Pono Ukuleles

I agree the Pono's are quite inspiring. Coming from the world of guitars, my first uke was a Pono RTSH-C Tenor and it's responsible for the madness that overcame me. Just a sweet tone and easy to play.
 
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I would wish there was a Pono dealer in Copenhagen, so I could try one.
I try to limit my UAS, the ukuleles I have now are good enough that I feel that I shouldnt get another unless I know it is "the one" .
Are the necks as chunky as on Flukes, og just slightly more than most?
 
Strings are a very personal choice, obviously, but what have you found to be the right ones in this instance? I've swapped out the wound 3rd for a flatwound TI CF27 but left the other stock strings on my Pono tenor for a moment. Was planning to try both flouro and nylgut strings at some point, but read somewhere that nylgut is a bit low tension for Ponos?

Yes, that's up to personal preferences indeed. To me, these babies cry for fluorocarbon strings. I am very satisfied with Worth Browns on the AT and ACD, my ETSHC sounded great with Worth Clears, and now with the new Ko'olau Aho fluorocarbon set. I'm sure other fluorocarbon sets such as Oasis, Martin, Living Water, or Southcoast would work as well, too. The factory strings just felt too stiff and sounded somewhat "inhibited" to me, scratchy, and not well balanced, with a lack of bass.
 
Are the necks as chunky as on Flukes, or just slightly more than most?

Pono necks definitely tend towards the thicker range of the spectrum. However, the results I get from measuring out the necks on all of my ukes is that the one from Pono is very similar to that of custom luthiers such as LFdM, Lichty, Hoffmann, Ko'olau, and also to my KoAloha Opio tenor. More important than sheer thickness, to me, is the fact that all of these necks are perfectly round, which I find much more comfortable than a flat profile. In comparison to the Fluke you mentioned, I think the Fluke neck is more "rectangular"/"edgy".
 
Just out of curiosity, I measured my KoAloha L/N Concert & my Ohana L/N Soprano, with a rule.
(Edit: These are the depths without the fretboard.)

Nut depth, K=12, O=13, & at the 7th fret, (measured here because the heel on the Ohana gets in the way at the 12th), K=14. O=15.

These are, of course not perfectly accurate owing to using a rule & not a micrometer, but shows that they are as close as it won't make a difference.

@ UkingViking
The KoAloha L/N Concert is a nice uke, & I can see that you are missing a L/N Concert. :)
(....& you don't seem to have a baritone either.... ;) )
 
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I would wish there was a Pono dealer in Copenhagen, so I could try one.
I try to limit my UAS, the ukuleles I have now are good enough that I feel that I shouldnt get another unless I know it is "the one" .
Are the necks as chunky as on Flukes, og just slightly more than most?

Compared to other ukuleles, they do have a fatter neck. Coming from guitar, I find them much more comfortable to play.
 
Just out of curiosity, I measured my KoAloha L/N Concert & my Ohana L/N Soprano, with a rule.
(Edit: These are the depths without the fretboard.)

Nut depth, K=12, O=13, & at the 7th fret, (measured here because the heel on the Ohana gets in the way at the 12th), K=14. O=15.

These are, of course not perfectly accurate owing to using a rule & not a micrometer, but shows that they are as close as it won't make a difference.

@ UkingViking
The KoAloha L/N Concert is a nice uke, & I can see that you are missing a L/N Concert. :)
(....& you don't seem to have a baritone either.... ;) )

I found an old thread listing koaloha as 0.65" = 16.5 mm and Pono as 0.75" = 19.0 mm. I guess the fretboard is included in those measurement.

If I get another uke i am not sure If I will go for a concert, LN concert or a tenor, but I think I prefer a more plain design than the Koaloha.
 
Compared to other ukuleles, they do have a fatter neck. Coming from guitar, I find them much more comfortable to play.

I think I would need to try one to make up my mind. I used to know a couple of songs on guitar, so I might not mind it If it is smoothly rounded. The more rectangular chunky neck on my fluke takes a bit getting used to.
 
I bought a mahogany Pono baritone used in good cosmetic condition with re-entrant tuning but the action was on the high side. I phoned Andrew at HMS and he walked me through lowering the action via a stress rod adjustment and suggested a new set of strings with a wound low D and G. Those two changes made all the difference in how I feel about playing my Pono.

Keep riffin'
 
Surprised to hear that, as the function of a truss rod is primarily to adjust the amount of fretboard relief. Adjusting it has some effect on action, but if your relief is flat to begin with, you don't want to mess with it, but lower the saddle instead. My Pono tenor has action a tad higher than I'd like, but the fretboard relief is dead flat (which I do like, and don't wish to alter). Some day I'll get around to sanding the saddle down slightly, but I won't be touching the truss rod. FWIW

bratsche
 
This is a case of "it depends". Due to humidity, heat, or just changes in the neck wood the neck can curve at the top section or just bow more that it should and raise the action. Loosening the truss rod in that case it the right answer to lowering the action. That's why truss rods exist. And I suspect Andrew knows what he's doing :).
 
I recently bought a Pono AT. Despite being just a little on the quiet side, it was a lovely 'ukulele in every way - except the intonation was just too far out on the A string. Saddle compensation couldn't fix it. I guess it just shows that even the most reliable brands sometimes have the occasional flaw.

I returned the 'uke and the guys at Southern Ukulele Store couldn't have been more helpful. They jumped through an unreasonable number of hoops to find something that intonated well and that they thought I'd like. It was worth the inconvenience of returning the uke just to experience a level of service that I thought was long extinct.

In the end SUS suggested a Cordoba 35T. I was a bit wary as I have always associated the name with cheap 'ukes I've seen on Amazon. When it arrived though my doubts vanished very quickly. The uke is beautiful, flawless, intonates well and has pretty much the tone and volume I was looking for (once the stock Aquilas were retired in favour of a set of Wrth Browns).

Ponos are great 'ukuleles. Based on a sample of one Cordoba 35T I'd say that a good example of this uke is on a similar level of quality and in the same price ball park.
 
Unashamed Pono fan here. My koa Pono was the second ukulele I purchased, eleven years ago (!) and I still have it because it is an excellent ukulele. It has in fact stopped me from buying a Kanile`a or a Kamaka because, quite frankly, most of the koa K brand ukuleles I have played I simply cannot justify the additional expense for what would pretty much be a redundant ukulele.
Everyone is different and likes different things, but if you are shopping for an ukulele please put Pono on your shopping list - try one, you will probably like it!
For the price point, build quality, sound, playability (for me) are unmatched.
 
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