Is my new Kamaka Tenor a keeper? Could use some help, please.

Hi all. I am primarily a guitar player, but I have dabbled in ukes over my life. For many years I owned a vintage Kamaka 6-string tenor, but I stupidly sold that uke a year ago. I was uke-less until yesterday when I had a brand new Kamaka tenor shipped to me.

I'm not sure if the Kamaka that was shipped to me is a keeper or not (I have it on trial). The reason I am not sure is that outside of the 6-string I owned, I haven't played many ukes. I am in the Chicago area and we are horribly devoid of high-end uke dealers.

The store I bought the Kamaka from had several tenors in stock, and at my request, they played through the stock to help me select the best sounding one. They narrowed the ukes down to two - and I chose the one I thought looked the best.

I received it last night and it does sound sweet. And it looks pretty. However, there are a couple of things that bother me. The primary issue is the loss of volume on the A string as I play up the neck. Is that characteristic of ukes? From the fifth fret and up, there is a noticeable loss of volume versus the C and E strings in the middle. I didn't notice this issue on my 6-string uke, but that may be because the A string is doubled. I wonder, however, if this has to do with the higher tension of that string. When I tune down a full step to Bb, the issue goes away because of the reduced tension on the string. I watched some videos of Jake playing his Kamaka tenor, and on a song like "Gently Weeps", he doesn't seem to experience much volume loss when he plays up the neck on the A string.

That said, I LOVE the tone of this uke on the lower frets and on open chords. I will have to lower the saddle a bit if I keep it. The string height at the 12th fret is nearly 8/64". And there is only a modest amount of saddle left - so this is another thing I have to take into account.

So, I am really interested to know how characteristic this reduction in volume is when one plays up the neck on a uke. It is a given? Do players tend to have to really dig in on those higher frets? Thank you.

What kind of strings are on it? If it's the black Kamaka stock strings, I'd recommend changing them out first and then seeing if you have the same problem. I tend to prefer the sound of Aquila Nylguts (NOT Bionylons) on Kamaka tenors; I also like Worth clears.

The Kamaka stock strings are notoriously... bad, just bad. A few folks around here seem to like them, but most of us don't. I find that they sound really dull and muddy.

"Is my new Kamaka Tenor a keeper?"

Interesting question. I would like to answer your question but the quote in your signature implies that I should not....

...."folks voicing opinions on gear that they have only read about... it's a coin flop."

Mandarb said:

"Is my new Kamaka Tenor a keeper?"

Interesting question. I would like to answer your question but the quote in your signature implies that I should not....

Click to expand...

Hmm, good point. Signature officially deleted. Okay - help me please...

As Janeray1940 stated, change the strings. I found the stock Kamakas to be just OK for open chord strumming (frets 1-3'ish) and they definitely didn't distinguish themselves well further up the fretboard to me. A little dull in my opinion. Try the Worths or Fremont Blacklines, my favs, and see. I don't think I've ever noticed a single string volume reduction, so can't really speak to that. I have a sound clip of the Fremonts on Soundcloud of me muddling through Yesterday. I think I even touched the 8th fret if I remember. Don't have a uke in front of me to count. How sad is that?

Kamaka makes a great tenor. And so do a lot of builders, so go with your gut. If you have the luxury of a trial, take advantage of it. At that price point, you should have no doubts and find a uke for life... UAS not withstanding.

http://soundcloud.com/bdukes22/fremont-black-line-kamaka-hf-3

bdukes said:

As Janeray1940 stated, change the strings. [/url]

Click to expand...

Thanks, but that is going to be tough to do during the short trial period (especially since I don't have a different set of strings around). I don't hear anyone saying that the volume typically declines on a high tension string as one plays up the keyboard. Should that be a takeaway here?

I've played at least a dozen different HF-3's, and I haven't come across any loss of volume of one particular string up the neck. There might be slightly less volume across all strings, but not just on one string. It might be the strings more than the uke itself.

