NUD: A Naupaka hat trick

Veritas99

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I know the split soundboard is not for everyone, but I really liked the way the woods complement each other, both in appearance and sound. Like other KoAloha the sound is big with good sustain, but it sounds more balanced compared to my KTM-25.
 

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Lovely trio!

Did you get them all recently or collect one per naupaka run?
 
Which one is your favorite?
 
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Lovely trio!

Did you get them all recently or collect one per naupaka run?

Thanks! They are all from the batch that HMS got in this run. They arrived this week so I haven’t played them much and my comments are mostly first impressions. Looking forward to seeing how they open up over time.
 
Which one is you favorite?

They just came in so it's too early to tell. I'm typically partial to the size of a tenor, but we got that one for my wife so I'll be playing the concert and soprano more.
 
Very cool. It's great that your wife plays as well.
 
Thanks! They are all from the batch that HMS got in this run. They arrived this week so I haven’t played them much and my comments are mostly first impressions. Looking forward to seeing how they open up over time.

Cool.
I’m curious how the Naupaka tenor sounds in comparison to the regular Koaloha tenor that your wife plays.
 
Whoa! Sweet!
 
That is a great set!

On one level, I am glad that I am uncomfortable playing tenors so that my buying (and enjoyment) is limited to concerts and maybe sopranos.
 
Wow! Sweet! I bet it’s hard to stop buying ukes with the amount of UAS at home when your spouse plays too. Each would be encouraging the other! Lol. Nice trilogy there!
 
Wow! Sweet! I bet it’s hard to stop buying ukes with the amount of UAS at home when your spouse plays too. Each would be encouraging the other! Lol. Nice trilogy there!

Absolutely no control. :) She had two nice ukes, then I started playing and now we’re up to...well, let’s call it a lot more.
 
Like other KoAloha the sound is big with good sustain, but it sounds more balanced compared to my KTM-25.


After a while of having both, do you you still feel this way? I've got the Naupaka concert and I love it, but wondering if I'm missing something and should scoop up one of the few remaining 25th anniversary ukes before they're all gone.
 
After a while of having both, do you you still feel this way? I've got the Naupaka concert and I love it, but wondering if I'm missing something and should scoop up one of the few remaining 25th anniversary ukes before they're all gone.

I haven’t played my wife’s Naupaka tenor much since my initial impressions. Out of the three Naupakas I mostly play my concert, but it is high g so trying to compare it to my KTM-25 with a low G is really apple to oranges. Let me see if I can put up some sound samples comparing the two tenors either today or tomorrow.
 
After a while of having both, do you you still feel this way? I've got the Naupaka concert and I love it, but wondering if I'm missing something and should scoop up one of the few remaining 25th anniversary ukes before they're all gone.

I'm not sure I did a great job of capturing the differences, but after playing both back to back I stand by my original statement that the Naupaka sounds slightly better.

Here is a link to some sound samples of the two tenors. https://soundcloud.com/user-382147524-59788259/tracks

Please excuse the inconsistencies in my playing and the volume. On the latter, I forgot that I had recently deleted Audacity and had to use the Win10 recorder that didn't seem to allow for easy control of the mic volume.

To avoid bias, I labeled the samples Tenor 1 and Tenor 2. I tried to put which tenor is which in white font at the bottom of this post but it got marked as spam. I'll update the post with the answer key tomorrow.
 
I'm not sure I did a great job of capturing the differences, but after playing both back to back I stand by my original statement that the Naupaka sounds slightly better.

Here is a link to some sound samples of the two tenors. https://soundcloud.com/user-382147524-59788259/tracks

Please excuse the inconsistencies in my playing and the volume. On the latter, I forgot that I had recently deleted Audacity and had to use the Win10 recorder that didn't seem to allow for easy control of the mic volume.

To avoid bias, I labeled the samples Tenor 1 and Tenor 2. I tried to put which tenor is which in white font at the bottom of this post but it got marked as spam. I'll update the post with the answer key tomorrow.

Thanks for taking the time to do this! In my opinion Tenor 2 sounds a bit fuller while Tenor 1 sounds a little more bright, although the differences are slight to my mostly untrained ear. Curious to see what other, better players think! I think I prefer Tenor 2.
 
Thanks for taking the time to do this! In my opinion Tenor 2 sounds a bit fuller while Tenor 1 sounds a little more bright, although the differences are slight to my mostly untrained ear. Curious to see what other, better players think! I think I prefer Tenor 2.

Your mostly untrained ear may have saved you money, Tenor 2 was the Naupaka.
 
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