Comparative Review: KoAloha Opio KTO-G6 vs. Kanilea Islander GL6 Guitalele

Rakelele

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 22, 2014
Messages
2,113
Reaction score
285
Location
CH
My experience with ukes helped me realize that full-sized guitars are just to big for me. It’s so much easier for me to play six strings with a smaller body and a shorter scale, so I've started to experiment with the Guilele, Guitalele, Guitarlele, or Kiku type of instrument, basically guitars in the size of a tenor or baritone ukulele, normally tuned up five steps to A-A (instead of E-E like aq full sized guitar), while another tuning U like is three steps up to G-G, also called "Terz tuning".

In this review, I will compare two Guitaleles that are from the import lines from two well respected Hawaiian brands, namely the KoAloha Opio KTO-G6 and the Kanile'a Islander GL6.

Both instruments are made from Acacia wood, but the Islander is laminated, while the Opio is all solid wood.

The Islander has a flat satin finish, the Opio has something like a semi-gloss with open pores and some pretty rough spots.

The Opio has the KoAloha Crown logo edged out, whereas the Islander logo is printed in Gold letters.

The Opio has a tenor scale (17") and the overall size of a tenor ukulele, whereas the Islander has a baritone scale (20") with a supersized tenor body. The Opio, which comes with a very nice and sturdy gigbag from KoAloha, fits into a regular tenor case, while it takes a baritone case to accommodate the Islander.

The neck joint of the Opio is at the 15th fret, the Islander at the 16th fret. With the longer neck and its supersized lower bout, the Islander’s shape may take a little getting used to, whereas the Opio is a bit better balanced and feels just like a regular tenor.

Both have a nut width of about 2" (51 mm). I like this with the tenor scale of the Opio, but it’s too wide for me on the longer scale of the Islander with more horizontal room between frets. My preference would be somewhere around 1 7/8" (47.5 mm).

The tuners on the Islander are some cheap random tuners with black plastic buttons, individually screwed onto the back of the headstock. The Opio tuners, previously used for the Hawaiian model, seem to be something special since they are very close together on one single plate per side. They are probably plastic as well, but with a nice perloid look.

Like all Kanile'as, the Islander has a pin bridge, whereas the Opio and all other KoAlohas have a tie bridge.

The Islander has the same body size, scale length, and neck profile as Kanilea's Hawaiian model which costs about ten times as much. Their internal design and finish, however, is not identical to Kanilea's bracing system.

This is different with the Opio, costing a bit more than half the price of the Hawaiian model. In KoAloha's Thai factory, everything is constructed exactly the same way as in Hawai'i. The only difference is that it is Acacia instead of Koa, which is basically from the same species of wood.

On the Opio, all the edges are smoothly rounded, whereas the Islander has pretty sharp edges (unlike a "real" Kanile'a, I hasten to add).

The Islander comes with Kanilea’s own Guitalele stock strings: three bronze wound basses and black "plastic" trebles. They feel and sound very rubbery. I suppose there could be better strings, but they do the job and sound okay. They are readily available from HMS.

The Opio, on the other hand, comes with very nice fluorocarbon strings (perhaps Worth?) that give a full sound. The basses are silver wound. So far, no one could or would tell me what set they are, so I’m not sure how to replace them.

In terms of sound, there is not a whole lot of difference. The Opio is surprisingly loud and full for such a small body and scale. I suppose the solid wood construction and fluorocarbon strings help with that, whereas the Islander compensates its lamination and rubbery strings with a bigger body and longer scale. Both instruments have a rather thin-ish low end, which was to be expected from such small bodies. Still, with six strings, the sound fuller and more complex than a regular uke. Also, these small instruments have a pretty impressive sustain. I guess that has to do with two more strings ringing sympathetically. Overall, I have the impression that the smaller Opio may actually be a bit fuller and more balanced than the Islander.

Summary
The two instruments reviewed here are very different (solid wood vs. laminate, tenor vs. baritone scale), but also similar in some aspects. I feel that both instruments have their own right.

At about a third of the cost of the Opio, the Islander is a pretty nice entry for uke players into the world of six strings. There are not a lot of other options for a baritone sized guitalele. A similar model that comes to mind is the Cordoba Mini (which might actually come from the same Chinese factory). At this low price, there is little to criticize. Still, I wish they'd take the pride to design a nicer logo for their headstock.

