Ukulele Related News from NAMM 2020

Kanile'a continued...

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My first time at NAMM. It was a bit overwhelming. I took a few pictures. Here's some from the Martin space... The 5K was really nice. They were still displaying the Konter and the Bruddah Iz ukes. I can confirm that the made in Nazareth models all have that slight vanilla smell but the Konter was way more pronounced. Ukes are a small part of Martin does - most people there were there for the guitars.

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Cheers!
Rich
 
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Here are some pics from the Kala Booth. some fun new entry level ukedelic ones and the ebony and zizicote models looked great! The ebony model was really striking. There were so many people at this booth and it was on the main floor with the guitars. much louder than the floor downstairs. I looked at the Elites, but these seemed to be the new stuff they were promoting. Kala appears to really be going after every price point.

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Here are some pics of the KoAloha anniversary models. Love the KoAloha crew. They are a great bunch and everyone I spoke with from Paul, Brian, and Lloyd were just super friendly and awesome.

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Kamaka had a lot of the same lineup as before. They did have one Jake Blue model on display with a really fancy fretboard. Caught a lot of the kanikapila at the end of the day which was amazing. Chatted briefly with Fred and Chris who are just as nice as humble and down to earth as you can be. They did have one Tenor HF-3D2I with crazy curly koa. I wish I took a picture of that one.

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Kanlie'a had some really nice ukes and Joe is just the nicest man.

The one with the blue Koa wood and turtle inlay was amazing and showcases some of their custom work that Kanile'a is doing. The platinum edition this year played extremely well. Did I mention how salt of the earth Joe and his family are?

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Enya had a really interesting booth. I finally got a chance to play the $90 amazon ones, and they sound really good. This wood one sounded pretty amazing plugged in, and surprisingly, sounded pretty good acoustically as well. However, the fancy inlay on the fretboard messed me up a little because the inlay was on the 6th fret marker instead of the fifth, but the fret dots on the side of the fretboard were correct, so I just had to ignore the top of the fretboard. It played really smoothly and was actually very surprising.

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I fell in love a bit with this one from Takumi. It was built by Eiichi Sumi of Sumi Kobo. Tenor scale, spruce top, curly maple back and sides, Koa binding

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all in all, a fun couple of hours. A couple of other observations:

(1) it is a madhouse there- tons of people.
(2) The people at Boveda are really nice and offered me a cup of coffee.
(3) The folks at Music Nomad are super friendly as well.
(4) Saw a lot of our ukulele celebrities, including the folks from the Ukulele site, and youtube stars
(5) The Gator pro gig bags are really nice!
(6) Ohana had a huge display and they are introducing a tenor pineapple shape.
(7) there were a lot of Chinese import manufacturers with what looked like the same import ukes with just different names. I didn't stop by, but they looked kind of the same.
(8) There are way way way way more guitar people in this world than ukulele people. wow.

well, I'm not sure if I'm heading back this year. I wouldn't know where to start looking for other random things, like strings, tuners, etc. Hope my fellow UU forum users enjoy my pictures and observations.

Cheers!
Rich
 
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Fair play to Kanile'a for pushing the boundaries this year - that seems to be my main take from what I have seen reported so far.
 
Fair play to Kanile'a for pushing the boundaries this year - that seems to be my main take from what I have seen reported so far.

I'm not sure how blinging out a few instruments is pushing the boudaries really. There is something a bit 'Liberace' about Kanile'a these days.
 
I'm not sure how blinging out a few instruments is pushing the boudaries really. There is something a bit 'Liberace' about Kanile'a these days.

Well, it's quite different for Kanile'a and more 'different' than anything Koaloha have launched I can see. Plus I'd say a design like this is more than just a bit of bling? 82771876_10156527978336695_5578248939305435136_o.jpg

Of course, there is only so much you can DO to adapt a uke - but like what I am seeing from Kanile'a is all.
 
'Different' and 'pushing the boundaries' are not quite the same thing. It's true we haven't seen a Kanile'a with a soundhole on the side before but we have seen it on many other instruments for many years.

Talking of the.same but different, I've not seen any reports of the Kanile'a P1 yet.
 
Well, I suppose I should have written Kanile'a pushing their own boundaries... ho hum.
 
The workmanship is not in doubt, and I adore that curl. But I agree on the 'Liberace' qualities. Even their perfect gloss alone would make this better looking to me. But the colours literally evoke 'peacock' associations for me.
 
Check my double neck Cocobolo solid I had made, FB ukulele marketplace, also on Craigslist Salem oregon.had TWO made to my specs.
Ortega has a new version of their double-headed Hydra ukulele with laminated Ziricote wood and a Maple fretboard:

https://ortegaguitars.com/products/ukuleles-guitarleles/ukulele/show/Product/hydra-zs/hydra-zs/

I've been thinking of one of those double necks for awhile, but still not sold on the sound quality. I'd probably still go with the original. This one's a little too blinged out for my taste.
 
Well, it's quite different for Kanile'a and more 'different' than anything Koaloha have launched I can see. Plus I'd say a design like this is more than just a bit of bling? View attachment 124484

Of course, there is only so much you can DO to adapt a uke - but like what I am seeing from Kanile'a is all.

I think the new Platinum looks awesome and indeed this is much more than "bling" for the sake of looking good, as Joe had a long story to tell about the meaning of it when I saw it at the factory tour last year. I think that the pattern is also made of very fine beach sand, as are many inlays on their upper-end models. I am getting the distinct impression that Kanile'a tries to position itself as the "premium" Hawaiian brand, as many of the ukes I saw in production at Kanehoe were custom and high-end models, with very few of their base ones.
 
all in all, a fun couple of hours. A couple of other observations:

(7) there were a lot of Chinese import manufacturers with what looked like the same import ukes with just different names. I didn't stop by, but they looked kind of the same.

Thanks for sharing the pics and observations. I have figured a while ago that the vast majority of chinese ukes are all pretty much the same, and made in a bunch of interchangeable factories. The brand labels attached to them just reflect different marketing approaches and names. This does not only include the newer Chinese brands, but also the well-established brand names. The companies mainly focus on marketing and sales, and contract the manufacturing out to production companies that are often independent and can serve many brands, shielded from the public.
 
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