'Kmise' ukulele, anyone?

Aklot is also made by Kmise. Aklot just released a Bamboo Ukulele, and a number of sites (not mine) were contacted by Aklot to review it. It has "Designed by Aklot" on the soundboard, which a number of us commented about on those videos--and Aklot wrote some comments and let people know that on the next batch they would remove it. The Bamboo is about $120 and only in tenor at this time.

I was part of the original Aklot AKC-23 review debacle; I still like the instrument (although it's been sent to a niece), and I also have one of the Spruce top (supposed to be solid, but sure looks like laminate) ukuleles (or more accurately, it is my wife's--although she doesn't play it).

Another teacher I know in the UK uses Kmise for her students, and speaks very favorably of them.
 
If you watch some of Bernadette's unboxings, it would appear that Enya/Kaka/Kmise/Aklot are all the same. Probably others as well.

I ordered a super cheap uke direct from Kmise and it arrived in just the trapezoidal box, with the neck coming unglued due to the hot weather. They immediately refunded my money, but I guess the reason it was so cheap was because glue and the fretboard extension were all that was keeping the neck on. Not even a piece of doweling. So their construction practices seem to be as all over the map as their name.

Aklot is also made by Kmise. Aklot just released a Bamboo Ukulele, and a number of sites (not mine) were contacted by Aklot to review it. It has "Designed by Aklot" on the soundboard, which a number of us commented about on those videos--and Aklot wrote some comments and let people know that on the next batch they would remove it. The Bamboo is about $120 and only in tenor at this time.

I was part of the original Aklot AKC-23 review debacle; I still like the instrument (although it's been sent to a niece), and I also have one of the Spruce top (supposed to be solid, but sure looks like laminate) ukuleles (or more accurately, it is my wife's--although she doesn't play it).

Another teacher I know in the UK uses Kmise for her students, and speaks very favorably of them.
 
I've had very good experience's with Kmise ukuleles purchased through Amazon.
Set up has been perfect, good strings, I believe they are Daarrio FC's. And no issues with damage in shipping.
I'v bough two laminate tenors, one to gift and one keeper.
Several coworkers bought the same model on my recommendation.
Good ukulele for the money, IMO.
I'd like to try one of their baritones, but really don't need another.
 
I was part of the original Aklot AKC-23 review debacle;

Debacle as in the print on the body, or something more sinister? I'm very very close to ordering one on eBay. I don't think that print detracts from the uke, though I've only seen it in pictures obviously.
 
I recently got kmise concert as my first uke great value for money sounds good well built, but after only 1 month I am looking at better ukes , another option is a cheap second hand MAkala dolphin then get something better .
 
My concern is that I don't have a job so can't really justify much money, and also whether I will stick with it and put in the time to practice. I played trumpet as a kid and hated practicing - I didn't have the patience and just wanted to play songs straight away.
 
I played guitar before, there are 4 main cords you can pick up quickly and play some songs but you will need to practice.
 
I played guitar before, there are 4 main cords you can pick up quickly and play some songs but you will need to practice.

I feel like the initial learning curve for a uke is a lot shallower than a trumpet - that's nothing to say for actually being able to play it well, just the ability to circumvent long notes and scales to a degree for fun chords and rusty-sounding tunes :D
 
I don't know if they are selling this cheap to generate sales and then the price will go up. But that is what happened with the Islanders Amazon was selling.

$50 seems like a bargain for us in North America or Europe, where wages are high. But we should keep in mind that the materials used for these ukes cost them pennies, and the overall cost to produce them is around two to three dollars a unit. So in other words, the margins on these things are enormous and with direct bulk shipping from the warehouses the owners of these brands are making an easy fortune.
 
Debacle as in the print on the body, or something more sinister? I'm very very close to ordering one on eBay. I don't think that print detracts from the uke, though I've only seen it in pictures obviously.

Sorry...I missed this. I check UU every other day, and many threads seem to be lost in the "What's New" tab before I even check it.

The debacle: Aklot asked a number of people to review the instrument, and sent out review ukuleles. That's all good with me. But then once we started posting the reviews...as requested to do so on Amazon as well, Aklot let us know that we couldn't say that we had been provided a ukulele for review. Apparently Amazon changed their policies and forbids this as a course of action.

**Note, I think that's pretty dumb on Amazon's part...I would be fine with letting anyone provide a review unit of anything, as long as they disclosed that they were sent a ukulele to do so.

About this time, Barry Maz wrote a review...and then very quickly pulled the review after finding out that Aklot was asking reviewers to not say that they were sent a ukulele for review. This is also the event that pushed Barry over the edge and he didn't review any Amazon ukuleles until very recently...that was almost 2 years in the making.

I personally left my review on my own YouTube Channel and Blog, but pulled my review from Amazon.

