Woodpecker Instruments?

snowdenn

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Anyone heard of or have any experience with this brand? They make mini/travel guitars and ukuleles at what seems like somewhere between entry level and mid-tier quality/cost. Some of their instrument descriptions say solid koa, though I'm willing to bet they're referring to non-Hawaiian acacia. That's sort of a pet peeve of mine, but besides that, anyone familiar with them or their instruments? Their travel guitars look like kiku/guileles.
 
Something's definitely wrong with their wood descriptions. Several models quote "African blackwood" for both the fingerboard and the neck when that's clearly not true based on the photos - looks more like mahogany necks and generic rosewood substitute fingerboards, certainly not Dalbergia melanoxylon.
 
I think it's more along the lines of Scotch Whisky vs Single Malt Whisky. Kentucky Bourbon vs Kentucky Whiskey. Roquefort vs Blue Cheese, or Champaign vs Sparkling White Wine vs Asti Spumante. Jealously guarded terms and trademarked or legally protected.

The French sued for years to prevent American wine makers from calling their products Champaign. Ditto the Cheese industry. It took decades, but they eventually won in the courts.

Acacia vs Hawaiian Koa.
 
If that neck is African Blackwood, then African Blackwood is sure different from Tasmanian Blackwood.

It sounds too good to be true with a solid koa ukulele, build in the EU, selling at EUR 199. That is way cheaper than Brukos plain Mahogany models.
Since Koa is usually more expensive than generic Akacia, I get the suspicion.

Anyway, pretty good looking instruments, I hope to read a review.
 
Interesting! It is always good to find a brand that doesn't come from China! I have just looked at their website ... it says that they are designed in Holland and made in Europe. I should imagine that probably means that they are made in Eastern Europe somewhere.
 
Yes, 'Made in Europe' doesn't in any way fill me with confidence. I'd much rather have Chinese made than Romanian/Bulgarian made. I know which one would be better made and last longer.
 
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Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that koa is a species of acacia, and the actual scientific name for one that's endemic to Hawaii. So koa would literally only be acacia grown in Hawaii, not just colloquially, but technically.

If it were just a matter of semantics, maybe it wouldn't be a noteworthy distinction, but to my ears, koa is sonically preferable to other kinds of acacia. More importantly, koa typically commands a much higher price, whether because of its characteristics or limited supply or exotic origins or branding or whatever. Obviously it's up to the consumer to decide whether the markup is justified, but regardless of branding and actual tonal qualities, the premium that is paid for koa makes it problematic when a company markets their non-Hawaiian acacia as koa. If genuine koa costs more, for both builders and buyers, then calling something koa that's not seems dishonest (or ignorant).

I don't know that this company is doing this; perhaps they're really selling koa in their instruments at remarkably low prices. But it seems doubtful. Giving some benefit of the doubt, maybe they just don't know better. Then again, I've seen companies do this where it just seems like it's a matter of dishonesty, in order to push sales of cheap ukes on newcomers. And I've never seen makers of higher end ukuleles call non-Hawaiian acacia "koa."

That said, I find their travel guitars interesting as possible kikus/guileles pace @Bill1. But I haven't been able to find out their scale lengths; I was hoping someone on here had some experience with them, and could speak to their quality.
 
I have just purchased a soprano ukulele branded 'Koa Pili Koko'. It was made in China and I bought it direct from there for a mere US$115 including delivery by airmail. Despite the name 'Koa Pili Koko', the vendor (Aiersi) make it clear in their advertising that the timber was not necessarily grown in Hawaii. So it is solid acacia, but not the Hawaiian variety. It arrived a few days ago and I am very pleased with its appearance.

It produces a strong, balanced sound but there is a problem that I have raised with Aiersi, and it is only fair to await their response before making any further comment.

John Colter
 
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There is Acacia koa which is endemic to Hawaii and about 1300 other species of Acacia grown in many temperate regions around the world such as Acacia preta which is used by Pono and other manufacturers. There are also different grades of wood of course. Gretsch for example used Acacia koa on their solid Koa models a few years ago but it was of a lower quality and much cheaper as a result. Looking at the examples on their website these also seem to be of an inferior grade but some of them don't look like Koa at all to me.
 
I think it's more along the lines of Scotch Whisky vs Single Malt Whisky. Kentucky Bourbon vs Kentucky Whiskey. Roquefort vs Blue Cheese, or Champaign vs Sparkling White Wine vs Asti Spumante. Jealously guarded terms and trademarked or legally protected.

The French sued for years to prevent American wine makers from calling their products Champaign. Ditto the Cheese industry. It took decades, but they eventually won in the courts.

Acacia vs Hawaiian Koa.

I don't think I understand. You seem to be saying that these things are only nominally different but single malt whisky is vastly superior to a blended one and Roquefort is heads and shoulders above blue cheese although not as good as Stilton.
 
