Klos ukulele anyone? Feedback?

I'm the friend getting the Klos on Tuesday. Not sure why he feels I won't be posting an unboxing video.....maybe because he knows I use a 12 year old flip phone instead of a smart phone? As if happens I DO own a Gopro. I just haven't figured out how to use it yet.

Truly a laugh-out-loud moment for me...don’t let besley fool you...he holds a Ph.D and was a polymer chemist for Dow Chemical. He is capable of doing and learning just about anything—although he does have a soft spot in his heart for carbon fiber ukuleles.
 
I received this email from Klos.

"They're going slowly but surely. We're hoping to be shipping yours out in the next two weeks."
 
Just got this email from Klos.

"Hi Backers!

Good news, we’re shipping about 5 ukuleles every day! The new members of our team are getting trained quickly and hopefully two weeks from now we again jump in numbers to 10 or more per day. When your uke is on its way, you’ll receive a tracking number. Only area that is still experiencing delays is electronics. Acoustic electric ukuleles (sonitone and kulas) will be starting to go out at the end of next week. Once you receive your uke, please look out for the review invite for Google and Facebook as well. Each review will be super important for us since the ukulele is a completely new product line for us and you all are the first in the world to receive them! For those of you who have recently purchased a ukulele but haven’t gotten a survey from us, you’ll receive one in the next 1-2 weeks.

As always, reach out with any questions!

Thanks,
Adam"
 
OK, Cber3D, I really want to know the story of a uke named "Blood, Sweat, and Tears".

I also read all the way through this thread hoping for an opine on the Klos. Not one uke received yet??
 
OK, Cber3D, I really want to know the story of a uke named "Blood, Sweat, and Tears".

I also read all the way through this thread hoping for an opine on the Klos. Not one uke received yet??

Oh yes, my little Kala KA-ASOV-S . . . So. my friend (who introduced me to the ukulele) had a bunch of stringed instruments along the wall of her apartment. I showed some interest and she lent me her uke. It was a beautiful Kala KA-ASOV-S and I took it home for several weeks. Once I did get around to playing with it I fell in love with the ukulele. When it came time to return it to her I noticed it had a crack in the topboard. Oh s**. did I do that to her instrument? Gulp. The receipt was still in the case and it was $450. She was out of the country for a couple more weeks and I took it to a local repair shop and they put a brace under the crack, tuned it up and I got it back. In the meantime I did some research and thought it may have been the swinging humidity in my house. I felt so bad that I ruined her uke I bought another one. But, it sounded awful compared to her uke. And I looked inside with a borescope and found really crappy workmanship. Exchanged it and the other one was better but still not close enough. Mind you although I've had violins and long ago had an acoustic guitar I never had a uke before. I could not figure out why the new ones sounded so "tight." So, I brought it back and got my $450+ refunded. I still have some time and went online shopping. That uke is no longer in production so I was really happy to find one. Where? Walmart of all places! and for $167!!! Holy crap. I figured I'm sunk anyway. So, I bought it and received it the day before she returned. I brought her broken uke back to her and explained how sorry I was to have ruined her ukulele. You know, what she said? "Oh, that thing. It was broken long ago. ha ha." OMG. I was so relieved. Then I told her my travails trying to replace it. We had a good laugh. We are still good friends and I drive her once a month to our ukulele meetup nearby. So, now I have this purdy Kala. I proceeded to learn as much as I could about uke prep and went to work on the action, polishing the frets, doing a thorough borescope inspection of the insides and going through 2 sets of strings in addition to the original set. Ended up mixing brands of string to find the most harmonious combination. And you know, it finally sounds pretty damn close to hers. And that's why I named it "Blood, Sweat, and Tears' Bet you didn't see that coming!
 
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......Not one uke received yet??.......

Got mine Tuesday - and as Choirguy suggested, there will NOT be an unboxing video. No photos till later either, as my wife has my camera (and my flip phone doesn't take photos).

Right now I am loving it...but there were a couple of setup issues that I contacted them about. I ordered mine low G, but the slotted bridge was cut for a very narrow high G string width. So I had to file open that slot to get the low G of my Living Waters set installed. Also as received the action was 0.125" at the 12th fret, which is high for me. No problem, as I expected to have to file it down some. But by the time I was done, there was not as much as I would like of the saddle left exposed to give a good break angle. That's easily solved, but again I didn't think I should have to be filing away at a brand new uke - saddle yes, bridge, no.

