NUD: Kala Reso Tenor

KamakOzzie

KamakOzzie

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I was on Mim's waiting list for one of these. She emailed me Tuesday (11/20) that they had arrived. I sent her the payment late (late) Tuesday night. She managed to get it in the mail on Wednesday, along with everyone else's before Thanksgiving. She took the time to do her first class setup, too. THANKS, girl....YOU DA woMAN !!

I have a great wife. This is the third year in a row she has (is) given me a uke for Christmas. I did have to open it and check for shipping damage, didn't I?

Kala Reso 002.jpgKala Reso 003.jpgKala Reso 005.jpg

Bill
 
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You can always rely on Mim! Since VA is now instate agin she night have even handcarried it...
 
chrimess said:
You can always rely on Mim! Since VA is now instate agin she night have even handcarried it...
Click to expand...
Or, I could have picked it up. I was in her neck of the woods two weeks ago, but they had not yet arrived. We are about six hours apart. I'm sure the shipping was cheaper than gasoline.

If she had them in, I would have compared the concert and tenor. Since I could not, I opted for the tenor because it has 14 frets clear of the body where as the concert has 12. FWIW

Bill
 
Paul December said:
How does it sound?
I read Kala's 1st release of these were stinkers.
Click to expand...
Sounds good so far. The Aquilas are still stretching a lot. It will need a week to settle down. Also my first experience with a resonator cone, so I don't know whether it needs to settle in also.
I think it will be best for finger picking. Strumming with the pad of the finger and thumb is o.k. but strumming with the finger nail sounds overly bright. It realy needs time to settle down.

I also read that they had problems with cutting strings where they went into a hole in the cover. Check the pictures for the new tailpiece installed on this one. Looks like a fix.

Bill
 
Woo hoo! Glad it got there. I never know about the post office over Thanksgiving. I stayed up way too late that night! Haha! But was glad to get everything out. Nice pics! And yes, wish I had them 2 weeks before so you could come visit!
 
Looks good! And Merry Christmas. They use National cones on those resos, don't they? And Mim is great to deal with.
 
KamakOzzie said:
Sounds good so far. The Aquilas are still stretching a lot. It will need a week to settle down. Also my first experience with a resonator cone, so I don't know whether it needs to settle in also.
I think it will be best for finger picking. Strumming with the pad of the finger and thumb is o.k. but strumming with the finger nail sounds overly bright. It realy needs time to settle down.

I also read that they had problems with cutting strings where they went into a hole in the cover. Check the pictures for the new tailpiece installed on this one. Looks like a fix.

Bill
Click to expand...

I read about all sorts of QC problems from the tailpiece, cone attachment, and intonation...
...based on my past experiences with Mim, I doubt she'd let anything like that out of her shop.
I nearly bought one of the earlier ones (from a different seller) and he said it wasn't much/any louder than a regular uke, so that broke the deal for me. I ended-up getting one of those metal ones that scream. How is the loudness on yours?
Your particular model looks fantastic, I really like the headstock decal :cool:
 
Mim said:
Woo hoo! Glad it got there. I never know about the post office over Thanksgiving. I stayed up way too late that night! Haha! But was glad to get everything out. Nice pics! And yes, wish I had them 2 weeks before so you could come visit!
Click to expand...

We will be out there again around the end of January. I already have my eye on something else from your stash! Would def. like to pick it up in person.

Thanks again,
Bill
 
Paul December said:
I read about all sorts of QC problems from the tailpiece, cone attachment, and intonation...
...based on my past experiences with Mim, I doubt she'd let anything like that out of her shop.
I nearly bought one of the earlier ones (from a different seller) and he said it wasn't much/any louder than a regular uke, so that broke the deal for me. I ended-up getting one of those metal ones that scream. How is the loudness on yours?
Your particular model looks fantastic, I really like the headstock decal :cool:
Click to expand...
I haven't noticed any issues yet. The intonation seems good for such new strings. Two are dead on, one is 5 cents high and the C is 8 cents high (at the 12th fret). I have to crank it up every time I try to play it.
I waited for a wood body because I didn't like the sound of the metal bodies. This is between a metal body and a regular uke sound. My wife listened to a comparison of my loudest ukes and said this was a lot louder. Not very scientific, but she did stay at a Motel 6 one time.

Bill
 
KamakOzzie said:
This is the third year in a row she has (is) given me a uke for Christmas. I did have to open it and check for shipping damage, didn't I?
Bill
Click to expand...

Yes. Now, wrap it back up and put it under the tree 'til Christmas... :devil:

John
 
Paul December said:
I read about all sorts of QC problems from the tailpiece, cone attachment, and intonation...
...based on my past experiences with Mim, I doubt she'd let anything like that out of her shop.
I nearly bought one of the earlier ones (from a different seller) and he said it wasn't much/any louder than a regular uke, so that broke the deal for me. I ended-up getting one of those metal ones that scream. How is the loudness on yours?
Your particular model looks fantastic, I really like the headstock decal :cool:
Click to expand...

The thing with the Kala ones, sometimes you have to take into account the price. For that price it is a pretty darn good resonator. Does it sound as good as the Ohana Retro Delta hand-made cone reso... not as much... but it all comes down to cost. The Ohana is over $1000. So I think for the price of this uke, it is a job well done and a good value. But I do so with I had more time to settle the strings for him. But I was going out of town and you can stretch the strings on a reso like you can on a regular uke. You sort of have to let them get there when they get there.
 
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