New Uke Day/The Mystery Ukulele

So I figured the Kohala was lovely and all, but I needed something bigger sound- and size-wise. Or so I tell my UAS .

I perused some Black Friday ads, and one of my local music stores had an ad up for a ukulele! Pretty generic ad, nothing more detailed than "Ukulele" - but the price was knocked down $150. So I drove over, and it turns out I was looking at a Lanikai LU22C-SM. It's a limited edition, 300 made (the store had 4 or 5 on the "floor"), gorgeous spalted maple, and a tone to match. I can't get enough of this ukulele.

Now here comes the weird part. I can't find anything on it. All I know is what's on the soundhole label. It reads, line-by-line:

LANIKAI
Ukuleles / Hawaii / 78 of 300 / Model No. LU-22C-SM / (serial #) / Crafted in Indonesia

Anyone know anything about this uke?

could it be one of these Tuko? These are a batch made to comemorate the 40th anniversary of Elderly Instruments:
http://elderly.com/new_instruments/...mited-edition-elderly-instrument--LU22E40.htm
Anyway, congrats on a beautiful uke. I was looking at them myself...

Thanks for the link Eugene - that might very well be it... only thing is mine's a concert, and is spalted rather than flamed.
But if they're the same- or at least from the same series- then I'd highly recommend getting one. Don't worry - I won't tell anybody.

Wow. Congrats on a nice buy. Looks very sweet.

Try some Freemont blacklines on that baby.

No Longer a Mystery!

Lanikai has finally listed the LU22CSM on their website (or I've just been looking in all the wrong places). These are the spec's:

Size: Concert
Width at Nut: 37mm Bone Nut
Slotted Headstock
Top: Spalted Maple
Back/Sides: Spalted Maple
Gold-Plated Diecast Tuning Machines
1mm Rosewood Headstock Overlay
ABS Neck and Body Binding

I wonder if it's laminate or solid, but since they're not going out there and saying it's solid it's probably a laminate (doesn't mean I love it any less!).
Here is the link:
http://lanikaiukes.com/laniblog/lu22csm-ukulele/

Expect a full review soon!

-Tuko

Lanikai prints "Hawaii" on the label when they are from Richmond Virginia and import from Indonesia. Might be a nice uke, but that's a bit shameless

Skinny Money McGee - I agree. That is a little shameless but at the same time, at least Lanikai isn't directly saying "made in Hawaii", and doesn't mind saying where it was made.

Tuko said:

Skinny Money McGee - I agree. That is a little shameless but at the same time, at least Lanikai isn't directly saying "made in Hawaii", and doesn't mind saying where it was made.

Click to expand...

Check out their website. There is no mention of street address, and they strongly try to suggest to the unwitting they are Hawaiian, which in reality they only jacked the name. They even have a blurb about TV's "good morning america" talking about Lanikai Beach being one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, which very well may be, but certainly has nothing to do with this company. Lanikai has about as much to do with Hawaii as me, which is nothing.

I think I will build a Stew-Mac ukulele kit and put a label in that says "Hawaii"

Skinny Money McGee said:

Check out their website. There is no mention of street address, and they strongly try to suggest to the unwitting they are Hawaiian, which in reality they only jacked the name. They even have a blurb about TV's "good morning america" talking about Lanikai Beach being one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, which very well may be, but certainly has nothing to do with this company. Lanikai has about as much to do with Hawaii as me, which is nothing.

I think I will build a Stew-Mac ukulele kit and put a label in that says "Hawaii"

Click to expand...

Are you kidding? Who's going to believe that? You're going to have to put a cartoon picture of a coconut tree to make it believable