Your thoughts on Klos

I’m curious about the Klos ukuleles. I am thinking that they may make a good travel uke...well, that’s rather obvious..but here’s my deal: I like to travel lightweight and find my Bruko fits the bill. However I play a heap of up the neck music these days and find I do miss the extra frets of a tenor.
So, I wonder if the Klos could travel, with its robust build, without a hard case thereby keeping my carry on luggage to a small footprint.
All that said, I still am not sure how that Klos plays for the ordinary uke player like me. I’ve listened to videos and read the company line but would like to hear from my uke players hear on UU in terms of their Klos experiences. What does it compare to in terms of playability? Like a Koaloha or Kamaka...what is the neck and fretboard like...similar to a MM or Blackbird?

I have one of the early ones (order #11 on the kickstarter campaign), back when I think they still had a few teething issues on their setups. So mine required a bit of work to play really well. But two other players at our jams have one and theirs are fine out of the box. Now that mine is setup well it plays like a dream, better than my Blackbird Farallon at three times the cost. Of course the Farallon sounds better in a side-by-side comparison, but still the Klos is quite good. And honestly if I had bought the Klos first I probably wouldn't have bought the Farallon.

As for ruggedness and travel, the Achilles heel for any composite instrument is the soundboard, which in this case is a foam sandwich covered with carbon fiber cloth on both sides. You may be able to drive a car over the back of this uke (as in the Klos videos), but don't try it face up. So when you mention travel without a hard case I'd have no problem recommending this for backpacking, but train or plane travel I would still worry about having the front caved in by having a suitcase dropped on top without a hard case. Stronger than any wood uke to be sure, but not bulletproof. For the most rugged uke I would still suggest an Outdoor Ukulele (at 1/4th the cost), especially since the Klos neck and fretboard are still wood.

besley said:

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As for ruggedness and travel, the Achilles heel for any composite instrument is the soundboard, which in this case is a foam sandwich covered with carbon fiber cloth on both sides. You may be able to drive a car over the back of this uke (as in the Klos videos), but don't try it face up. So when you mention travel without a hard case I'd have no problem recommending this for backpacking, but train or plane travel I would still worry about having the front caved in by having a suitcase dropped on top without a hard case. Stronger than any wood uke to be sure, but not bulletproof. For the most rugged uke I would still suggest an Outdoor Ukulele (at 1/4th the cost), especially since the Klos neck and fretboard are still wood.

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Thank you for your comments Besley, very helpful. I did not realize that the top of the Klos was foam wrapped, good point about it still being vulnerable in a travel situation. As for the Outdoor Uke, I did try one some years back but its action was quite uncomfortable and the sound...eek...’nuff said.

My KLOS is heavy at 1lb 13oz. Compared that to my Tiny Tenor at 1lb 2oz.

To be fair the KLOS is the Deluxe Acoustic-Electric so it has a 9vt battery and wires and electronics.

The sound is beautiful. It is the uke I leave out to grab and go. I leave it in the car without a care. I let friends play it (even if they don't know how to play!). The wild humidity changes in my house don't affect the tone either.

Compare that to my other wood based ukes which I protect to the nth degree.

cyber3d said:

My KLOS is heavy at 1lb 13oz. Compared that to my Tiny Tenor at 1lb 2oz.

To be fair the KLOS is the Deluxe Acoustic-Electric so it has a 9vt battery and wires and electronics.

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Interesting about the heft of your Klos. I wonder what the standard acoustic Klos weighs.

cyber3d said:

My KLOS is heavy at 1lb 13oz.

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My Klos (non electric) is 690 g, or 1 lb 8 oz. I do however have the carbon fiber support rods in the neck - wonder if those are more dense than the wood part of the neck that they replace?

Besley, the Klos website states that the support rods are cf and as such lighter than wood.

I've handled a Klos a few times. I like them. The sound is good. The carbon fiber looks good. They appear to be durable. I've had my Fluke for several years now but if I didn't have a Fluke I might spend my money on a Klos as a take just about anywhere anytime kind of instrument. The outdoor uke and the enya while perhaps a little more resistant to the elements don't have the sound of a Klos. I'd rather have the sound.

fretie said:

Besley, the Klos website states that the support rods are cf and as such lighter than wood.

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Well I rather supposed that the carbon fiber support rods were made of carbon fiber, but I'd never handled them to know just how dense they are. So I went and looked it up. Turns out a carbon fiber epoxy resin composite has a density of 1.6 g/cc, while typical mahogany is 0.71 g/cc. People think carbon fiber is super light in weight, but that's because it is so strong that comparatively little of it is needed structurally.

