NUD: Kala KA ASOV Tenor

FrankB

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These seem to be a new arrival for Kala. Solid wood all around, with spruce top, and Ovangkal B&S. Binding is the same lovely Paduak that is on my Kala cedar/acacia slot head tenor. Bone nut and saddle replace the NuBone material found on most other Kala ukes, and it's decent enough that I won't have to make new ones for a while (can't stand plastic). The usual rosewood fretboard is nicely finished, with all but the last few frets crowned perfectly. The Grover tuners work fine, but the Aquila strings will be replaced this weekend.

A quick look inside with a mirror and light revealed very clean workmanship. The bracing is an X pattern, with a tone bar on both bass and treble sides. The top is thin, and moves quite visibly when squeezed gently. The finish on the top is also quite thin, and I think I captured that in one of the pics. The body and headstock are gloss, while the back of the neck is a perfectly smooth satin finish. NICE! The inlay on the headstock isn't necessary, but it's not as gaudy as I thought it would be.

Sound is wonderful, especially for the price. This is a very resonant uke, and it's louder than my already loud cedar top Kala. Its tonal range is much greater than the cedar top, and it also has greater clarity. Intonation was dead on out of the box. My cedar top was a bit sharp further up the neck, but that was easily solved when I made a bone saddle for that uke. I stumbled across this model on Kala's website, and found this particular uke at Bernunzio Uptown Music in Rochester, NY. They shipped it out the next business day, and I've never seen an instrument packed this well. I'm keeping the packaging to build a fallout shelter....you never know.

It looks like Mike at UkeRepublic has this model in stock as well.

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EDIT: So why did I buy this a little over a month after buying the cedar top Kala? My wife decided she wanted the cedar top, instead of her Cordoba 20TM. We'd look silly with two of the same blingy ukes, so I went shopping. :D
 
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I love the racing stripe in the wood grain down the sides--congratulations on a lovely new uke!
 
The stripe is pretty nice. Thanks! :cool:

P.S. It's even better now, because during lunch I changed out the Aquila strings for Oasis. This uke's thin top was being choked by the Aquilas, and its tone was immediately better. The C string was the one I wanted to change out the most.
 
Really handsome uke. I really like the grain on the sides. Congrats. :)
 
Very spiffy looking. Bet it sounds good. Congrats.
 
Uke Republic does have this model. I made a pilgrimage there today and Mike was very happy to show it off. Sounds great. But I still. Over the ceded topped acacia
Mike is a really nice guy if you get a chance to meet him du it
Cliff
 
The spruce top Kala has had 9 whole hours for the Oasis strings to settle, and the cedar top Kala has had Oasis strings for a couple of weeks. They sound very much alike, but the spruce has a bit more volume, and more separation. I told my wife it would be a tough call if I had to pick one over the other, but I do like the ASOV's separation while strumming. I'd take either one over some more expensive models I've bought and returned in the past month.

Mike is a good guy, and fun to talk with. If I had seen the ASOV on his site, I would have bought it from him. I only saw it there after Bernunzio's had shipped mine. Elderly has one on their site, and it became available the day after I ordered. They're not easy to find just yet, and maybe Mike will get a video up.
 
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