Anyway, I finished my setup, installed a Living Waters low G set, and let them settle in. The strings it came with didn't sound very good, but then I didn't really care, since I was going to change them anyway. Then today I played the uke all afternoon at the Silver Creek International Uke Festival north of Duluth MN. The neck is super straight, with no relief that I can see. With action at the 12th fret of 0.090", and string height at the nut of about 0.015", and no relief, it is the fastest uke neck I have played. And since I ordered mine with the two internal carbon fiber rods to reinforce the neck it should (I hope....) stay that way. Fret work is excellent, no high frets, no sharp ends. I do wish that they had not finished the sides of the wood fretboard to match the glossy neck finish, as that means when I eventually have to file away sharp fret ends I am going to be sanding away at the paint. There are (tiny) side dots at 5, 7, 10, 12, and 15, but not at 3 (which being a guitar player I am used to seeing). The peghead is really small to keep the overall size down, and I wish they had been a bit more generous, both to give more room between the tuners, and to give more room for an electronic tuner. But it's sure cute.

Another nit I have to pick has to do with the strap buttons. The normal way to install strap buttons (at least that I've seen) on carbon fiber instruments is to use a bolt and nut. But Klos have chosen to use a small block of wood on the inside of the body to allow them to simply use a wood screw. Which is fine, I guess, except that they used about a 1" square of blond wood - which stands out like a sore thumb up against all that black carbon fiber when you look inside the sound hole. How much trouble would it have been to paint that black first? It did come with a nicely fitted nylon case that contained perhaps a 1/8" foam padding.

Choirguy tried it briefly, and said he didn't think it was that loud. Could be, though I didn't get that impression (certainly my low action could be reducing the volume). It's not as loud as my Farallon for sure. As for the quality of the sound, it sounds good to me. Not as rich as my Farallon (at 3X the price), but really good. I spent the afternoon playing a lot of chords up the neck between frets 3 and 7, and the intonation sounded fine. I think if I had been able to comparison shop the Klos and my Farallon, side by side, I would have been hard pressed to justify the higher price of the Farallon, since back then I wouldn't have known enough to appreciate the Farallon. Of course the Klos does still have a wood neck and fretboard, so it isn't in the same league as the Farallon or Clara. But it's not bad, especially given the price.

So I think there have been (or will be) some birthing pains with the new Klos - all of them easily fixed. But in spite of my gripes, I still consider it a keeper, and am glad I bought it.
 
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I got my Klos today and I had a similar experience as besely... action quite high. I filed the saddle down and have not taken any material off the wood bridge. The action is at .090" at the 12th. The action seems a little high beyond that and I might lower it a bit more. The bridge is thick enough and the saddle slot is deep enough so it should not be an issue to remove some material.

The fit and finish is excellent. I was surprised how nice it looks.

The intonation is right on. And it plays easily up the neck.

It sounds pretty good with the stock strings, but no one will mistake the sound for a Farallon. It sounds a little too thin re-entrant tuned to C, but much better tuned to B. I need to test out different strings to see if there are any improvements. And I have to agree with Choirboy, it is not a loud ukulele.

I bought this to be used in any environment and I think I will work quite well for that. It seems to me to be an excellent upgrade from a carbon outdoor ukulele while still maintaining most of the environmental resistance properties. I ordered mine with the neck stiffeners.

John
 
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I got my Klos today and I had a similar experience as besely... action quite high. I filed the saddle down and have not taken any material off the wood bridge. The action is at .090" at the 12th. The action seems a little high beyond that and I might lower it a bit more. The bridge is thick enough and the saddle slot is deep enough so it should not be an issue to remove some material.

The fit and finish is excellent. I was surprised how nice it looks.

The intonation is right on. And it plays easily up the neck.

It sounds pretty good with the stock strings, but no one will mistake the sound for a Farallon. It sounds a little too thin re-entrant tuned to C, but much better tuned to B. I need to test out different strings to see if there are any improvements. And I have to agree with Choirboy, it is not a loud ukulele.

I bought this to be used in any environment and I think I will work quite well for that. It seems to me to be an excellent upgrade from a carbon outdoor ukulele while still maintaining most of the environmental resistance properties. I ordered mine with the neck stiffeners.

