Koa Fluke or something similar?

I'm thinking of getting the koa fluke. Its costing about $375 here:
http://www.fleamarketmusic.com/store/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=5

Anybody had experience with it?
Really started to like it after watching this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bqhWpdMbRQ

Anything comparable at that price or cheaper?

Thnx!

I'm sure it's a fine instrument, but considering that th only thing that is koa is the top board, I'd bet that you can spend your money better on something else. For around that price I got a Pono Cedar top tenor and soundwise it's the best instrument I own.

I figure that after $200 the flea/fluke loses it's appeal anyway...

Hey Suave,
I have played with the fluke and personally I don't care for them. For $375, you could get a lot better. Here is an example.

http://cgi.ebay.com/KALA-KA-KTE-Koa...QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

The seller is musicguymic on ebay. I deal with him all the time. Great guy. Very hard worker. Each instrument he sells is looked at and worked on to make sure the action is nice and easy. Check out his other stuff. You might want to get a mango or some other uke......he's got flukes too....sigh....

My first two ukes were a Flea and a Fluke, and if I had to do it again, I would probably do the same, in my case. I wanted something I could take anywhere and have the least concern about damaging it. I take them to the desert on riding/camping trips, to the beach, leave it in my car on hot days, the whole nine yards. Oh, and did I mention that I have a habit of dropping stuff?

In both cases I bought the 'basic' model, which was about half of the figure you are using above. I wanted something extremely durable, that sounded good and was very easy on the wallet.

If I had $375 to spend at the time, and deals like the one listed above were around, I'd have been on it like white on rice. mwalimu has a really good point about the $200 line.

Lastly, even after the Flea/Fluke, it wasn't long before I wanted a more traditional style uke.


Good luck, have fun!

I've got a Tenor Lava Fluke and a Kala Spruce top Tenor. I think my Kala sounds much better but, having a wife, a kid, 4 cats, a dog and a partridge in a pear tree the Fluke is nice to have for getting banged around.

I do believe that this Koa Fluke you posted sounds a bit better that my Lava. I don't know if it's because of the Koa on the fluke or maybe the strings or just that guy plays alot better than me. It's probably all three

i find flukes to be really annoying to tune

yeah, i know that you can tighten the pegs, but in all honesty, you'll have a better time just playing on a geared. even friction tuning pegs (where they jut out from the back of the headstock) are better, just by matter of physics, when you tighten them correctly.

that said, i might've just had a bad experience with flukes, but honestly, their novelty loses its glamour when you actually have one.

and i think the reason everyone is sort of okay with tossing the fluke around is, in addition to its "sturdy" construction, is that no one really cares what happens to their fluke. lol. worth spending the money on something you'll have a better musician-instrument connection with.