NUD: Solid Koa Pineapple Sunday (2019)

Cluze

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I suspect I am doing the NUD thing a bit wrong, as this kind of spiraled out a bit into a full blown review.

Last week, Mim had some blem stock Pineapple Sundays pop up, and I couldn't resist. It arrived over the weekend, but I needed some time with it before I wrote anything up...

Here is my beautiful Pineapple Sunday, made by "Pops" KoAloha himself, Alvin Okami!

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It is technically a "blem" because there is a small dent on the backside where the back meets the side. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have noticed it if I didn't know it was there from the listing on Mim's site.

It is a solid koa body, with two book-matched pieces used for the top and back. As has been discussed in another thread, KoAloha is constantly making tweaks and changes to their instruments, and Pops is no exception to this. The Pineapple Sunday, being Pops' passion project, is constantly being refined, so no two batches of Pineapple Sundays are exactly the same. The "current" batch (as of June 2019) of koa instruments appear to have the re-designed spiky pineapple headstock and pineapple logo, so I suspect that this one, with its crown headstock and traditional KoAloha logo, is from a batch from late 2018 or early 2019. Unfortunately, there is no date or serial number inside, so it is hard to pin down exactly. This transient nature and lack of date leads to some details being... tricky.

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The listing claimed a rosewood fretboard and bridge, but these look way too dark for that. I suspect it is ebony. Here is the Pineapple Sunday next to my Kamaka HF-2 anniversary edition, which *definitely* has a rosewood fretboard for comparison. The position markers are also a bit of a curiosity as well.

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The listing labels them as mango, but user efiscella describes the ones he had, of the same look and design, as curly maple. I can't tell for sure what the wood here is, but they look great! The pictures simply don't do them justice. (I do plan to write to KoAloha to see if they can clear up the material questions I have.)

So, what's it like? In one word: exquisite. This instrument is extremely well made. It feels more like it was crafted rather than built. Yes, I know that is a bit of a fine distinction, but there is just something special about it. It feels very solid, with a nice heft and weight, but a delicateness that tells you it isn't overbuilt. The sound has a clarity to it that is unmatched in anything I have played. Every note is clear and balanced, with good sustain. It is a bit quieter than I had expected from a KoAloha, but that is not the same thing as saying it is quiet. There is still plenty of volume here.

There is one oddity of the sound that bears mention. The instrument exhibits a fairly strong directional component to the sound. This is something that I first noticed on my Blackbird Clara; the instrument sounds very different when you are playing vs. when you are simply listening to it being played by someone else. In the case of the Clara, when playing it the instrument sounds very "boomy" to my ears, with the low end exaggerated and the treble side muted. When you listen to a Clara when not playing it, it is quite balanced and lovely. The Pineapple Sunday seems to exhibit a reverse-Clara effect. When you play it, the low end seems to be somewhat lost and the sound, overall, seems a bit thinner than I had expected. It isn't all that noticeable if you play just the Pineapple Sunday, but if you play it back-to-back with something else (like say, a Kamaka HF-2) I feel it seems thin. If you instead listen to the instrument being played by someone else, the low end is back, and the sound is much more balanced. I may try to capture this with a pair of microphones with one in front of the instrument and one near my shoulder.
 
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Continued...

I will also mention that I am likely to change the strings soon. The A string has a flaw in it, between the first and second fret.

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I don't know that the string will fail anytime soon, but I am also a fan of trying different strings on different instruments. I suspect that Living Water strings would suit this instrument nicely (EDIT: They do! Still settling in, but the volume and sustain are improved with the Living Water strings.)

While the Pineapple Sunday, with its tenor scale neck on a concert body, has an extremely generous 38 mm nut width, the string-to-string spacing might surprise you. I happened to be measuring these things (I keep track of all of these things in a spreadsheet) and I noticed something odd. I had also recently purchased a Kala KA-FMCG concert ukulele, and while its nut is only 35 mm, the string-to-string spacing is identical on the Pineapple Sunday at about 27 mm from G to A. (These exact numbers might be tiny bit off as my digital calipers have a dead battery, so I had to use a ruler.)

Sounds insane right? Have a look at both necks.

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Now, have a look at the Kala stacked (carefully!) on top of the Pineapple Sunday.

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The string slots match exactly. And yet the Pineapple Sunday "feels" much more roomy and comfortable. It is quite odd.

Bottom line? The Pineapple Sunday is something special. It looks, feels, and sounds amazing. If you have never played one, you probably should if you get the chance. If you are on the fence about owning one, I recommend getting one.

Just not this one. This one is mine! :)
 
Nice! Love the fingerboard.

