Another solid-body contender

Andy Chen

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Depends on the quality of the piezo they used.

It appears to be a passive electric with volume knob (no tone knob).

A win if they used a high quality piezo.
A loss if they used the same crappy and often unbalanced piezo that comes on their standard acoustic electrics.

Either way, if I was to get one, I would open it up to see what type they used. I would replace the undersaddle if they used the crappy variety.
 
Deluxe Handwired Single Piezo w/ Volume
It's deluxe. It's handwired. How could it be crappy? :rolleyes:
For $700 it better not be.
 
It's deluxe. It's handwired. How could it be crappy? :rolleyes:
For $700 it better not be.

Every piezo is "handwired". A factory worker has to fit it into the instrument and plug/solder it onto the endpin jack.. by hand.
 
Looks like the street price will be more like $600 but I don't see any available yet. That's $100 cheaper than the Pono equivalent. I'll be interested to see a side by side comparison, but I can tell you what my intuition says.
 
wow! who'd a thunk? I can see Ponos days are numbered.

I personally don't like the look of them any more than I did the Pono. I have to admit I do not like the look of the Pono solids. It's a main reason I went with the Godin when I was buying as I was sure the Pono sound was high quality but sometimes looks plays a deciding factor when other things are fairly equal.
 
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Hi guys!

Just wanted to jump in here. This is one of my favorite ukes we've released, we're very excited about these - we just finished picking out the Koa and Mango wood for the next batch last week, it looks great!

This uke is made in the USA, not overseas, and does not use the same piezo that we use over there. We use Fishman everything in our China, Indonesia, and Taiwan factories. I'll follow up with a link to the exact model for the Mak's and Rabbit Island (Manana... named after our favorite weekend body surfing spot and the island directly off the bay from it), I remember the brand but the model # escapes me at the moment and I have no problem disclosing information on it or how we install it, if anyone has any further questions.

The ukes have shipped to our customers, you can preorder one on our site or from Elderly (it says it'll be out in May there, but they will have them next week):

http://elderly.com/new_instruments/...tenor-ukulele-chambered-solid-bod--LMAN-T.htm
http://elderly.com/new_instruments/...t-tenor-ukulele-chambered-solid-b--LMAK-T.htm

If anyone still has questions or wants more information, you're always welcome to PM me! Further, anyone interested in a review piece is welcome to get in touch and I will send you one to try out. For anyone skeptical of it's quality, this might be a great way to answer your questions.

Here's a quick video I made that talks about the uke and has a quick sample through a Laney A-1 Acoustic Amp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhpO6seHf5E

Thanks for your interest!
 
All other things being similar to Pono.. one difference is that Ponos have truss rods
 
Being blunt, I have a hard time sticking "Lanikai" and "$700" together. Perhaps I'm being unfair and/or just haven't played their better quality ukuleles. But my experience has left me with more of a "beginner/value" rather than a "higher end" opinion of Lanikai instruments.

On the other hand, it is made here in the USA and does look nice.
 
Like I said, Elderly has it listed for $599, which puts it on the lower end of the same ballpark as Pono and Godin. I'd love to see some head-to-head comparisons.
 
Since I got free shipping for my Pono from HMS to Singapore plus a gorgeous hard case, it's about the same price for me as the Lanikai. Most importantly, I also get the excellent HMS assurance and set up.

I love my Pono TE Mango: looks great, built great, sounds great.
 
So I guess the question is, what does the Lanikai do that the Pono doesn't?
 
Looks a lot like the prototype that Imua presented at NAMM last year. I think someone here mentioned that Lanikai is getting their US made ukes from Imua.
 
I think it looks great. At that price point, and being made in the USA too, I don't know why it wouldn't be a huge contender for that kind of instrument. Also, I've dealt with Elderly Instruments for years. They are exceptional.
 
Old thread, but does anybody know which piezo pickup they use in these? Just picked one up on a deal and was going to avoid opening it if somebody already knew. Thanks
 
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