With a comparison of a Concert Libero to KoAloha 25th Anniversary
The journey to owning an Antica Ukuleleria Libero has been over a year. I first contacted Marco in August 2019, hoping to get on his 2019 build schedule. His online calendar said he was booked through for the next few months and there were no 2020 options showing. Thru a few email exchanges I learned that he was 1) getting married, 2) suspending taking orders, in anticipation of 3) changing what he offered as standard and custom orders after the first of the year. Shortly after he started taking orders again, CoVId hit Italy hard had he was unable to travel to his Lab and builds suspended. I was able to place an order and was looking at that unknown timeframe driven by the pandemic.
Marco finished my Libero in August 2020, just before taking a well earned holiday. Four days shipping got it from Italy to the US in 5 days, via UPS International shipping. I’m still trying to figure out why I was charged a $12 “brokerage fee” by UPS, along with a $65 duty. UPS won’t say and you’ll never get a specific answer from DHS!
Now the good stuff. This is a Concert sized Libero with a zero fret, spruce soundboard, maple back in sides, cherry neck and headstock, radius’d pearwood fingerboard, and bridge. The body is feather thin. Held to a light source you can see the shadow of your hand through the wood. Very very tight grain on the soundboard. Of note, the spruce comes from the same forest as was sourced by Stradivari . And on that note, the shape of the back has a double curve, reminding of the shaping of a violin! (Not completely, but very curvy !). The downside of the light body is that it is slightly neck heavy (made more noticeable when a strap is attached at the heel).
The neck is very flat and thin, with lots of first position room. Below I have added some comparative measures with a Concert KoAloha. Although the neck is narrow (35mm) but the G to A measurement is 30.1 mm at the zero fret. AND there is a lot of room at the first position. When you look at the pictures and compare the measurements, there’s 51mm of “space “ between the zero fret and the tip of the curved portion of the neck compared to the KoAloha at 38mm . Combined with the thin neck it’s really comfortable.
The body is almost 2cm shorter than the KoAloha and shown side by side, the Libero seems small. (I always considered the KoAloha to be the standard in a concert sized body and length - but that’s just me !)
And finally, and most importantly, it plays and sounds wonderful. Strung with Marco’s own strings w/ high g, it’s bright and resonant, but the sustain is noticeably shorter than both the Kanile’a and KoAloha concert bodies I also own; in my opinion, to be expected with my choice of woods. As seems to be common for me, I experience what I describe as a ‘thunk’ or thud-like tone when playing an F on the E string or C string. (yes, I’ve had my hearing checked!
). I’m going to let the strings AND uke settle in some more and will try new strings if that doesn’t improve.
Any string suggestions are welcome. I have two sets of Fremont Blacks, one medium, one hard. I have no experience with Fremonts and am curious for some feedback from those of you who have used them...how did they effect the sound of your uke(s)?
Comparisons.
Libero v KoAloha Concert
Width at Zero fret v Nut 35.7mm v 36.8mm
Width between String g to A 30.1mm v 27.1mm (yes the KoAloha is the narrow one)
Neck thinness 14.6mm v 17.1mm
“head room*” 51mm v 38mm
Approx Length 59cm v 61cm Use the photos to compare the amount of space from the nut to the place where the headstock comes to a point. You’ll notice that the narrow-ness of the Libero is much longer
The journey to owning an Antica Ukuleleria Libero has been over a year. I first contacted Marco in August 2019, hoping to get on his 2019 build schedule. His online calendar said he was booked through for the next few months and there were no 2020 options showing. Thru a few email exchanges I learned that he was 1) getting married, 2) suspending taking orders, in anticipation of 3) changing what he offered as standard and custom orders after the first of the year. Shortly after he started taking orders again, CoVId hit Italy hard had he was unable to travel to his Lab and builds suspended. I was able to place an order and was looking at that unknown timeframe driven by the pandemic.
Marco finished my Libero in August 2020, just before taking a well earned holiday. Four days shipping got it from Italy to the US in 5 days, via UPS International shipping. I’m still trying to figure out why I was charged a $12 “brokerage fee” by UPS, along with a $65 duty. UPS won’t say and you’ll never get a specific answer from DHS!
Now the good stuff. This is a Concert sized Libero with a zero fret, spruce soundboard, maple back in sides, cherry neck and headstock, radius’d pearwood fingerboard, and bridge. The body is feather thin. Held to a light source you can see the shadow of your hand through the wood. Very very tight grain on the soundboard. Of note, the spruce comes from the same forest as was sourced by Stradivari . And on that note, the shape of the back has a double curve, reminding of the shaping of a violin! (Not completely, but very curvy !). The downside of the light body is that it is slightly neck heavy (made more noticeable when a strap is attached at the heel).
The neck is very flat and thin, with lots of first position room. Below I have added some comparative measures with a Concert KoAloha. Although the neck is narrow (35mm) but the G to A measurement is 30.1 mm at the zero fret. AND there is a lot of room at the first position. When you look at the pictures and compare the measurements, there’s 51mm of “space “ between the zero fret and the tip of the curved portion of the neck compared to the KoAloha at 38mm . Combined with the thin neck it’s really comfortable.
The body is almost 2cm shorter than the KoAloha and shown side by side, the Libero seems small. (I always considered the KoAloha to be the standard in a concert sized body and length - but that’s just me !)
And finally, and most importantly, it plays and sounds wonderful. Strung with Marco’s own strings w/ high g, it’s bright and resonant, but the sustain is noticeably shorter than both the Kanile’a and KoAloha concert bodies I also own; in my opinion, to be expected with my choice of woods. As seems to be common for me, I experience what I describe as a ‘thunk’ or thud-like tone when playing an F on the E string or C string. (yes, I’ve had my hearing checked!
). I’m going to let the strings AND uke settle in some more and will try new strings if that doesn’t improve. Any string suggestions are welcome. I have two sets of Fremont Blacks, one medium, one hard. I have no experience with Fremonts and am curious for some feedback from those of you who have used them...how did they effect the sound of your uke(s)?
Comparisons.
Libero v KoAloha Concert
Width at Zero fret v Nut 35.7mm v 36.8mm
Width between String g to A 30.1mm v 27.1mm (yes the KoAloha is the narrow one)
Neck thinness 14.6mm v 17.1mm
“head room*” 51mm v 38mm
Approx Length 59cm v 61cm Use the photos to compare the amount of space from the nut to the place where the headstock comes to a point. You’ll notice that the narrow-ness of the Libero is much longer
Attachments
Last edited:
