NUD: Kanile'a Islander SMS-4

My uke-shuffling is complete! Having bought a tenor, sold that tenor, bought a custom tenor, bought a flight travel uke, and sold the flight travel uke.

New arrival - Kanile'a Islander SMS-4

It is a soprano with laminate Spruce Top, laminate Mahogany B&S and most importantly for me 38mm nut width!

I ordered it with worth brown strings as these came on my new tenor, and I really like them. They are still stretching in but so far it sounds pretty nice with decent sustain and good clear notes. Doesn't sound so good picked but it may improve when they stretch in - I mainly use the tenor for picking anyways.

Build wise, it's super lightweight, and as with my previous islander the build is impeccable with very few imperfections (there's a couple of very tiny things if I look very closely) and I have no complaints. Like my previous islander they are unbranded geared tuners and I find them a bit crunchy, but they do the job.

It sounds pretty bright and clear, which is what I was going for as my tenor is low-G and pretty deep bodied so it's very bassy. This is the complete opposite, and I will try and get a sound sample up once the strings bed in (and if I remember).

Enjoy the photos!

Congrats. I had an Islander soprano that was very nice. Now you have variety, plus a nice laminate travel uke if needed.

Islanders are very nice upper entry level instruments. For less than $20, you can get Grover Sta-Tite 9NW Tuners, which are drop-in replacements and may work smoother.

UkerDanno said:

Islanders are very nice upper entry level instruments. For less than $20, you can get Grover Sta-Tite 9NW Tuners, which are drop-in replacements and may work smoother.

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I, too, love my Islander Soprano, purchased from Uke Republic a few years ago for about $100+ bucks. It's laminate Acacia. I bought some KoAloha friction tuners on Flea Market Music, and dropped them in. Put some wood bridge pins in, just for fun. I wouldn't part with it for anything.

Enjoy your SMS-4!

June

Thanks everyone, I'm really happy with it as it settles in. I wouldn't say that my tenor has such a typical uke sound but this little one definitely does. I travel a lot so I'm really happy with how thin/light it is. I may well upgrade the tuners at some point but they seem much better than the ones on the tenor, probably a lot to do with lower tensions on them so they aren't being pulled quite so hard. The islanders really are great quality for the price!

Congratulations. I've never played an Islander, but I sure have heard lots of good things...

Good looking soprano. I'm glad to hear it's light and sounds fine strummed.

Congrats!