I'm actually surprised that no one has offered an answer to this question, especially with the depth of knowledge of this forum. I have wondered the same thing as I have seen Kamaka ukuleles listed for sale, and not knowing has kept me from buying one on occasion.
I think that the question was more about physical changes than dates of production. And I am curious about that too. For example I have a white label tenor with friction tuners but I think there are also some with geared tuners. What other design changes were made over time?
It appears as thouh Kamaka's web site is currently out of order. "Error displaying the error page: Application Instantiation Error: Could not connect to MySQL."
It appears as thouh Kamaka's web site is currently out of order. "Error displaying the error page: Application Instantiation Error: Could not connect to MySQL."
I'm definitely not Stan, but I've had a few White and Gold Label Pineapples.
I feel that the biggest difference is the shape. In my experience, Gold label pineapples have a squashed bottom shape where they are wider at the bottom than a white label pineapple. The white lable pineapples are more symmetrical. But as far as bracing, I believe they are the same. I had read that prior to 1960 the frets were cut into the neck piece, but after 1960, or starting in 1960, a fretboard was added and the frets were then placed within the fretboard. I also feel that the wood is thinner on a gold label vs. a white label.
I've never owned a Kamaka soprano, non-pineapple, so I couldn't comment on those.