Super Tenor.. Anybody play one?

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Doc_J

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Saw a Kanile'a super tenor on HMS website.
It looks interesting: a baritone body with a tenor neck.
Is Kanile'a the only maker of that combination?
Seems to sound deeper with projection than a regular tenor.
(Could just be the variations in recorded sounds too.)

Anybody play one of those? Any impressions?

 
I had one and it was good but not out of the ordinary. Sounded like a Kanilea and can't say that it was particularly louder or much deeper than other tenors. I don't think it is a bari body as the lower bout is only bigger while the upper bout was about the same as my other tenors. I have some other tenors, I'iwi and LFDM that have larger lower bouts than normal tenors but smaller than the ST.
 
Once I was visiting San Francisco and saw a very nice one at the Aloha Warehouse. The person working there told me that it was the first Kanilea Super Tenor of its kind. I asked to see it, but I guess it was too nice, because he wouldn't let me touch it. haha--maybe I should have dressed better that day
 
Good luck to them selling instruments you can't audition. No aloha in that warehouse. Google Ukulele Ghetto. He had/has one that he blogged extensively about.
 
Well, I can see why the employee wouldn't want to let a customer play the uke especially if it was the only one he could get. One bump on the counter or little fingernail scratch from strumming too hard could ruin it.

There are too, many people that just want to play ukes with No intention of buying. If you just wanted to hear it, I would've asked the person if they could play it.

I personally don't ever play or handle ukes unless the shop owner or employee says I could and I am looking at purchasing one.
 
GKK said:
Well, I can see why the employee wouldn't want to let a customer play the uke especially if it was the only one he could get. One bump on the counter or little fingernail scratch from strumming too hard could ruin it.

There are too, many people that just want to play ukes with No intention of buying. If you just wanted to hear it, I would've asked the person if they could play it.

I personally don't ever play or handle ukes unless the shop owner or employee says I could and I am looking at purchasing one.
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And so they need to ask you if you have intentions of buying or they should figure you out by how you look and what you wear?

McCabes in Santa Monica asked me if I wanted to try a $5000 Taylor Uke, which I refused but I didn't see any reservation on their part. I have never bought a uke from them prior to this encounter and brought in my Kamaka to put a strap button a $10 job. I have purchased 2 ukes after this.

Thank goodness not every store is like Aloha Warehouse and I see why people are purchasing from online stores. You read so many stories about people that had no intentions of buying but after playing it, they walk out with a new uke.
 
Tried one at a fest a few years back. Sounded fantastic, but just couldn't get past the ugly body shape. ):
 
Editing this post to clarify -- I don't have anything against the Aloha Warehouse -- they might be great guys with the most welcoming Aloha spirit for all I know. Although they didn't let me try the uke, maybe they had a very good reason for it or maybe the guy just had a bad day or bad experience that made him fearful of what I might do with a 4k uke. I didn't get the best vibe that day, but from what others are saying, there's a good chance if I went in another day that I would feel differently. And to get back on track to discuss the Super Tenor, the one with the slotted headstock and bound with island inlay that the Aloha Warehouse had was super awesome. I asked the clerk to strum it for me, which he did a bit, and it sounded very good. It didn't project and resonate as much as I thought it might, but it was still very impressive.



nongdam said:
And so they need to ask you if you have intentions of buying or they should figure you out by how you look and what you wear?

McCabes in Santa Monica asked me if I wanted to try a $5000 Taylor Uke, which I refused but I didn't see any reservation on their part. I have never bought a uke from them prior to this encounter and brought in my Kamaka to put a strap button a $10 job. I have purchased 2 ukes after this.

Thank goodness not every store is like Aloha Warehouse and I see why people are purchasing from online stores. You read so many stories about people that had no intentions of buying but after playing it, they walk out with a new uke.
Click to expand...
 
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Gotta go with syfc on this. Appearances shouldn't matter...first class service should be available to all.

I have played the super tenor. Owned one in fact. I liked the sound and the larger lower bout actually made it easier to play while sitting down. The bout raised the uke to the perfect playing level for me.
 
I go into Aloha Warehouse all the time and I've sent friends there, and I've never once seen myself, or heard from my friends, any reluctance to let customers try the instruments. I have no reason to doubt syfc's account of his experience there, but none of us was there and even syfc acknowledged that his experience may have been an isolated incident. I don't think it's appropriate to turn a thread that was supposed to be for people to share their experiences with Kanile'a super tenors into an Aloha Warehouse bashfest on the basis of one side of one story about it.
 
mds725 said:
I go into Aloha Warehouse all the time and I've sent friends there, and I've never once seen myself, or heard from my friends, any reluctance to let customers try the instruments. I have no reason to doubt syfc's account of his experience there, but none of us was there and even syfc acknowledged that his experience may have been an isolated incident. I don't think it's appropriate to turn a thread that was supposed to be for people to share their experiences with Kanile'a super tenors into an Aloha Warehouse bashfest on the basis of one side of one story about it.
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I have to agree with mds725 here. I've been going to Aloha Warehouse for about three months now trying to make up my mind which tenor to buy. I've been shown (and played) almost every tenor in the store. The service has never been anything other than exemplary and I've thoroughly enjoyed the enthusiasm of the staff and their gentle encouragement of my journey to find the right uke for me.

