pono pro classic

do the better ukes in the pono line compare to the K brands? there isn't a huge cash difference to get into a koaloha tenor.
never played either and don't have any feel for the tone, resonance, or sustain.

chuck in ny said:

do the better ukes in the pono line compare to the K brands? there isn't a huge cash difference to get into a koaloha tenor.
never played either and don't have any feel for the tone, resonance, or sustain.

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At HMS, I played a spruce top cutaway with rosewood back and sides that I would have put up against anything else in their store. The price was just under 1K (tax would have put it over). They did have a few that were off limits. The Jukelele, a Koalau that was about 5K but to my ears, it was just as good as the K's they had in stock. I didn't think the other Pono's they had sounded as good as the combo of that particular uke.

My question to anyone who has played the different Ponos is whether their regular ukes sound like the "Pro Classic" ones?

Other than aesthetics, are you actually getting more tone for the hundreds of dollars extra?

Im stuck between getting a Mahogany deluxe baritone or a Pro Classic baritone..

The Pro Classic is just extra bling. If you want to save money get the deluxe.

I apologize if I am derailing this thread a bit (but I think this is still relevant enough to the general topic).

I definitely notice a huge difference between the regular and the deluxe models. To clarify the MX and AX models I played were ok but the MXD and AXD really blew me away. Is this consistant with what other have observed? And what differences are there between the models that would account for this difference. I looked at their website but couldn't really tell what differences related to sound.

I have two pro-classic tenors - a cedar topped ebony and a mahogany. Both are truly excellent instruments, if a little overbuilt. Neither are as lively as my Koaloha concert or the Koaloha tenors I have played, but what is. Nothing except a Koaloha sounds like a Koaloha. That isn't entirely a good thing or a bad thing - just a thing. The Ponos certainly hold their own, but they just don't bark in the same way. I play the Ponos as much as I play the Koaloha, for whatever that is worth.

Also, I have had a Pono standard mahog tenor, a mahog concert deluxe, and the pro-classic mahog tenor. There is a real jump up in quality between the standard and the deluxe, in my very humble opinion. Less of a jump from the deluxe to the pro, to my ears. But we all hear with our eyes to some extent as well, and the pro-classics are really beautiful instruments.

Aloha,
I hear the difference between a standard and deluxe model on several brands of ukes. Sometimes the standard sounds better and sometimes the other way around, just like the same model sounds different form uke to uke.
So if you want a particular uke and can play all that they have in the store and pick the best one.
As far as Ponos, I only have one and it's a keeper (PKT-6E). According to Bruddah Stan, sounds better than his K brand....................Bo................

I have a Pono MBD and, while it is a great uke and was very much worth the money (especially since I bought a blem), I wouldn't quite put it in the category of the K's I've owned or played. It may actually be a better value dollar-for-dollar because there is the diminishing returns thing - but it's not quite in the class with it's senior cousins.

John

I own a pro classic concert.

Hard to compare with a K brand as its mahogany. But it's a superb build. Just doesn't quite have the breadth of tone that my K brands have though. Good however!

When my Pono Mahogany Baritone Deluxe arrives, I'll know how it compares against a Kamaka Baritone.