With all solid woods and the same construction as its Hawai’ian counterpart, the Opio can be considered a real upgrade and pretty close to the offerings from the Hawai’ian K brands. You get a sound that is just as full or maybe fuller from an instrument that is even smaller and feels more at home for tenor players. I also prefer the slightly rounder neck profile. My only criticism would be that in this price range, they should be offering a smoother finish.

One thing I’d prefer in both models is a slightly narrower nut width and a radius fretboard like on a crossover guitar. With six strings, this would be a big help for me. I know the guitalele market is a lot smaller than the ukulele market (let alone the guitar market), but I wish other competitors like Pono would join with their own take on this fun little instrument, providing more options such as different wood combos, gloss finish, slotted headstock, and said radius fretboard.

The picture below shows the Opio and the Islander in comparison to a full-sized dreadnought guitar and my Lichty Baby Bard guitar which I will review in a separate thread (basically, it has all the specs I was wishing for above, and sounds as full as a classical guitar; no comparison to the two instruments reviewed here).

20180813_131550.jpg
 
Rainer
Thank you so much for such a detail review.
This review definitely help a lot of us who is looking for this kind of instruments but don’t have the opportunity to try them In person .
Glad you are happy with the Lichty. It’s worth the wait. Too bad we were just few weeks too early when we met in Zurich! I would have loved to check it out. Congratulations again.
 
You can get narrower necks from 44mm (1-3/4"), 46, 48, and 50mm (2") on guileles but I haven't seen any production ones with a radius fretboard.

Looking forward to hearing about (and just hearing) the Lichty!
 
Thanks for the detailed review, Rainer!
 
While I have also relatively small hands and prefer a smaller scale instrument than the classical guitar's one, the biggest. Those are nylon string instruments and fingerpicked many times, I think the string spacing width should be larger at picking point and maybe neck width too than say your dreadnought guitar's because of that.

For me maybe, if I ever go back to playing classical guitar music. I'm lazy lol. I would consider baritone scale, because its already much smaller than the guitar scale. The tuning being a fourth above would not hurt me with tenor scale, since it is a solo thing.

Thank you very much from a nice review.

EDIT:
What you mean with the baby guitar being fuller and closer to classical guitar? The tuning maybe being lower or what?
 
Last edited:
Wow Rainer, fantastic in depth review of these instruments. This will definitely help those that are interested in this type and size of instrument. I am waiting on the new Cordoba Mini ll which is large version of the original mini. I do wish they came with a radius fretboard as well but I realize this is a personal preference and the norm is a flat fretboard. I have a full size classical guitar Cordoba C10 crossover with 48mm nut width and radius fretboard and it helps me a lot.
 
EDIT:
What you mean with the baby guitar being fuller and closer to classical guitar? The tuning maybe being lower or what?
Jarmo, what I meant is more like a classical guitar in terms of sound. The scale length of my Baby Bard is 19", so right in between the KoAloha and the Kanilea. I have all three instruments tuned to Terz (G-G) and the Baby Bard has much more bass, resonance and depth all across the registers that it is no comparison to the other two guitaleles.

I totally agree that the fretboard needs to be somewhat wider on such a short scale than on a full-sized acoustic guitar (42-44mm) in order to make room for the fingers on a shorter scale. My personal preference, however, would be narrower than on a classical guitar (50-52mm), making the Lichty perfect for me at 47.5mm, along with a tight radius of 9" that makes it easy to barre chords.
 
Jarmo, what I meant is more like a classical guitar in terms of sound. The scale length of my Baby Bard is 19", so right in between the KoAloha and the Kanilea. I have all three instruments tuned to Terz (G-G) and the Baby Bard has much more bass, resonance and depth all across the registers that it is no comparison to the other two guitaleles.

I totally agree that the fretboard needs to be somewhat wider on such a short scale than on a full-sized acoustic guitar (42-44mm) in order to make room for the fingers on a shorter scale. My personal preference, however, would be narrower than on a classical guitar (50-52mm), making the Lichty perfect for me at 47.5mm, along with a tight radius of 9" that makes it easy to barre chords.

I am somewhat surprised that well respected ukulele makers can't make same quality 6 strings in terms of classical guitar depthnes.

There is the box volume size to consider and also the top width. If to get a deeper tone.

It could be also that these guitaleles should be considered more like a downsized flamenco guitars. Fine for rasquedo strumming (finger rolls etc. strumming terms in our ukulele terminology) and short staccato single runs. The gypsy guitar and fun stuff :)

The classical guitar needs a considerable high action to work properly with pure deep single notes. So the action is also one thing in this.
 
Top Bottom