mr79
Well-known member
Hey up,
Recently I've been trying to decide on a new uke, with a Pono, Risa tenor acoustic and Kiwaya KS-0 all vying to relieve me of my cash. Over the weekend I went to a car boot sale (I'm not sure if that's what they're called outside the UK - it's like a collective yard sale, everyone loads up their cars with household stuff they don't want, drive to a field or car park then try to sell it all... it's where I find all my ebayable stuff!). Anyway, it was all the usual stuff, clothes and toys and overpriced Star Wars figures, when I spotted (from halfway across the field) the shape of what I thought might be a ukulele.
As I got nearer, the headstock looked familiar, and I think I might have made an involuntary squeaking noise. For there, offered at the princely sum of £50, was a Kiwaya KS-0.
Admittedly, it had no strings. Or nut. Or saddle. But other than that it looks mint. The bloke on the stall said his teenage son had bought it during the summer, and had some problem with one of the strings buzzing a lot then snapping. He'd taken the strings off, and decided to try a repair on the nut himself... only he then lost the nut, and then the saddle, then went off to uni and lost interest. The kid's dad was selling it (along with a load of other teenagery stuff) because now the kid wants more beer money and less ukuleles/shoes/DVDs (my god how many DVDs that family had!). I have never been more pleased at the lackadaisical attitude of (some) teenagers!
So, I now have a project... I'm going to make my first attempt at a bone nut and saddle, using the Bruko as a rough reference and then fine tuning once I've got it restrung... I'll post pics in a few days. Can't wait to hear how it sounds.
One thing I have noticed - all the online stores selling the KS-0 have it listed as having a walnut fretboard, and their pictures all show the fretboard as quite brown. This one has an almost black fretboard, more like rosewood. Does anyone know if they changed materials at some point? If it is walnut, it's very heavily stained...
Anyway, just wanted to share my good fortune with some people who understand what this means (my family were just a bit "Yeah? It's another ukulele")
Recently I've been trying to decide on a new uke, with a Pono, Risa tenor acoustic and Kiwaya KS-0 all vying to relieve me of my cash. Over the weekend I went to a car boot sale (I'm not sure if that's what they're called outside the UK - it's like a collective yard sale, everyone loads up their cars with household stuff they don't want, drive to a field or car park then try to sell it all... it's where I find all my ebayable stuff!). Anyway, it was all the usual stuff, clothes and toys and overpriced Star Wars figures, when I spotted (from halfway across the field) the shape of what I thought might be a ukulele.
As I got nearer, the headstock looked familiar, and I think I might have made an involuntary squeaking noise. For there, offered at the princely sum of £50, was a Kiwaya KS-0.
Admittedly, it had no strings. Or nut. Or saddle. But other than that it looks mint. The bloke on the stall said his teenage son had bought it during the summer, and had some problem with one of the strings buzzing a lot then snapping. He'd taken the strings off, and decided to try a repair on the nut himself... only he then lost the nut, and then the saddle, then went off to uni and lost interest. The kid's dad was selling it (along with a load of other teenagery stuff) because now the kid wants more beer money and less ukuleles/shoes/DVDs (my god how many DVDs that family had!). I have never been more pleased at the lackadaisical attitude of (some) teenagers!
So, I now have a project... I'm going to make my first attempt at a bone nut and saddle, using the Bruko as a rough reference and then fine tuning once I've got it restrung... I'll post pics in a few days. Can't wait to hear how it sounds.
One thing I have noticed - all the online stores selling the KS-0 have it listed as having a walnut fretboard, and their pictures all show the fretboard as quite brown. This one has an almost black fretboard, more like rosewood. Does anyone know if they changed materials at some point? If it is walnut, it's very heavily stained...
Anyway, just wanted to share my good fortune with some people who understand what this means (my family were just a bit "Yeah? It's another ukulele")
Hope you two make much beautiful music together
