Curly Koa
Well-known member
I ordered a custom Kanilea tenor back in May when on vacation on Oahu. Much to my wife's dismay, I made it a uke-cation. To her credit, she tried to be patient most of the time, but we all have our limits. We stayed at Disney's Aulani (awesome lazy river and nearby tide pools for safe snorkeling); over the ten or so days we were there, I visited Kanilea, Kamaka, KoAloha, Hawaii Music Supply, and most of the uke retailers on the island.
I was a little worried, because I had ordered a Kanilea super tenor that was faulty (nasty intonation problem) and had to send it back, after falling in love with the Kanilea sound on first touch. Joe assured me that they would triple-check the intonation and setup before sending it out. As a side note, HMS really took care of me with the faulty uke issue, so kudos to them.
There was a bit of frustration on my end due to the fact that this uke took way, way, way longer than expected, and that I could never get a clear answer as to when it would come my way (needed to plan for the charge to hit my card!), but I am choosing to let that all go, because it is a good group of people, they do good work, and they stand behind their products.
On to the uke! It turned out better than I expected, aside from a small finish flaw that can be seen easily from up close, in most lighting situations. I expect a $2000+ uke to be flawless, so am a little disappointed with that, but it's not the end of the world. It's a tiny flaw. The sound is spectacular--probably exactly the same as every other Kanilea tenor with this type of wood.
I chose curly koa (of course) and Joe pulled out the sets that they had in the shop for me to choose from. I picked one that had tight, flame-like curls...was hoping for something from the log used on the Aldrine models (log 50?), but they only had wood left from that log in concert size or below, at that point. This was still some pretty nice wood. For appointments, I prefer an understated look with a complete lack of bling, so I asked for no binding, no rosette, slotted headstock with black tuners, ebony fingerboard/bridge/faceplate, and all inlays in sand (no abalone--way too bling-blingy for my tastes, though it is certainly beautiful). For inlays, I asked for my signature at the top (this one will be an heirloom piece for me--won't sell it) and X markers (my handwriting) instead of dots, because I always hated dots on my guitars, but really like having markers. He also used sand on the side markers (those dots don't bug me).
One more bummer: I ordered a Reunion Blues case for this a few months back, but the Kanilea is just a bit too big to fit in without cramming the headstock in, and I don't want to put extra pressure on the neck that way. Guess I need to buy another tenor to fit in that case...if nothing used surfaces, HMS is going to get my business for their service with the faulty super tenor.
See below for the results! Job well done, Kanilea team.
I was a little worried, because I had ordered a Kanilea super tenor that was faulty (nasty intonation problem) and had to send it back, after falling in love with the Kanilea sound on first touch. Joe assured me that they would triple-check the intonation and setup before sending it out. As a side note, HMS really took care of me with the faulty uke issue, so kudos to them.
There was a bit of frustration on my end due to the fact that this uke took way, way, way longer than expected, and that I could never get a clear answer as to when it would come my way (needed to plan for the charge to hit my card!), but I am choosing to let that all go, because it is a good group of people, they do good work, and they stand behind their products.
On to the uke! It turned out better than I expected, aside from a small finish flaw that can be seen easily from up close, in most lighting situations. I expect a $2000+ uke to be flawless, so am a little disappointed with that, but it's not the end of the world. It's a tiny flaw. The sound is spectacular--probably exactly the same as every other Kanilea tenor with this type of wood.
I chose curly koa (of course) and Joe pulled out the sets that they had in the shop for me to choose from. I picked one that had tight, flame-like curls...was hoping for something from the log used on the Aldrine models (log 50?), but they only had wood left from that log in concert size or below, at that point. This was still some pretty nice wood. For appointments, I prefer an understated look with a complete lack of bling, so I asked for no binding, no rosette, slotted headstock with black tuners, ebony fingerboard/bridge/faceplate, and all inlays in sand (no abalone--way too bling-blingy for my tastes, though it is certainly beautiful). For inlays, I asked for my signature at the top (this one will be an heirloom piece for me--won't sell it) and X markers (my handwriting) instead of dots, because I always hated dots on my guitars, but really like having markers. He also used sand on the side markers (those dots don't bug me).
One more bummer: I ordered a Reunion Blues case for this a few months back, but the Kanilea is just a bit too big to fit in without cramming the headstock in, and I don't want to put extra pressure on the neck that way. Guess I need to buy another tenor to fit in that case...if nothing used surfaces, HMS is going to get my business for their service with the faulty super tenor.
See below for the results! Job well done, Kanilea team.
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