FS: Vintage Kumalae Soprano

Brad Bordessa

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I got this Kumalae soprano uke from a friend of my Grandma's. She found it in the closet and thought her dad bought it while he was in Pearl Harbor for the war (do the math...!). I haven't done much research into it. There's no label, but it's quite old and appears to be solid koa with a mahogany neck. The wood is plain and there is no binding so I assume it was a base-level model.

It's been sitting carefully under my bed, but as the years pass I feel worse and worse that it's there and not being enjoyed by somebody who can appreciate it more than I. I'm a player, not a collector.

Comes with the original case. As you can see, it's in super rough shape and looks like it came out of King Tut's tomb, but, amazingly, still works as intended. It's torn in many places and stained and the leather straps are really dry and fragile. I've never seen a case like this before - it opens from the end and the uke slides in so I can only imagine it's what the uke came with.

The uke itself seems like it's in pretty good shape for its age. There's a crack along the top above the bridge, one of the sides at the butt end joint is lifting a bit, the top is slightly loosening up in a couple places, and there's a gap in the corner of the fretboard, neck, and body. But otherwise, it's still in pretty good alignment and is easy to play (surprisingly so, though all sopranos are hard for a tenor guy like me to play :). It sounds like you'd expect with old, crappy strings. It'd be great with some light fluorocarbons. I've stored it detuned for a number of years to try and ward off premature stress damage.

I'm not trying to hide anything. The pictures are as unflattering as possible. It plays now, but probably needs some love in order to see old-er age. Throw your questions down below. If you're interested, send me a PM.

I would be stoked to get $300 for the case and the uke. Otherwise, make an offer. You pay for shipping. We can discuss the best way to get it to you in one piece since I don't trust the case much and I don't have any other soprano cases that would be any better.

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