The NEW KoAlohas

My KTM-00 from HMS gets delivered tomorrow. I spent several days going over the photos as well and the first one I picked out sold before I made my decision. Then as I looked more and more at them I was getting confused about which ones were actually the new ones and which ones were older models.

I did the same thing! I wanted the one that they used in the video demo, but it sold the same day I decided I wanted it haha. At some point, they were listing the 'new' design, there were a few that had new body shape, but it has the old neck and it was 15 fret to body instead of 14 fret to body like the new design is supposed to have. Mine is from the 1st batch listed. You won't be disappointed. Mine sou ds better each day. Sadly I have to send it back to have some intonation issue straightened out. But yea you'll fall in love.
 
Ok I give up. How the heck do I post a picture from my computer. I've been a part of other gear related forums and never bothered to figure it out. Don't understand why its so difficult. I clicked on the 'insert image' icon in the quick reply window. Chose the picture. And it just gives me this "View attachment 121243" Please send help
 

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Oops. I guess I sort of did it. Why did it rotate the picture?? Sorry everyone.
 
Ok I give up. How the heck do I post a picture from my computer. I've been a part of other gear related forums and never bothered to figure it out. Don't understand why its so difficult. I clicked on the 'insert image' icon in the quick reply window. Chose the picture. And it just gives me this "View attachment 121243" Please send help

I love the striped Koa and the ebony fretboard really sets it off. Beautiful. Congratulations and enjoy!
 
Lovely Ko'Aloha KTM-00. These are excellent tenors. And I understand the new ones are even better than my Dec. 2017-made one.
 
When you take a photo on your phone it might take up megabytes of storage. The owners of UU don't have infinite storage so the software blocks large jpg files, also it takes computer time to send big files, clogging up UU. You need to compress the photos to comply with the size requirements. Its not hard to do, search google for "compress photos" and include the name of your device and you are likely to find instructions.
I find it hard to understand this fascination with photos of items being sold in numbers in on-line shops. We used to just order a ukulele, life is much simpler when you do that. Koaloha are going to be making a lot of these ukes (I hope) trying to get a photo of each one and hoping to buy it first may not be the best use of your ukulele time, although there is nothing wrong with it if that is how you want to spend your ukulele time. I like to use my ukulele time playing the instruments not looking at photos of instruments that are already sold to someone else. I predict that in 10 years most of the production batch are going to look exactly the same after the wood has aged. Worrying about a dark or light tone when the wood is freshly finished may be a waste of time.

Cool, thanks for the info! I assumed it had to be hosted on a website and I had to include a url or something. Thanks again.

As for a picking a specific uke from a particular retailer, I guess its all preference, but for a high end/ high priced instrument like Koaloha, I love the option of choosing my exact uke. Especially since wood grain varies so much(Koa is all over the place, super light/ super dark). I really don't like the look of light Koa, so for me, the ability to choose my uke is awesome. Its not like buying a 'black Fender Telecaster'(you know the color is going to look the same on all of a particular model). As far as wasting my 'uke time', I work a desk job so I have plenty of time to look at pictures on theukulelesite.com haha. Its not like I go home after work, and obsess over pictures rather than playing my ukulele. Actually, my actual 'uke time' is really limited to after my little ones go to bed. So my tiny window of time after work to do anything at all for myself is mostly dedicated to playing the uke haha. In that aspect I spend my uke time very wisely(according to me, not my wife). Anyway, to each his own!
 
does the new Koaloha have shorter fretboard length since there is one fewer fret to the body?
 
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I'm resurrecting this thread to see if anyone who has played both will be willing to share their experience of the difference between the new and old models. I've watched the HMS video, but would like to hear from someone who is not selling it. Their advice, of course, is that the new one is better but it's best to have both (which I think was more facetious than not).

But for those who have played both, what is your experience with the two, and how different is the sound after all those adjustments?
 
I am digging this thread up since I am a bit confused about the timeline when these "new" KoAlohas have been rolled out. I have seen discussions about it in 2017 but seems they are only available from 2019-2020?
 
I am digging this thread up since I am a bit confused about the timeline when these "new" KoAlohas have been rolled out. I have seen discussions about it in 2017 but seems they are only available from 2019-2020?
KoAloha is constantly changing their design. This thread is specifically about changes in 2019, and since then several other things have changed. It is difficult to keep track of all the details every year. I certainly wish there was a website or even just a document that shows the details of KoAloha evolution.
 