As for the saddle/action - it's brand new, but only has a little bit of saddle left? Do you have a picture of this?

In the end, it's your call. You have a trial period, and it's a decent chunk of change, so if it's not 100% to your heart's content, send it back for one that is.

My HF-2 did that with the stock strings. They are pretty crap. I have high tension Worths on it now and the problem is gone.

Rather than just changing strings, another possible reason is your uke hasn't opened up. Of course it is a keeper, you need more time to get familiar with it.

It could be a problem with that one A string on your particular ukulele and not a general problem with the stock strings at all. Csll the seller, state what the problem is and perhaps that the seller send you a new A string (or a new string setZ) asnd extend the trial period to give you a chance to swap out the A string (or all the strings) and see if that reso;ves the problem. The seller would probably prefer that to swapping an entire ukulele.

I don't hear anyone saying that the volume typically declines on a high tension string as one plays up the keyboard.--op

i'll say it. yes, as the tightest string, the A string, has less room to vibrate up the neck, it hs less sustain and volume. i tried it on my tenors now and have noted it on my own in the past.

you did a perfet thing, you tune down and it proved the point.

i think jake plucks harder, more firmly, on the A string above the fifth fret, at least seems so in his videos/

I got a new Kamaka HF-3 in Dec 11 and the black strings on it sounded a little bland so I put Aquilas on it and it really sounded good then. I've been recently working on While my guitar gently weeps and just played some after reading your thread sliding notes up and down the fretboard and all my notes sound pretty even. No change in volume on any of the strings. This uke has had no setup it's just as it came from the factory minus the string change.

Could your uke possible have a slightly high fret up above where you loose volume? It wouldn't take much for your A string to fret-out and that could kill the volume and sustain. Wedge a tiny piece of cardboard between the A string and saddle to raise the action a tad and see if that fixes it.

There has been a lot of great info in this thread. Thank you! As I already noted, my string height is 8/64" at the 12th fret. Do you think there is sufficient saddle to bring that height down and still have adequate saddle height remaining? See photos below:

Keep in mind that lowering your saddle 1/32" would only lower your action by 1/64" at the 12th fret. What string height do you want at the 12th fret?

jazzbo said:

Keep in mind that lowering your saddle 1/32" would only lower your action by 1/64" at the 12th fret. What string height do you want at the 12th fret?

Click to expand...

Well, it is a bit too high right now at 8/64". Ideally I would like to get down around 6.5/64", but I'm not sure there is enough saddle..?

Hey - I appreciate everyone's help, but I have decided not to mess with this uke. I have it out on trial and it seems there are enough question marks for me that I am going to return and keep looking for "the one". Thanks again.

I'm coming late to this thread, but I think you've made the right choice. The action/saddle issue alone would likely prompt me to return it, but the bigger issue is the sound of the a-string, up the fretboard. One of the most important characteristcs of a ukulele to me is the sound of the a-string in the higher register... whether it becomes plinky, or rings up there. My favorites ring like a bell in that register (so the volume loss you speak of it certainly isnt a general characteristic of ukuleles in general).
Good move!

I agree from the perspective of sound only. I am confused by the numbers though. 8/64" is 1/8" (~3mm) which I would consider pretty good at the 12th and many would kill for that. Maybe I've been looking at acceptable string height and action in the wrong way.

Back to sound, my tenor Kamaka has that chime and ring that Ernie describes. I think Kamakas are wonderful, however, if you're buying any K-brand or uke in that range you should love it without any lingering doubts. Enjoy the search.

bearbike137 said:

Hey - I appreciate everyone's help, but I have decided not to mess with this uke. I have it out on trial and it seems there are enough question marks for me that I am going to return and keep looking for "the one". Thanks again.

Click to expand...

Good call IMHO. I've been following this thread and didn't want to speak up and deflate you if you really wanted this ukulele, but I think one should be wow-ed by a ukulele in this range.

It just wasn't doing it for you, and the right one will come up eventually.