Now back to Super Tenors - what do people think? That's one tenor type I haven't tried yet ;)
 
+1 to that. Maybe it was just a bad day for the guy. If others have had good experiences, then I'd listen to that over my experience. Better to give the benefit of any doubt

wadleysf said:
I have to agree with mds725 here. I've been going to Aloha Warehouse for about three months now trying to make up my mind which tenor to buy. I've been shown (and played) almost every tenor in the store. The service has never been anything other than exemplary and I've thoroughly enjoyed the enthusiasm of the staff and their gentle encouragement of my journey to find the right uke for me.

Now back to Super Tenors - what do people think? That's one tenor type I haven't tried yet ;)
Click to expand...
 
I've played a Kanile'a Premium Koa Super Tenor and it sounded really nice with a great bottom end. I think it does have a noticeable wee bit more of a fuller, richer tone due to the larger lower bout compared to the standard Kanile'a tenor body. I personally don't like the aesthetics of the larger lower bout on it though.

On a side note, McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, CA is a really cool place to try all kinds of guitars and ukes! They have a large selection of ukes from low end to high end production and custom ukes and really expensive vintage ukes. I would say that just about all of their ukes are hanging up on the walls ... which you just go and help yourself by grabbing them off the hooks and start playing them. Their sales people will come over every now and then to ask if you need help or have any questions, but they pretty much leave you alone. I've been there many, many times and have spent several hours at a time playing a lot of the high end ukes: Kamaka, KoAloha, Kanile'a, Ko'olau, Collings, Martin, Blackbird ... and even Pepe Romero Jr ukes, too! I always have a great time there!
 
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I had a very bad first impression of Aloha Warehouse awhile ago so, I could relate to what syfc experienced.

It's sad nowdays but, if you look like you're just browsing, some small stores just won't be very helpful.
 
nongdam said:
And so they need to ask you if you have intentions of buying or they should figure you out by how you look and what you wear?
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No, but I wouldn't go to any music store just to waste time playing their expensive instruments with no intention of ever buying but, that's just me.
 
GKK said:
No, but I wouldn't go to any music store just to waste time playing their expensive instruments with no intention of ever buying but, that's just me.
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People do do that though. I mean you see it recommended in this forum: Go audition uke sizes then go online and buy what you want. Now there's reasons for it... big box music stores don't check over the instruments or set them up, for example. But still...

But who's going to plunk down a grand or so on an instrument they're not allowed to audition? That's just dumb. Plenty of stores are like that, and good luck to them if they want to stay in business. What they're saying is "We don't want your money." Glad to hear that the warehouse has some aloha in it after all, maybe just not that guy. For all we know, he wasn't cut out for retail. :)

I kinda don't agree that we're not allowed to talk about the bad experiences. I think talking about it is a big help to the customer and the business. Witch-hunting goes overboard of course, but no one's doing that so IMO it's all good.

Now then as to that uke, I found a link to the review I mentioned earlier:

http://gx9901ukes.blogspot.fi/2009/02/super.html
 
I've owned two Super Tenors and really enjoyed them. I like having a low-G tenor, and those STs really bring up the bottom end, sonically and visually. :D I wouldn't want an ST to be my only tenor, though, since I like a traditionally bright-sounding uke. But if I ever have the spare scratch, I could see ordering a spruce-top custom from Kanile'a. I think the brightness of spruce would really complement that boomy body. Really nice-sounding (but a bit odd-looking) ukes.
 
I wish there were a store like that here. Sam Ash Music has a huge store here, they are one of the sposnors of our group, TBUS, but so far the uke display has been rather lacklustre, as if no one really cares that much. The help does treat me well, they recgonize me and say hello, how ya been, etc when I do go in...and we use thier performance room several times a year...it is getting better, but we won't see Kamakas and Collings in there...
 
Plainsong said:
......I kinda don't agree that we're not allowed to talk about the bad experiences. I think talking about it is a big help to the customer and the business. Witch-hunting goes overboard of course, but no one's doing that so IMO it's all good ....
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Please reread my post. I don't think I said people should not be allowed to talk about bad experiences. What I said was that "I don't think it's appropriate to turn a thread that was supposed to be for people to share their experiences with Kanile'a super tenors into an Aloha Warehouse bashfeston the basis of one side of one story about it." What I mean (and I apologize for the lack of clarity) is that if someone wants to talk about his or her experiences about a particular buying experience, he or she should start a separate thread about it, so that others who may want to weigh in about the seller can see that there's a discussion about that seller by browsing the thread titles. In this case, a criticism of a store was buried in a thread that nobody browsing the thread titles would know was about an individual's purchasing experience unless they read the thread, which they might not do if they were not interested in Kanile'a super tenors. zThe owner of Aloha Warehouse is a UU member. Perhaps he'd want to comment on the post about his store, if only he knew there was such a post. Comment about your bad retail experiences all you want, but have the decency to do it by starting a new thread with a title that lets people know that's what you're talking about, so you can have a legitimate discussion involving a larger sample of experiences.
 
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