Koa uke to complement my very traditional and classic Hawaiian-sounding Johnny Marvin!

Now I'm off to play some more!!
 
Thanks Perry, I tried that first and it wasn't the case. It's not the electronics, either, everything is good and tight. It's fret buzz probably, but it's so minor I hardly even notice it. I shaped the saddle pretty high to fix it, and it mostly went away.

Beyond that, no complaints!
 
Both of the Ponos I've owned had an adjustable truss rod. If the neck is looking too straight, you could always adjust it.
 
A guitar buddy had a weird buzzing problem on his acoustic... After trying a lot of different things he finally found the cause of the problem. A bee had flown into the body died and somehow got wedged into one of the braces and would vibrate against the body.

I am not saying that is you problem but using a mirror to have a peek inside the body would not hurt.

-M@
 
Thanks for the ideas, all! Nuprin, this model was discontinued shortly before they started putting truss rods in the neck, so it can't be adjusted. Again, it's not a serious problem, and only slightly annoying for me. It mostly went away with the higher saddle anyways, and I know the MiSi pickup is a little bit of a higher profile so maybe that will fix it. I'm not that worried though!
 
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