So routing out a groove in a mahogany neck and replacing it with a carbon fiber support rods adds weight to an instrument. Which means we still don't know the lowest possible weight of a Klos uke.

I really enjoy my Kloss. I was worried about traveling with a wooden ukulele or keeping it in a hot or cold car. I bought a cross rock hard case on amazon for it and travel with it regularly. I’ve never had a airline have any issues with it. I carry it on and put it in an overhead compartment. Plus it sounds great!

Great thread. Very timely for me. Curious about a few things. First, anyone with a Klos basic acoustic version. Chrome tuners, white button. Are the tuner good quality? Do they have the set up issues I read about on first units sold figured out. That is, if I order on line will it come out of box with good set up. Finally, comment about Farallon does sound better, but if Klos had come along first, perhaps you might just have purchased the Klos. How different are the two sounds. The Farallon is amazing!

One other thing, are the carbon stiffing rods recommended?

I’m retired now. Have five Tenor I’m constantly, humidifying is case. I was going to sell a bunch to buy a Farallon. I’m doing a two month trip to Australia, next year. Sounds like a Klos or Farallon would be ideal! At $499.00 to $539 with carbon rods that is a pretty good price.

Just looking for guidance now that fertie reminded me of that option! Thanks for thread and opinion so far!

I'd get the carbon rods if it were me. I think one can also upgrade the tuners if one wishes and is willing to wait and pay......don't quote me on that one though....

mjh42 said:

I'd get the carbon rods if it were me. I think one can also upgrade the tuners if one wishes and is willing to wait and pay......don't quote me on that one though....

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Why do you recommend the carbon rods?

M3Ukulele said:

Great thread. Very timely for me. Curious about a few things. First, anyone with a Klos basic acoustic version. Chrome tuners, white button. Are the tuner good quality? Do they have the set up issues I read about on first units sold figured out. That is, if I order on line will it come out of box with good set up. Finally, comment about Farallon does sound better, but if Klos had come along first, perhaps you might just have purchased the Klos. How different are the two sounds. The Farallon is amazing!

One other thing, are the carbon stiffing rods recommended?

I’m retired now. Have five Tenor I’m constantly, humidifying is case. I was going to sell a bunch to buy a Farallon. I’m doing a two month trip to Australia, next year. Sounds like a Klos or Farallon would be ideal! At $499.00 to $539 with carbon rods that is a pretty good price.

Just looking for guidance now that fertie reminded me of that option! Thanks for thread and opinion so far!

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The chrome tuners with the white buttons look sort of cheap, but they work just fine. The ratio tuners sure look better, but I didn't feel like spending another $75 just to get the black buttons. Can't really speak to the current setup, but I haven't heard of any further issues. Do note that they are now shipping with a string through bridge design, not the slotted type that came with the original models if that matters to you. I went with the carbon fiber rods just to add to the durability of the instrument. It probably isn't necessary, but not having a truss rod, I felt the upcharge was worth it to ensure a straight neck forever on an instrument that could well see more extremes of weather than the average wooden uke.

The Farallon sound is indeed amazing, and to my ears sounds as good as any Kamaka or high end $1000+ uke I've had the chance to play. The Klos is also good, but more along the lines of a $400 to $600 mid-range solid wood uke. I can hear the difference if I pick up the Farallon first, but if I grab the Klos first I don't find it lacking in tone at all.

Personally I would probably be reluctant to travel with the more expensive Farallon, but it would be totally impervious to the humidity changes you're likely to encounter in Oz, while I imagine the wood neck of the Klos could still have some fret sprout if you spent much time in Alice Springs or Coober Pedy.

We spent the month of February this past winter in Australia on a self-driving tour of the east and south coast, but I left my ukes behind to keep the luggage down (we already carry way too much). At the rate things are going over there I hope there's something left for you to see!

Thanks for comments beset. We’ve moved trip back to April now from July because of the smoke and fires. Also temps are pretty hot. I’ve read on line that early fall is good time to go. Also will travel yo to Cairns to get the warmer weather depending on what we find for weather.

Klos seems to be well priced. I’d like to hear more sample but I assume it would be good. All my tenors are $300- $500 except my custom which is $1400. I have a Fluke but not happy with neck and struggling to find strings that sound good. I have poly fretboard, and just like the day I got the fluke wished I’d upgraded to pegheds and wooden fretboard. Also, snap of neck profile doesn’t suit me.

I got off track, sorry. Thanks for comments. Just discouver low G on two of my tenors that sound good. Anybody doing low Zg with their Klos?

