Many of you know that I am friends with Alvin Okami, founder of KoAloha ukulele, and it is a great time to be his friend as Alvin is in the midst of a personal renaissance experience. Now that KoAloha is doing well and a major ukulele brand, Alvin has the time to work on new projects and building his new company, Ukulele Specialties of America (Uke SA). It is a time for him to create new forms and new ukes, along with a number of variations on old favorites. He is totally redoing his Wow and Star Spangled Banger, along with a new soprano called the AO, a spinoff on the Hawaiian word "AO" meaning "new beginning" and his initials, "Alvin Okami."
A few months ago, Alvin told me of a variation on the Pineapple Sunday that he was working on. He sent me a number of prototypes to try and all were wonderful. He swore me to secrecy but has told me that he is now almost ready to launch the new version. I asked him if I could tell people about it and he gave me the okay, and also the permission to sell the prototypes he sent me, at a significant discount, should I decide to do so.
The basic design of this new Pineapple Sunday is derived from Pops original Pineapple Sunday that was introduced about 15 years ago.
This original design came with a fully debossed grid that mimicked the natural grid on a real pineapple. It became the most popular design and orders became too much for Pops alone to accommodate so the decision was made to retire production indefinitely.
However, now that Pops is able to just concentrate on his new UkeSA brand, he has revised the Pineapple Sunday. The new approach utilizing the same body shape of the original but having an incredibly gifted artist paint the face with artwork is a unique approach to re-introduce the Pineapple Sunday with a totally new look.
This new concept PIneapple Sunday is being showcased individually as Pops and his artist collaborates to create masterpieces of art fused with a masterpiece ukulele called "Pops, One of A Kind Pineapple Sunday". A befitting phrase that would capture the essence of this collaborative work is "A Masterpiece of Musart". Each and every uke in this series is "one of a Kind" built by Pops, himself, and will most definitely be a collector's item.
Beneath the painted face lies the best tonewood in the world. Namely, Engelman Spruce. The sides are select koa wood The back is also select koa wood with an emphasis on beautifully figured grain that stands out all by itself.
The fretboard is ebony with fret markers that replace paua abalone dots. The markers are now called "fret bands". The fret band wood is zebra wood and adds a tasteful, classy, elegant and original approach to standard pearl/abalone dots found on the majority of ukulele fretboards.
The headstock has been modified from the KoAloha Crown profile to represent the leaves of the pineapple. The KoAloha logo has also been abandoned in favor of a colored miniature pineapple affixed on the center of the headstock.
The tuners are Grover (Black Nickel) Geared tuners.
These "one of Kind Pineapple Sundays" will differ from the Acacia UkeSA models made in Thailand in that each of these are made exclusively by Pops in Hawaii using select Koa.
This uke is a beauty to look at, as well as play.
Take a look at the prototypes that Pops sent me and let me know your thoughts.
A few months ago, Alvin told me of a variation on the Pineapple Sunday that he was working on. He sent me a number of prototypes to try and all were wonderful. He swore me to secrecy but has told me that he is now almost ready to launch the new version. I asked him if I could tell people about it and he gave me the okay, and also the permission to sell the prototypes he sent me, at a significant discount, should I decide to do so.
The basic design of this new Pineapple Sunday is derived from Pops original Pineapple Sunday that was introduced about 15 years ago.
This original design came with a fully debossed grid that mimicked the natural grid on a real pineapple. It became the most popular design and orders became too much for Pops alone to accommodate so the decision was made to retire production indefinitely.
However, now that Pops is able to just concentrate on his new UkeSA brand, he has revised the Pineapple Sunday. The new approach utilizing the same body shape of the original but having an incredibly gifted artist paint the face with artwork is a unique approach to re-introduce the Pineapple Sunday with a totally new look.
This new concept PIneapple Sunday is being showcased individually as Pops and his artist collaborates to create masterpieces of art fused with a masterpiece ukulele called "Pops, One of A Kind Pineapple Sunday". A befitting phrase that would capture the essence of this collaborative work is "A Masterpiece of Musart". Each and every uke in this series is "one of a Kind" built by Pops, himself, and will most definitely be a collector's item.
Beneath the painted face lies the best tonewood in the world. Namely, Engelman Spruce. The sides are select koa wood The back is also select koa wood with an emphasis on beautifully figured grain that stands out all by itself.
The fretboard is ebony with fret markers that replace paua abalone dots. The markers are now called "fret bands". The fret band wood is zebra wood and adds a tasteful, classy, elegant and original approach to standard pearl/abalone dots found on the majority of ukulele fretboards.
The headstock has been modified from the KoAloha Crown profile to represent the leaves of the pineapple. The KoAloha logo has also been abandoned in favor of a colored miniature pineapple affixed on the center of the headstock.
The tuners are Grover (Black Nickel) Geared tuners.
These "one of Kind Pineapple Sundays" will differ from the Acacia UkeSA models made in Thailand in that each of these are made exclusively by Pops in Hawaii using select Koa.
This uke is a beauty to look at, as well as play.
Take a look at the prototypes that Pops sent me and let me know your thoughts.
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