Sound Comparison Question: Kamaka Pineapple vs Kanile'a Figure 8 Soprano yuh

Aloha UU'ers. Wondering if anybody owns or has played both and what your opinion is regarding sound comparison? My UAS journey has piqued my interest in a Kamaka Pineapple (white label with MOP Kamaka logo). I have a "rare" pre 2008 Lanikai LK-1S which was a limited production of sopranos produced by Kanile'a for Lanikai - essentially a Kanile'a soprano. I love the sound... it's bright, full and loud for a soprano. I was watching a pineapple uke comparison video by Alex from SUS https://youtu.be/lcJSmR5h-Pc and wasn't overly impressed with the sound of the Kamaka pineapple. Can anybody share their opinion if you have played with both? Asking because I'm deciding whether to invest energy into another uke hunt.

Mahalo for your feedback!

I like the way these guys play a lot better than Alex from SUS. Use good headphones if you want to hear the fine details.

Are you familiar with the typical Kamaka sound in general? The sound of a Kamaka soprano is anything but bright but that's mostly because of the strings. They use black nylon as their stock string but switching that to a fluorocarbon string for example will brighten up the sound quite a bit. I'd still say there's quite a lot of overtones in the lower register in the Kamaka sound but that's what makes the sound unique, at least in my opinion. It will definitely be different to a Kanile'a sound, pineapple shape or not.

Mahalo man0a! Definitely helps and their duets are awesome.

Dohle said:

Are you familiar with the typical Kamaka sound in general? The sound of a Kamaka soprano is anything but bright but that's mostly because of the strings. They use black nylon as their stock string but switching that to a fluorocarbon string for example will brighten up the sound quite a bit. I'd still say there's quite a lot of overtones in the lower register in the Kamaka sound but that's what makes the sound unique, at least in my opinion. It will definitely be different to a Kanile'a sound, pineapple shape or not.

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Have personally sampled a couple Kamaka tenors when shopping but they were always strung with black nylons. I've tried black D'Addario nylons on my solid spruce and mahogany and was not a fan of the sound. Perhaps I was not impressed with the tenors I've sampled because of the strings. My preference for my solid woods are Martin Flourocarbons.

In video reviews the Kamakas sound good with their nylons.

roastbeast said:

Have personally sampled a couple Kamaka tenors when shopping but they were always strung with black nylons. I've tried black D'Addario nylons on my solid spruce and mahogany and was not a fan of the sound. Perhaps I was not impressed with the tenors I've sampled because of the strings. My preference for my solid woods are Martin Flourocarbons.

In video reviews the Kamakas sound good with their nylons.

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The thing with nylon strings, especially black nylon, is that you have to dig in quite a bit to get a proper (bright/loud) response from the string. Otherwise they can sound fairly dark and muddy (which, admittedly, is also the point and makes the uke sound very traditional, at least in my opinion). The HMS guys are extremely good players and can make basically any uke sound good, which is one of the reason their videos get sometimes criticized. They don't really represent how the uke will sound in the hands of an average customer.

In any case, I wouldn't be that concerned. A lot of people (probably most) have an issue with the stock strings but are happy with their Kamaka after a string change. Needless to say, they are a quality brand. I happen to like the traditional sound of black nylon but I totally get why people prefer other strings. If you go for the Kamaka you will get a very different sound to a Kanile'a (or pretty much any other uke) but a string change will go a long way if you have an issue with the sound of the stock strings.