I think, like you, the carbon rod option is the way to go. No interest in the bag, cover or strap. All my ukes except the fluke are in HSC.

Thanks. Still interest like fertie on opinions.

Besley, sorry typo on name above, tired. Ha ha and hate typing on my iPad I learned touch typing in high school and that skill stuck with me all my life in computers. Now I two finger the virtual keyboard. Not a fan. Haha

Also, was scheduled to go in January not July before someone chimes in that their seasons are opposite ours in NA. LOL

Finally, it’s the shape of the Fluke neck, square, not a great profile on my hands. I would really like MFC to shape their necks better.

Anyways still looking at KLO if other owners want to comment.

I have one of the early basic acoustic ones (with the CF rods) before they re-programmed the neck angle. Despite the original neck angle, I have set mine up with at .090" (2.25mm) string height at the 12th fret without any issues.

Overall they are a very nice ukulele, with a caveat or two.

The original string spacing is pretty narrow. The fretboard at the nut is 1.4" so it is wide enough. Originally there was 4mm gap between the edge of the fretboard and the outside strings. This put the string spacing at a little less than 1-1/16". Since I hardly have a ukulele that I haven't tinkered with, I made a new Graph Tech nut and set them up to 3/8"+ center-to-center.

I bought mine with the regular plastic nut and saddle, I replaced the saddle with a Graph Tech one. The cost is so much less than having KLOS install them.

I hate the plastic pearl tuner buttons and large silver tuner stem washers. I had some chrome metal guitar tuner buttons sitting around and also replaced the tuner stem washers with black ones. The tuners are cheap but work fine, after all it is a ukulele and they used to use friction tuners even on tenors.

Mine had an unfortunate problem with the bridge popping off. No problem sending it back to KLOS. They paid the postage there and back. The repair was a little different. They buffed out the soundboard, I presume to clean it, so when I got it back the area around the bridge was gloss. I polished out the rest of the top so it looks fine. The new bridge was not setup as a slotted bridge. They installed it, but then drilled through the sandwich soundboard, essentially turning it into a string through but without a bridge plate. There is no way to determine why it seems to sound better... bridge came loose verses the more positive attachment of the strings to the soundboard. The good news is that after almost a year there are no indents in the inner layer of CF from the beads. The sandwich is plenty strong... but the caveat to that is that I have tuned my KLOS to B.

The KLOS with the lower string height plays very nice. I play up and down the neck and there are no issues, except for a lack of cut-away at times. If you don't like gloss necks, you might want to steel wool it. It is pretty much my take-it-anywhere ukulele and these days I probably play it the most.

About the tuning. To me most tenors sound better tuned to B (re-entrant) and 3 of my 4 tenors are tuned to B. There just seems to be this balance between string mass (size, density, whatever) and soundboard tension. Tuned to C, ligthter strings sound too thin and regular strings seem to choke the soundboard. Some of it might be re-entrant that drives an overall higher tone. In this respect the KLOS is no different. It sounds good tuned to re-entrant C, but I really like it tuned to B. I seems to a have a more open (not sure CF can sound airy) and is more responsive to fingerstyle nuances. My 3 other tenors all solid wood. Two are Koa that I got from Hawaii, (not a K as you would know it), and the other is a cedar top from a local luthier.

All things considered, after almost a year and a half, I am very pleased with the KLOS and would recommend it.

John

"I went with the carbon fiber rods just to add to the durability of the instrument. It probably isn't necessary, but not having a truss rod, I felt the upcharge was worth it to ensure a straight neck forever on an instrument that could well see more extremes of weather than the average wooden uke."

This is why I would go with the carbon fiber rods. I would have to think about upgrading the tuners......the standard tuners I'm sure work so it would be an aesthetic choice....would I want to spend the extra $75.....I'm not sure??

Thanks for detailed response. I think carbon rods are good option. Especially since neck it wood. I don’t like the pickup versions. The silver/white button tuners look generic, so they could be easily swapped out on acoustic version. I don’t mind notch bridges but like string thru even better. Site shows string thru which is good. I could be a saddle swap to Greaphtech no problem. I think KLOS should just standardize on a better nut and saddle on all three. It’s not a huge expense to have a good nut and saddle.

I read BAZ review and his review was good outmof the box. Now a year of production, I’m sure they had learned a lot.

I will have to try B tuning down half a step.

good discussion, I just got a killer setup (really took Baz' feedback to heart) on my Klos deluxe with stiffening rods and I love it, have been a KoAloha fanboy for a long time but if you are after some aggressive JS type playing with direct sound and less overtones this is a great workhorse, beautiful in an amplified live setting.