I went down to The Music Emporium in Lexington, MA to look at mid-line Pono and Martin concerts. They're the only place within driving distance that stocks mid to high end ukuleles. They had a few Kamakas and Kanileas too. Nice to see and try them in person.
Long story short, they also had a used Ko'olau C1 concert. From what I gather that model is from early 2000 and was Noa Bonk's attempt to make an affordable Ko'olau selling for less than a grand but built with the same attention to detail and quality that the more expensive Ko'olau models have. I don't think they made any money with them because they don't sell them anymore. Instead Ko'olau came out with the less expensive Pono brand and now all Ko'olau branded ukuleles are wicked expensive custom builds.
This C1 sounds as good as any of the other "K" brands in the store and sold for significantly less. Great intonation up the neck and no loss of volume up there either.
Long story short, they also had a used Ko'olau C1 concert. From what I gather that model is from early 2000 and was Noa Bonk's attempt to make an affordable Ko'olau selling for less than a grand but built with the same attention to detail and quality that the more expensive Ko'olau models have. I don't think they made any money with them because they don't sell them anymore. Instead Ko'olau came out with the less expensive Pono brand and now all Ko'olau branded ukuleles are wicked expensive custom builds.
This C1 sounds as good as any of the other "K" brands in the store and sold for significantly less. Great intonation up the neck and no loss of volume up there either.