flyingace
Well-known member
Yeah, I know, I know... there's been a ton of discussion on these, the good, the bad, the ugly...
I love (LOVE) my Kala ukes, my #1 is my Kala Acacia slotted headstock tenor. My lovely wife gave it to me for my 39th birthday back in 2009 and I've cherished it ever since. But I keep it in low G tuning with wound low G string. Worth Browns on it (Aquila wound G). Sounds wonderful and sweet.
But I needed a uke in reentrant high G tuning for several songs and didn't just want to either re set up my Kala or the Oscar Schmidt Mahogany concert (which I rarely play due to being more comfortable on a tenor sized neck).
So I happened to be at my local Guitar Center and, I feel, lucked into a perfectly set up, flame Koa Fender Nohea that sounds fantastic! The intonation is actually dead on, the action is about right and it stays in tune even though my sales guy/friend PJ said he just put it out on the floor that morning from the box and shipment that came in Tuesday! Even my other two ukes needed more work than that when new!
I'd be hard pressed to say it doesn't sound every bit as good as many of the solid wood ukes I own (I don't own any that cost a lot, so I don't know how good a Kamaka or others sound in person).
Also the way I look at it is: any uke that keeps me playing, is convenient, sounds good enough and keeps a tune is good enough for me! Especially for only $199!
I've already ordered the Kala UK400T preamp with a tuner and piezo pickup to install like I did in my Kala Acacia and a set of Southcoast Medium strings with wound C.
I love (LOVE) my Kala ukes, my #1 is my Kala Acacia slotted headstock tenor. My lovely wife gave it to me for my 39th birthday back in 2009 and I've cherished it ever since. But I keep it in low G tuning with wound low G string. Worth Browns on it (Aquila wound G). Sounds wonderful and sweet.
But I needed a uke in reentrant high G tuning for several songs and didn't just want to either re set up my Kala or the Oscar Schmidt Mahogany concert (which I rarely play due to being more comfortable on a tenor sized neck).
So I happened to be at my local Guitar Center and, I feel, lucked into a perfectly set up, flame Koa Fender Nohea that sounds fantastic! The intonation is actually dead on, the action is about right and it stays in tune even though my sales guy/friend PJ said he just put it out on the floor that morning from the box and shipment that came in Tuesday! Even my other two ukes needed more work than that when new!
I'd be hard pressed to say it doesn't sound every bit as good as many of the solid wood ukes I own (I don't own any that cost a lot, so I don't know how good a Kamaka or others sound in person).
Also the way I look at it is: any uke that keeps me playing, is convenient, sounds good enough and keeps a tune is good enough for me! Especially for only $199!
I've already ordered the Kala UK400T preamp with a tuner and piezo pickup to install like I did in my Kala Acacia and a set of Southcoast Medium strings with wound C.
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