John

Good to hear that you like yours too. I've been in touch with the marketing folks at Klos and have already provided the same feedback I've given here. I added that no acoustic guitarist would accept a guitar with action over 8/64", so why are they sending ukes that way? And if they want to provide such high action, then the saddle needs to have enough clearance from the bridge to allow for lower action and a good break angle. So use a thinner bridge!

Both my Farallon and the Klos have Living Waters low G strings on them, and now that things have settled down I can add that while the Klos still sounds good - and plays great - it doesn't have the same quality of sound that the Farallon does. I do think it has a more full sound than the Outdoor tenor, but you'd have to play them side by side to determine whether the Klos is worth twice the cost of the Outdoor. And since the Klos does still have a wood neck I probably wouldn't suggest keeping it in the trunk of your car all summer.
 
I have only heard clips of an outdoor tenor; probably tuned to C. I will say that the more I play my Klos tuned down to B, the more I like it. I'm pretty sure I can improve it with the right strings. With the lower tuning, maybe use slightly heavier strings.

I won't leave mine in the trunk all Summer, but I plan on taking it with me in the car whenever I want, regardless of the weather. It is the reason I bought it. My only concern would be moisture on the fretboard and bridge.

One change I will probably make someday is replacing the somewhat cheap chrome tuners with black ones.

John
 
One more thing. It is a very balanced sound between strings. Also going from a finger pad/thumb strum to a nail strum is a nice transition sound. It doesn't have that mellow to harsh change that some ukes have.

I would also say the fingerpicking notes are very articulate and not muddy with good volume control. That clarity may be just a fallout from the use of plastic and not wood.

John
 
One more thing. The stock strings are enourmous. The 1st A string is .027" (about .7mm) and the 3rd C string is .040 (about 1mm). I can't remember any strings this thick. They look like nylon strings, probably using nylon line. I plan on stringing up some Oasis Warms to see how it sounds. Will probably follow besely and sand the bridge a little thinner while I am at it.

Unfortunately all of this doesn't lend itself well to those who are not inclined to put in this type of effort.

John
 
Swapped out the stock strings for Oasis Warms. Oasis Warms/Brights are my go string that works for most of my ukes. I'll fine tune them with a Seaguar string depending of what I'm trying to add or take away. The Oasis Warms do wonders for this ukulele. Tuned to re-entrant C is sounds quite nice. A little deeper sounding than my koa tenor. I still prefer B tuning and they work well except the tension is right at the edge of getting an open howl. Not sure if I just need more wraps on the tuners to "enhance" the break angle.

I did do a little sanding on the bridge, about 1/32" just to have more saddle showing. I used a nut file on the string slots to chamfer the end to ever-so-slightly improve the break angle.

Overall I am quite pleased with the results. The ukulele sounds really nice with the Oasis Warms. It is a lot of fun to play. Maybe a few too many steps to get there.

John
 
.....Unfortunately all of this doesn't lend itself well to those who are not inclined to put in this type of effort......

Ain't that the truth. I imagine most folks here reading about our joint experiences would be turned off on the uke. But I really like mine. It plays great (now...), sounds quite good with the Living Waters fluorocarbons, and the couple of people I showed it to at a ukefest last week were impressed. It's worth the effort (IMNSHO).
 
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When my Klos gets in I am going to take it to my guy Jason Arimoto downtown to fix the action and put on his branded strings or Pepe Romero strings (with a wound low G).
 
Hey guys, be sure to send KLOS feedback on the action heights!

I sent an email off to them pretty much detailing what I posted here. I also noted their slotted bridge where the C and E string slots follow the shape of the bridge and that makes them 1/8" further away from the saddle than the E and at, which reduces the string break. Basically asked them who dreamt up that design.

The strings do sit pretty far in from the edge if the fretboard, 4mm at the nut and a whopping 5.5mm at the 12th fret. This reminds me of my wife's Kala. It does make it impossible to gutter a string... lol.

The carbon fiber construction is actually quite good and it has a nice sound for a plastic ukulele. The oddities do make me wonder if anyone at KLOS understands how a ukulele needs to be designed to deliver a well setup instrument. What is unfortunate is that these are not cost drivers.

John
 
Mine is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, but I'm sure I won't find the faults that you experts did. I handled and played one just a bit last week, and I liked it. I'll leave the original strings on it till they wear out or break.
 
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