The two things that bothered me were Aklot asking us to not disclose that we were given a ukulele to review, and also adding that fact AFTER the reviews were posted and filmed.

All that said, I really like the Aklot packages and just bought--at a discounted rate--one of the Bamboo models to review. No, these aren't the greatest ukuleles on the planet, but they far exceed just about any of the competition at the price points they sell at.

One other quick note...someone suggested that Enya/Kaka is the same company--they are not. Kmise/Aklot is the same company. Enya/Kaka is another, and they were also producing ukuleles under some other names (e.g. OMS). I think Enya has settled on its name (New Age Singer or not) and seems to be a very influential instrument company in China. Their PR releases seem to get a lot of attention over there (I follow them on Facebook).
 
One other quick note...someone suggested that Enya/Kaka is the same company--they are not. Kmise/Aklot is the same company. Enya/Kaka is another, and they were also producing ukuleles under some other names (e.g. OMS). I think Enya has settled on its name (New Age Singer or not) and seems to be a very influential instrument company in China. Their PR releases seem to get a lot of attention over there (I follow them on Facebook).

Yeah, I remember reading that a while ago. That Kaka changed their export instruments to the Enya name because of the unfortunate connotations of the same sounding word: caca.

Now, back to the original thread...
 
I ordered a Kmise Concert, model UK-24, $54.99 from Amazon with free shipping (ordered on a Friday, it came the next Tuesday). I ordered it mostly because I wanted something with a pickup. I had Sawbox Guitars make an amp out of an old 1940s vintage Zenith portable radio. Also I had a Fender Frontman 10 Watt practice amp on my Amazon wishlist, that I'd more or less forgotten about that showed up for Christmas. Thus, I had two amps and the only thing I had to play through it was a cigarbox ukulele that I made that just didn't play very loud through either amp. Not sure what the issue is with the cigarbox uke, possibly poor choice the pickup my part, possibly sound hole is the wrong size, possible, the cigarbox has a tone better suited for carrying cigars than music.

Anywho, the Kmise came last night, and it sounds pretty good. I have several ukes, and one I play all the time. Does it sound as good as that one? No. But it does sound pretty decent, especially at 55 bucks. It definitely plays loud enough through either amp to piss off the neighbors. It seemed to hold a tune better out of the box than I was expecting. The only real issue is there seems to be a slight buzz at the third fret on the E string. Anyone else have something like that on theirs? Going to decide over the next couple of days how much that bothers me. Is it a great quality instrument? No. Is it decent quality? Yeah. Could I do worse for the same money? Definitely.
 
Wow...this thread has been more or less alive since started it in 2016!
Anyway, I just received another Kmise tenor, which I ordered from China in March for 43 USD and FREE shipping. In these times of the plague, it took two months to get here, which is fair enough. The instrument itself is all laminate mahogany, well made, pretty well set up, and easy to hold and play. I really like it. So far, so good.

However; with this kind of price...who actually gets paid??? The workers in the factory?? The designer??? The logistics department? The advertisers?? The transport and postal workers?? How can a ukulele be this cheap, and then be transported from China to Norway for free?

At present, when all kinds of people in the music industry is out of work for months to come, I actually feel a bit guilty about this kind of purchase. I’ll keep this uke, and play it a lot, but I won’t be buying another.

If I get another ukulele, I hope to get one built by a local luthier.
 
Does anyone have experience with the Kmise guitalele? And what is the actual pronunciation for this brand? It's funny that so many people own their ukes but there is no consensus on how to pronounce it!
 
Does anyone have experience with the Kmise guitalele? And what is the actual pronunciation for this brand? It's funny that so many people own their ukes but there is no consensus on how to pronounce it!

I asked on their Facebook group (no one had) and they said that they pronounce it K-mees.
 
I have a Kmise Tenor; love it. I occasionally play my soprano, and cringe, the sound on the Kmise is so much better.
 
However; with this kind of price...who actually gets paid??? The workers in the factory?? The designer??? The logistics department? The advertisers?? The transport and postal workers?? How can a ukulele be this cheap, and then be transported from China to Norway for free?

If I get another ukulele, I hope to get one built by a local luthier.

You will be surprised if you do some research on the cost of producing things in China and then shipping them across the oceans in huge containers. For the most simple ukulele the cost can be measured in dimes and to add some bling and gloss to make the most high end ukes does not add much. People in China don't only get paid but some get incredibly rich quick by producing stuff worth a couple bucks and selling it for hundreds of dollars to the high wage countries.
 
I have a Kmise tenor. Got for $43.00 shipped on Amazon (WTF?). It was advertised as solid, but it's not. Intonation and action are fine. It's not a complex or rich sound, one dimensional, but for $43.00, it sounds decent and is loud. Loves Aquila strings. I don't play it all that often, will probably gift it eventually, but it's a banger, and I do enjoy it, when I play it. Here's a tune I did on it.

 
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