Rosewood can be that dark for sure. Here's my latest:
XSss6Lul.jpg
 
A lot of rosewood and even ebony fretboards are stained to even out the dark color of the wood. I've had some of the color come off when I oiled the fingerboard of my Martin T1 IZ. (Music Nomad F1 Oil.)

Not saying that's the case here. But you can't always rely on the color to determine the wood.

Fabulous Sundae. Just beautiful. Congratulations!
 
What a stunning collection in those pictures!
Is that Five Tribes in the bottom?
The ukuleles are nice too.
:)
 
So if you look up the sound hole, towards the neck, there is no date stamped on the bottom of the headstock?

There isn't on my Special Issue. I don't know if they leave date stamps off custom or semi custom builds.
 
A lot of rosewood and even ebony fretboards are stained to even out the dark color of the wood. Not saying that's the case here. But you can't always rely on the color to determine the wood.Fabulous Sundae. Just beautiful. Congratulations!

I asked a similar question directly to Mim regarding the fretboard woods used, and the possibility of the use of a dye or stain.

Mims answer:
"I believe it is ebony and mango. It could be rosewood but not dyed"
 
No date or stamp inside, but it does have one of my favorite features there: a pencil mark made by Pops!

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(Sorry about the lighting here, it was a tricky shot to get...)
 
This is an excellent point.

I think I will email KoAloha, see if they can shed some light on it. In the end, I suppose in the end it kind of doesn't matter as I don't intend to sell it or take it international so CITES shouldn't be an issue, but I am curious.
 
Yeah, the pictures were taken in the game room (formerly the dining room.) I don't think we have a copy of Five Tribes, but I'll have to double check. We don't get as much time to play games these days as we would like, but when *isn't* that true? :)
 
In case anyone was wondering about the blem, it is pretty hard to see, but I did my best with a picture. It is maybe 3 mm long if I am generous with the tape measure and on the G string side on the back:

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It is easier to feel with a finger than to see. Lighting this one was quite tricky. Just a tiny ding, but it does two things:1. Gives it more personality and 2. Saved me a little money.

Speaking of personality, there is a neat variation in the wood that I have never seen before. One half of the front and one half of the back have this weird sort of textured look. (The front and back that show this might have been facing when the board was cut is my guess.) You can see it here in a picture of the back:

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The kind of marbled texture in the upper half of the image is missing from the bottom half. It is perfectly smooth to the touch and can't be seen unless you are really close to it. I don't know if it was a natural variation in the wood or if it was something that happened when it was cut, but it looks neat, in my opinion.
 
Wow, looks like a great ukulele, and definitely a nice NUD.
I don't have UAS, I don't have UAS, I don't have UAS....

Oh, it's a concert body with a tenor neck. (Yes, I checked Mim's site, LOL.) I need a concert neck, so whew, UAS can calm down for now.
 
Wow congrats on a fantastic catch. I don't think they used rosewood as fingerboard material for a very long time. When I did the factory tour last fall they had a huge stack of ebony boards, and a smaller stack of koa boards for the rosette models. Ebony and rosewood feel very different, with ebony being much smoother with tighter grain.

Edit: I just checked Mim's site and it seems all KoAlohas that I had a look at listed rosewood; I think that's not correct and they may not have updated their specs in more than a year.
 
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While the Pineapple Sunday, with its tenor scale neck on a concert body, has an extremely generous 38 mm nut width, the string-to-string spacing might surprise you. I happened to be measuring these things (I keep track of all of these things in a spreadsheet) and I noticed something odd. I had also recently purchased a Kala KA-FMCG concert ukulele, and while its nut is only 35 mm, the string-to-string spacing is identical on the Pineapple Sunday at about 27 mm from G to A.
KoAloha uses a wide binding on their necks. Note how the fret ends don’t reach to the sides of the neck.
 
I am hoping that I can help solve some of the questions about this particular Pineapple Sunday. As expressed on a different thread, Pops had sent me three of these to sell as a fundraiser for our choir at Mainstage Center for the Arts. I purchased one myself. In order to sell them, I needed some more detail on them. Here is how Pops responded:

Here are the features of this batch:

A. The pegs are normally black oxide but we ran out and I had to substitute the gold finished
Geared tuners.
B. The fretboard and the bridge have been changed to ebony wood for a smoother
action along the entire fretboard. Ebony also contributes to elevate the "looks" of the
ukulele making it very distinguished and classy.
C. The fret dots have been replaced by curly maple fret "bands" that are original to ukulele. I
would venture to say that UkeSA and KoAloha are the first and only ukulele makers that
have inaugurated this original feature on the Pineapple Sunday model.
E. The debossed grid on the face has been minimalized to accent the beauty of the koa
instead of drawing attention to the former elaborate grid pattern

Below is a pic of the one I have:
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IMG_2671.jpgIMG_2672.jpg
 
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