NUD: Lanikai S-C blem

durgidog

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I purchased this blemished Lanikai from Butler Music and so far I'm very happy. I noticed they were selling these on eBay, with some auctions starting at $59 and some at $79. So I emailed them through their web site and told them I was looking for one at $75 shipped, that I don't care about blemishes, just action and intonation. They said they'd ship me out a good one and sent it the next day with 2 day delivery. The action is comfortable, the strings have not finished stretching but so far intonation is good at the 12th fret on two strings, and two strings are off by 3-4 cents. I fretted each string all the way up the neck and don't hear any buzzing.

It has a solid spruce top and the gloss finish is quite thick. This uke is not nearly as loud as my Pono solid mahogany soprano or even the cheapo plywood starter soprano uke I have. I expected that but the difference is quite remarkable. I've read that Lanikais ship from the factory with Aquila strings, but I've never tried Aquila's so I don't know what these are. They are white and sound is bright.

You can see spots that are blemishes in the headstock, I'm wondering if I can fill these with superglue as I can feel the indentations with my finger. I also circled another blemish on the soundboard in one of the pics. All in all I'm happy, I wanted to try a concert size (I may still prefer the soprano) and this was a relatively inexpensive way to do it for a uke with a solid top. If anyone is interested Butler Music has a lot of these.

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ADDED: Well I've been playing the Lanikai for an hour now and comparing it to my Pono soprano (satin finish). When I hold them both toward my face and strum the Pono isn't louder, but it has better sustain. When I play the Lanikai in the normal position I don't hear it as well as I hear the Pono - I don't know if the thick finish and laminated sides and back have anything to do with that. The frets are all smooth, and now the two strings that were off at the 12th fret are only off by 1-2 cents. I can't find any further blemishes but that's not something that bothers me anyway. The tuners are very smooth. For $75 I'm pleased.
 
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Not a bad deal. I have the tenor version of that uke and love the sound of it, especially when I went low G (Aquila Red) on it. However, the S-C or S-T is a solid spruce top model.

Dan
 
Not a bad deal. I have the tenor version of that uke and love the sound of it, especially when I went low G (Aquila Red) on it. However, the S-C or S-T is a solid spruce top model.

Dan

Ahh yes spruce, thank you, I don't know why I typed cedar (other than wishful thinking). I like it. I'd like to try it in low G as well.
 
Congratulations! What a deal...
 
Nice! And this way you don't have to worry if you bring it somewhere and it gets knocked around a bit.
 
Nice! And this way you don't have to worry if you bring it somewhere and it gets knocked around a bit.

Exactly! I plan to take her to jam with some friends next week. Which is going to be weird because I'm a guitar player new to the uke. So I'll be looking at everyone's guitar fingerings and then transferring them to uke chords (and will likely need a chord chart). Should be fun!
 
You can see spots that are blemishes in the headstock, I'm wondering if I can fill these with superglue as I can feel the indentations with my finger. I also circled another blemish on the soundboard in one of the pics.
View attachment 50154

Okay, so the baritone I got had a more troublesome headstock ding that wasn't just a finish problem, it was more a "someone smacked this off of something and cracked the finish leaving sharp edge snagging on clothing problems"

That said, I thank Rick Turner for the suggestions and mine is in pretty good shape now after a superglue repair. The finish on these lanikai's seem to bond well using it and may even "melt" a little to blend.

What I didn't do was add color when I could have. Rick suggested using marker to color the lighter spot where the wood under the finish on mine got exposed - but I'd already sealed it up.

You might want to try brown permanent marker (or wood repair markers) in those spots then fill gradually with superglue. Hard to tell from the photo the depth of the spots. The suggestion in my case was thin then gel. I never used much of the gel because the thin bonded well with the finish and stayed smoother than the gel looked like it was going to when I tried just a tiny bit. YMMV
 
I thank Rick Turner for the suggestions and mine is in pretty good shape now after a superglue repair. The finish on these lanikai's seem to bond well using it and may even "melt" a little to blend.

What I didn't do was add color when I could have. Rick suggested using marker to color the lighter spot where the wood under the finish on mine got exposed - but I'd already sealed it up.

You might want to try brown permanent marker (or wood repair markers) in those spots then fill gradually with superglue. Hard to tell from the photo the depth of the spots. The suggestion in my case was thin then gel. I never used much of the gel because the thin bonded well with the finish and stayed smoother than the gel looked like it was going to when I tried just a tiny bit. YMMV

Great advice, thanks to you and to Rick! I will try it...
 
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