What is pikake?

JJFN

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I saw an ad for a Koaloha Pikake Koa ukulele. Only definition for Pikake I can find is either a flower or a vine. I don't see how Pikake is used in an ukulele. As you can tell, I have time on my hands.
 
That is Koaloha's model name. It has nothing to do with the tone woods.
 
The KoAloha Pikake model has a satin finish instead of a gloss one. They are not made too often as they have to set up a dust free room to apply the finish whereas on gloss they could buff out and reapply. Some feel the thinner satin finish may sound just a little better than the gloss, but you would likely have to compare them side by side and perhaps use some imagination.
 
Pikake means jasmine and peacock. Princess Kaiulani, designated by Queen Liliuokalani as her heiress, raised peacocks at her home in Waikiki and she loved jasmine and had it growing in her garden. The Hawaiian royalty held various sections of Waikiki as their own. Unfortunately the beautiful princess, Kaiulani, died early. Her memory is much loved by the Hawaiian people and she would have been their queen. So, pikake has special significance to Hawaiians. It was her flower and her bird. There are photos of her with her peacocks. She spoke several languages and had travelled in Europe. Her mother wrote Aloha Oe.

Her father, Governor Cleghorn, was Scottish. Robert Louis Stevenson spent time with the family on his Pacific journey seeking recovery from his tuberculosis.

I happen to live in her section of Waikiki, Aina Hau. Land of the Hau tree. There is a lovely statue of the princess with her peacocks in a park near a main bus stop in Waikiki.
 
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Wonderful explanation Kimosabe. Thanks for sharing.
 
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