NUD: Ken Timms koa soprano

Loska

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My UAS is gone.

When I got my Kamaka concert I fell in love with it instantly. I'm very lucky to experience that feeling again.

Ken Timms koa soprano arrived yesterday morning. It is beautiful and adorable little instrument with a huge sound.

The koa wood and its figure and flame is stunning to look at. It smells so good, like an old cozy furniture. The neck is slender and the string spacing makes it comfortable for me to play. I like the French polish very much, but I'm also a little bit worried how to take care of it. The wrapping paper left some marks on it, but I got instructions from Ken how to remove them. Wish me luck!

The intonation was rather sharp on the 1st string, but I changed to Fremont blacklines. The problem is fully solved, the intonation is now very good. The Fremonts suit this ukulele quite well in my opinion! Also I found the slots on the brigde much more easier to place the string knots than on Kamaka.

As I mentioned earlier the sound is HUGE. It can be played softly too, but man, this little thing can sing. My Kanile'a is standing in the shadows now as this sophisticated cannon is leading the way. I just love it and it is a UAS killer, hands down. Edit: I want to add, that it isn't just loud. The sound is well balanced.

Here are some pics, and I'll include some sound samples after I figure out how the soundcloud works.

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Congratulations!! Looks like a great ukulele.
 
Congratulations! Absolutely gorgeous.

I just bought the Timms mahogany ABCarlson listed on the marketplace and anxiously await its arrival!

I’m sure we’ll both love our Timmses.
 
Very nice, congratulations! I'm really excited to see other people enjoying their Timms ukes, especially after I got my own and now know how wonderful they feel and look and sound. I would imagine the Fremont Blacklines work really well with koa.
 
Very nice, congratulations! I'm really excited to see other people enjoying their Timms ukes, especially after I got my own and now know how wonderful they feel and look and sound. I would imagine the Fremont Blacklines work really well with koa.

Yes they do! I think I'll order few more sets to try on Kamaka or Kanile'a.
 
Hi guys, I have a Timms and totally love it but noticing that my nails are damaging the French polish somewhat, I have been searching for a thread on how to take care of french polish instruments but not found one yet - any ideas?
 
Dave Talsma recommended this clear plastic guard for glossy finish--I am not sure how it works on french polish, but I am sure some of the experts here can tell us.
 
My Timms is Cuban mahogany, and yes, the Blacklines are fantastic on it. Congrats!
 
The oldest timms that I have, I just refinished with tru oil as it is super easy. Turns out a bit more shiny than French polish but works well.. YouTube has videos on French polish but seems a lot more involved. Mya Moe has a video on how they do their tru oil polish, I used that as guide.
 
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Ken! Nice job.

I can only dream...
 
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That Koa looks gorgeous. Although I have three ukes made by Ken, I have serious koa envy!

John Colter
 
Hi guys, I have a Timms and totally love it but noticing that my nails are damaging the French polish somewhat, I have been searching for a thread on how to take care of french polish instruments but not found one yet - any ideas?
You could try to contact Ken directly and ask him if he as any advice, he's on the forum under the name Timbuck.
 
Don't think I've ever heard a bad thing about his ukes. Looks great!
 
Hi guys, I have a Timms and totally love it but noticing that my nails are damaging the French polish somewhat, I have been searching for a thread on how to take care of french polish instruments but not found one yet - any ideas?
Hi! My Timms uke arrived having some small marks from the wrapping. For some reason the fine paper that was wrapped around the uke got stuck to the french polish. I didn't know what to do with that issue, so I wrote to Ken. He was very nice to give an advice from his wife who polishes all the ukes. She uses the Reneissance wax, a microcrystalline wax polish.


This stuff was very easy to find at affordable price. A small can takes you very far. I have been using this wax with my Timms uke - it is easy to use and does the trick. Smells bad though when using it, but the smell is gone after use.

I hope this helps!
 
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