----and, of course, all Cheddar cheese does come from the Cheddar Gorge - NOT!

John Colter
 
Don't say anything about Double Gloucester; I want to keep my illusions. In my mind, there's a big cheese factory right next to Edward II's grave site.
 
Bleu d'Auvergne, which is made close to where we live in Southwest France is quite nice ... but OBVIOUSLY not as good as Stilton! (How did this conversation go from Dutch ukuleles to cheese?)
 
I absolutely refuse to believe you could get a solid koa uke around 200€. You'd be lucky to find a laminate koa soprano for that price. I'm guessing they are actually just acacia unless they've somehow managed to source some incredibly cheap (and probably low-grade) koa. Otherwise their ukes look decent and I'd be intrigued if they offered some other size than tenor. But still, I am suspicious about the low price. "Designed in Amsterdam, made in Europe" definitely means they are manufactured in a cheaper European country, probably in the East.
 
I don't think I understand. You seem to be saying that these things are only nominally different but single malt whisky is vastly superior to a blended one and Roquefort is heads and shoulders above blue cheese although not as good as Stilton.

There are some very good single malt whiskies made outside of Scotland. They are made in the same way using stills designed after some in a Scots distillery. They use peated barley mash. They cannot call it "Scotch" because it is not distilled, bonded, taxed and made in Scotland. There are a couple of Japanese single malt whiskies that have gotten excellent reviews and taste like very high-end single-malt Scotch. Other countries make them as well. I only used single-malt because it is not a blend. And people associate it with good quality Scotch. I personally like several blended Scotch Whiskies. As well as single-malts.

I don't like either Roquefort or Blue Cheese, never had Stilton. So I can't comment on the quality of cheeses that smell like well-used gym socks. I only know that American cheese makers for years sold American blue cheeses as being "Roquefort Cheese" and were sued by French cheese makers who objected saying that only this type of Cheese, made in the Roquefort region can be called Roquefort. Ditto Champaign.

Sherry is only made in a particular part of Spain. No one else can use that term for their wine. There is a legal battle going on about who can legitimately call their product "Balsamic".

All of these names for product categories have tremendous cachet and marketing power. People will pay more for Roquefort cheese than they will Blue Cheese. Scotch Whisky is a highly desired product sold around the world. The copy cats are gaining in popularity, but still lag in commanding the higher prices.

The reason brands are jealously guarded and defended is because a good one with high recognition can demand more money for the products sold under that brand. That applies to some product categories.

Napa Valley for example. There have been several studies done that have provided a free bottle of wine to diners in an upscale test kitchen/restaurant if they were willing to answer a questionnaire after the meal. The meals served were identical. The wine served was identical, the only thing that changed was the label on the wine. Some had a made up name of a winery located in Napa Valley. The other label said it was made in some other state.

The findings showed that the people who thought the wine was from Napa Valley rated the wine higher than the other state brand. They also gave the quality of the meal higher marks as well! Just because the diners thought their wine was a higher quality from a well known area in California. They made the association that the meal was better because of the wine served with it.

The point I was trying to make is that Hawaii jealously guards the name “Koa” against others claiming that the Acacia grown elsewhere is Koa.

Perception is reality.
 
I can't comment on their products, but this caught my eye on Twitter:

Screenshot_20200806-114454.jpg
 
Back to Woodpecker guitars, I am pretty sure they are made for them by APC in Portugal who has a history of marketing acacia as "koa". I like the small guitars, but that sort of labelling (Europe for Portugal, Koa for Acacia) turns me off. Why not just stand by your product for what it is: a small guitar made from Acacia in Portugal...
 
Back to Woodpecker guitars, I am pretty sure they are made for them by APC in Portugal who has a history of marketing acacia as "koa". I like the small guitars, but that sort of labelling (Europe for Portugal, Koa for Acacia) turns me off. Why not just stand by your product for what it is: a small guitar made from Acacia in Portugal...

This makes sense. I think I've heard that they also make Thomann's house brand, and the Woodpecker instruments remind me of Thomann's. Which are another group of instruments for which reviews and write-ups are somewhat scarce.
 
I would avoid these proprietary brand instruments like the plague. I've had a bad experience with a Thomann uke and haven't heard anything good about their instruments at all, but this applies to other similar brands/retailers as well. However, that doesn't mean these Woodpecker ukes are bad. I would still expect them to be decent, particularly because that same Portuguese factory should be able to produce some ok ukes if I recall correctly.
 
I would avoid these proprietary brand instruments like the plague. I've had a bad experience with a Thomann uke and haven't heard anything good about their instruments at all, but this applies to other similar brands/retailers as well. However, that doesn't mean these Woodpecker ukes are bad. I would still expect them to be decent, particularly because that same Portuguese factory should be able to produce some ok ukes if I recall correctly.

Oh man, what happened with the Thomann uke?
 
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