Jerryc41
Well-known member
I like your signature -
"Got a whole lot of nothing, and I watch it like a hawk." - Louis Prima, 'I'm Living in a Great Big Way'
It reminds me of this one -
"The food here is awful."
"Yes, and such small portions."
The NEW KoAlohas
- Thread starter KaminTheWeaver
- Start date
I like your signature -
"Got a whole lot of nothing, and I watch it like a hawk." - Louis Prima, 'I'm Living in a Great Big Way'
It reminds me of this one -
"The food here is awful."
"Yes, and such small portions."
Jerryc41
Well-known member
It's customers like you who keep the custom builders in business.
sam13
Well-known member
I owned this model of KoAloha before ... it has great sustain and is a lot of fun to play.
frolicks
Well-known member
I‘m pretty sure they will. I suppose it has to do with the restrictions on the international rosewood trade. It requires quite a bit of paperwork to get all the necessary permissions and certificates to sell an instrument that contains rosewood internationally. I think it was about three years back, that all kinds of rosewood were added to the CITES treaty.
Koaloha were a little unfortunate here, as these new restrictions were introduced shortly after they had changed all their fretboards from Koa to rosewood. I‘m sure that‘s tthe reason for the new changes. But of course they are still good enough PR specialists to advertise these changes as a full relaunch of their different lines of instruments.
merlin666
Well-known member
The change to ebony happened much longer than a year ago for all Koa and Mango models. My concern with that is the higher density of ebony, and those ebony fretboards felt pretty heavy compared to the koa ones they have for the rosette models. I assume that they make the fretboards thinner now to save some weight. In the video they also mentioned the reduced weight compared to the previous models, and I wonder where else they could save weight as they were already light builds compared to other brands.
TobyDog
Well-known member
I picked it up from from a song sung by the great ukulele player, Del Rey. Anytime you have a chance to see her perform, jump on it!
Jerryc41
Well-known member
Yes, I know. She was at the Funky Frets Uke Fest last year. Excellent!
Tomthebaptist
Well-known member
For all of you KoAloha owners that are now going to rid yourself of those old crummy tenors to buy a new one, I nominate myself to become the world’s first KoAloha rescue home for all of those unwanted instruments...
I will sale you my KoAloha Opio Tenor Acacia. It in like new condition - $400 shipped.
RafterGirl
Well-known member
If they would only upgrade from friction tuners to UPTs, I’d be happy.
ghostrdr
Well-known member
I remember on the Ukulele Site Podcast interview with Paul Okami, he said there would be an announcement hopefully by NAMM and maybe before and that friction tuners "may or may not" be a thing of the past.
So, you may get your wish!
I love the Koaloha tenor I've got.... it was purchased from someone here on UU. I've just changed it from High G to a Fremont Soloist Low-G, and I can't imagine it sounding any better than it already does. Since I strung it low G I've hardly picked up my Kala Aratani mnodel (my previous go to tenor for low g, same low g string, but aquila super nylguts instead of flourocarbon). It's just so sweet and loud and I really love the neck profile. It has a lot in common feel wise with my Moon Birds. The only reason I could imagine getting a new one would be to get a pick up installed, although I could just as easily have a good luthier install one in the one I have now (there is a great luthier nearby that put a 5.0 in my 2005 Kamaka Ohta San).
Jerryc41
Well-known member
Definitely! I'm sure they could have them make the buttons look the same.
Wet-Skunk
Well-known member
I have one from 2014 that was strung Low G. I may turn that one back to it and buy one of the new ones. I like the inlays. The model I have just has a routed out logo.
Teddy
Well-known member
Did you have to make any adjustments to the nut for the soloist?
Jan D
Well-known member
I have a Fremont Soloist Low G string on my KoAloha concert, and no nut adjustment was required.
Jan D.
Just ordered the new KTM-00 from HMS. I was getting ready to order the 'old' one from their site, when I caught wind of the new one coming out, so I waited. It sounds beautiful in the HMS video. I really like the darker koa on this first batch of the new models so I ordered the one that caught my eye. I can update when I receive it! This is my first expensive uke(well, 1st one thats more than the $389 Kala KA-SA-T that I currenty have).
KaminTheWeaver
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2018
- Messages
- 220
- Reaction score
- 224
You’ll have to tell us what you think! I got one of the “old” KTMs last November, and remember pulling the trigger because the koa was especially streaky. After reading some of the responses here, I think I’ll switch it to a low G to see how it changes the sound.
One of the blessings and curses of KoAloha is that they are always changing their instruments in an effort to improve. It’s great to see the innovation at work, but challenging to feel that your model may be obsolete.
Jerryc41
Well-known member
I'm not concerned with that. KoAloha makes great ukuleles, and whatever you buy will always be top grade.
Last edited:
Teddy
Well-known member
I just pulled the trigger on a KTM myself, very excited to play it. I picked a Fremont low g too. This should do me for a while.
UkeStuff
Well-known member
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.