I like to think about it in this silly way: if the only ukulele we had access to was the KoAloha Opio (not even the full Hawaiian models)...and that was it for ukuleles...we'd all be pretty fortunate. I just see it as the best ukuleles keep getting better. Ironically, Kamaka and Martin seem to be the only two companies that are not innovating or trying to improve their product.
Ever hear of New Coke ? :)
 
Ever hear of New Coke ? :)
I recently spoke to Alan on the phone and he said that they wanted to get a more balance sound across the strings and also wanted to have better sustain on the A string and less of a boomy sound on the G string. Hence the slight change in design. That the gist of it to keep it short. I have the new KTM-25 which is essentially the same as the new ones. Unfortunately I don’t have the old one to compare with. I do have an opio longneck concert. They sound too different from each other and the sustain is significantly less on the opio
 
I recently spoke to Alan on the phone and he said that they wanted to get a more balance sound across the strings and also wanted to have better sustain on the A string and less of a boomy sound on the G string. Hence the slight change in design. That the gist of it to keep it short. I have the new KTM-25 which is essentially the same as the new ones. Unfortunately I don’t have the old one to compare with. I do have an opio longneck concert. They sound too different from each other and the sustain is significantly less on the opio
I was referring to UkeStuffs comment about Kamaka and Martin .
 
I think @kaimuki means that when you've got something that works, it's a good idea not to mess with it too much.

Since New Coke happened during my time and I used to drink a lot fo that stuff, I still remember it. Basically, Coke was worried that people's taste has gone towards Pepsi (a bit up-front sweet) so they made New Coke (and it didn't turn out all that well for Coke... misread the market comletely). If Martin or Kamaka made their ukes sound less intrigue and more obvious, where some might think it's the "modern and progress" sound... I think the New Coke analogy is pretty good.
 
BTW I'm not bashing the KoAloha sound; in fact, I own a KoAloha uke myself. I think KoAloha maybe still at the stage of fine tuning its sound legacy... or it just doesn't have enough to be too worried about (and hence can afford to make large changes).
 
Cool, thanks for the info! I assumed it had to be hosted on a website and I had to include a url or something. Thanks again.

As for a picking a specific uke from a particular retailer, I guess its all preference, but for a high end/ high priced instrument like Koaloha, I love the option of choosing my exact uke. Especially since wood grain varies so much(Koa is all over the place, super light/ super dark). I really don't like the look of light Koa, so for me, the ability to choose my uke is awesome. Its not like buying a 'black Fender Telecaster'(you know the color is going to look the same on all of a particular model). As far as wasting my 'uke time', I work a desk job so I have plenty of time to look at pictures on theukulelesite.com haha. Its not like I go home after work, and obsess over pictures rather than playing my ukulele. Actually, my actual 'uke time' is really limited to after my little ones go to bed. So my tiny window of time after work to do anything at all for myself is mostly dedicated to playing the uke haha. In that aspect I spend my uke time very wisely(according to me, not my wife). Anyway, to each his own!
I'm with you, I pretty much always want to pick out my own uke. Yes, they all vary, especially the koa ones. I love the fact that the Ukulele Site, and some others, post the pictures of the individual uke. Almost every one of my ukes is unique in appearance and chosen because it visually appealed to me in some way. In the case of my spalted mango TT, I asked Mika to play it to verify the sound quality. I love beautiful woods, and that is a great part of the appeal of ukuleles for me.
 
Kamaka has spent 100+ years on refining their soprano (standard) sound.

I think their tenor has the most balanced sound of all of the K-brand tenors. And the latest Ko'aloha KTM-00 version has moved closer to the Kamaka HF-3 sound. Smoother, better balance, more complex, without sacrificing the low end of the uke. (Low-G or C.) I think it will still appeal to everyone who likes the "Ko'Aloha Sound."

Ko'Aloha has also experimented and offered other wood combinations. And Kamaka has as well, in a more limited way.

BTW: Coke and Pepsi both taste different in different parts of the country. Both are slightly sweeter in Southern states than in the Northern ones. The distributors often adjust the sweetness slightly depending upon the preferences in their region. (Told to me by a Coke distributor about 30 years ago.) Maybe because Dr. Pepper is so popular in the South.
 
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