CPG
Well-known member
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Rq5qfDXvfe8cBtUU6
EDIT: Sound sample added https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dhK8tZG10U
Having sold off all my ukes except for one vintage soprano, I'd been hunting for 2nd nice soprano for a little while now. I'd been wanting a Pohaku, but when I was looking there weren't any on his site that were quite my cup of tea and I wasn't sure enough about what I wanted to custom order one. So as I considered a number of available options I would regularly check the Pohaku website to see if anything I wanted popped up. Then all of the sudden last Monday I saw this soprano listed. It was exactly what I had been waiting for and to top it off it was a couple hundred dollars less than I had seen his instruments listed before. The description said that he was using a new shellac based finishing method that resulted in a matte finish which he felt fit his smaller instruments better than the usual gloss laquer he had been using. It is apprently also much easier to apply and thus enabled him to sell his instruments for less. I prefer a matte to gloss so this was a win-win for me. It quickly realized it was everything I wanted, so I promptly disregarded the other sopranos I was conisdering and bought this.
After making the long FedEx trek from CA to Philly it arrived at my front door this morning. All I can say it WOW!
The craftmanship is mind blowing. I can honestly say this is one of the finest crafted instruments or pieces of woodworking I have every beheld. Every aspect is done to perfection, and I abolutley love the matte tobacco sunburst finish. It is so perfect that it literally looks like someone airbrushed a picture of a ukulele or drew a hyperrealistic picture of a ukulele. Just looking at it makes me giggle with glee, and to top it off it smells really nice too.
I literally just got it so I've barely had a chance to play it, but it is nice and light and comfortable and plays beautfully. I wasn't sure if I would like the 13 frets to the body as I find I get mixed up switching between a 12-fret to 14-fret to the body ukes, but it's actually really nice. Since it's only one fret more before the join and since it doesn't have a marker on it, it doesn't visually mess me up, but it does provide a bit of extra space near the neck and one extra note.
Sound-wise it has lovely vintage Martin-ish sound. Of course, vintage Martin tones can vary, so more specifically it is on the very warm, full, more sustaining side of the vintage Martin spectrum. It came strung with Aquila's which I'm not generally a huge fan of, but I'll leave them on for a bit since it was what the builder felt suited it. They actually sound really really great on this uke, but I imagine I might like even more when I eventually put some flourocarbon on it. The only other thing I might do to it is lower the saddle a hair. This is not at all a complaint in the setup. The action is set to a really nice height and the overall setup is beatifully done. Obviously action is compromise and a personal preference and if I do decide to lower it a smidge it is easy enough to do.
Anyway, I'm totally thrilled with this. The value on it was mindblowing. The level of craftsmanship is simply astonishing. I was really hoping for a uke that would kill my UBASS (Ukulele Buying and Selling Syndrome), and I really think this is IT...
...at least for a little while, LOL
EDIT: Sound sample added https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dhK8tZG10U
Having sold off all my ukes except for one vintage soprano, I'd been hunting for 2nd nice soprano for a little while now. I'd been wanting a Pohaku, but when I was looking there weren't any on his site that were quite my cup of tea and I wasn't sure enough about what I wanted to custom order one. So as I considered a number of available options I would regularly check the Pohaku website to see if anything I wanted popped up. Then all of the sudden last Monday I saw this soprano listed. It was exactly what I had been waiting for and to top it off it was a couple hundred dollars less than I had seen his instruments listed before. The description said that he was using a new shellac based finishing method that resulted in a matte finish which he felt fit his smaller instruments better than the usual gloss laquer he had been using. It is apprently also much easier to apply and thus enabled him to sell his instruments for less. I prefer a matte to gloss so this was a win-win for me. It quickly realized it was everything I wanted, so I promptly disregarded the other sopranos I was conisdering and bought this.
After making the long FedEx trek from CA to Philly it arrived at my front door this morning. All I can say it WOW!
The craftmanship is mind blowing. I can honestly say this is one of the finest crafted instruments or pieces of woodworking I have every beheld. Every aspect is done to perfection, and I abolutley love the matte tobacco sunburst finish. It is so perfect that it literally looks like someone airbrushed a picture of a ukulele or drew a hyperrealistic picture of a ukulele. Just looking at it makes me giggle with glee, and to top it off it smells really nice too.
I literally just got it so I've barely had a chance to play it, but it is nice and light and comfortable and plays beautfully. I wasn't sure if I would like the 13 frets to the body as I find I get mixed up switching between a 12-fret to 14-fret to the body ukes, but it's actually really nice. Since it's only one fret more before the join and since it doesn't have a marker on it, it doesn't visually mess me up, but it does provide a bit of extra space near the neck and one extra note.
Sound-wise it has lovely vintage Martin-ish sound. Of course, vintage Martin tones can vary, so more specifically it is on the very warm, full, more sustaining side of the vintage Martin spectrum. It came strung with Aquila's which I'm not generally a huge fan of, but I'll leave them on for a bit since it was what the builder felt suited it. They actually sound really really great on this uke, but I imagine I might like even more when I eventually put some flourocarbon on it. The only other thing I might do to it is lower the saddle a hair. This is not at all a complaint in the setup. The action is set to a really nice height and the overall setup is beatifully done. Obviously action is compromise and a personal preference and if I do decide to lower it a smidge it is easy enough to do.
Anyway, I'm totally thrilled with this. The value on it was mindblowing. The level of craftsmanship is simply astonishing. I was really hoping for a uke that would kill my UBASS (Ukulele Buying and Selling Syndrome), and I really think this is IT...
...at least for a little while, LOL
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