I've been looking into ukuleles a lot recently, trying to find a replacement for a stolen Ohana tenor (This site helps a lot). I found and bought a COrdoba 20tmce which was almost identical, handfiled a bone saddle, I had intonation pretty good and found a loose fret wire which was causing all sorts of buzzing frets 1-4. So now that is returned.
All of that to say I remembered a local shop and went to check out what they had. They had a Kala-Ka-ST and a Kala-KA-SMLT (and others). The Kala KA-SMLT looked really nice, and it was all solid wood for $230 or something. I had not seen this and so I googled it on my phone to make sure it was all solid wood. The Kala KA-ST was $180 I think.
I borrowed a tuner and started comparing the two. I already knew about the Kala Ka-ST and expected this to be the louder and brighter of the two. Well it was definitely louder but had a much warmer tone to it also. The KA-SMLT sounded like an aluminum can with strings, and the owner seemed to agree. They both had Aquilas,
Is it possible somebody put soprano strings and Im too dumb to notice? Or is there a huge variation in certain models/woods? Everybody seems to like their KA-SMLT and they should be very nice being all solid wood right?
PS now I have that Kala KA-ST. Saddle seemed to be very poorly shaped, but I changed that to a bone saddle again.
All of that to say I remembered a local shop and went to check out what they had. They had a Kala-Ka-ST and a Kala-KA-SMLT (and others). The Kala KA-SMLT looked really nice, and it was all solid wood for $230 or something. I had not seen this and so I googled it on my phone to make sure it was all solid wood. The Kala KA-ST was $180 I think.
I borrowed a tuner and started comparing the two. I already knew about the Kala Ka-ST and expected this to be the louder and brighter of the two. Well it was definitely louder but had a much warmer tone to it also. The KA-SMLT sounded like an aluminum can with strings, and the owner seemed to agree. They both had Aquilas,
Is it possible somebody put soprano strings and Im too dumb to notice? Or is there a huge variation in certain models/woods? Everybody seems to like their KA-SMLT and they should be very nice being all solid wood right?
PS now I have that Kala KA-ST. Saddle seemed to be very poorly shaped, but I changed that to a bone saddle again.