Lanikai 6-string tenor with Fishman Kula and gig bag

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the.waz

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I have an opportunity to pick up a used Martin locally but need to sell one or more ukes to justify it. Here we have a Lanikai SOT-6EK 6-string tenor acoustic/electric with a solid spruce top and laminate okoume back and sides. It's not a guitalele; it's a sixer with doubled octave courses on the C and A strings (plays just like a 4-string). I picked this up secondhand about a year ago. It was kind of a novelty to me then and still is now. I enjoy it but don't play it enough to warrant keeping it around. Comes with a Lanikai-branded gig bag.

I'm looking for $145 in my pocket. I'll provide shipping materials, and the buyer pays the actual shipping cost. Prefer to ship to CONUS only. I'm centrally located (Oklahoma), which should help. I'm happy to help shop for shipping rates if you give me your location (my educated guess ~$30 max).

Here's my honest review. I'll try to be as descriptive as I can, and please feel free to ask any questions in the thread so other buyers can benefit too. If you're a serious buyer, I would even be willing to get on FaceTime or Zoom or something for you to see. I want to be up front and make sure you know exactly what you're getting.

The good: What a fun sound! The extra strings really add some volume and fullness, and the low A gives it a bigger low end. If I were jamming along with a guitarist or playing in a band setting, this is the uke I would use. It still sounds like characteristically uke-y but can hold its own against other instruments. Plus, the Fishman Kula system is actually a pretty respectable reproduction of the sound. No lie, I don't care for UST pickups in general, but this sounds a whole lot better than the stock electronics in a lot of entry level ukes. Oh yeah, and it's a looker! The okoume is beautifully flamed. The binding is a crazy intricate all-wood pattern, and the top is ornamented with very vibrant abalone purfling and rosette. The top is a high-gloss finish; back and sides are satin. Build quality is good; inside is tidy, and the body and neck feel really solid.

The bad: My main criticisms are just a matter of precision. The tuning machines are so-so; they hold tune fine once tuned to pitch but are not as smooth or as responsive as I would like. The stock saddle was a poor fit (I replaced it; see this thread), like the pickup was an afterthought. Likewise, the out-of-the box setup could be better. I've lowered the action and worked on the nut slots, which helped a lot. Still, it's just not as spot-on at each fret as my Ohana uke (I think I got spoiled by that one). Not a big deal since this is more of a big and lively strummer than a technical fingerstyle instrument, but for an instrument that retailed ~$400, I would just expect a little more precision out of the box.

The condition: Overall, it's in very good condition. Looking it over, the only damage mark I can find is a small indentation on the back of the headstock (see picture); literally zero other scratches or dings. The soundboard has some belly/dishing around the bridge as is not uncommon on thin solid tops; it is not enough to cause any bridge lift or fret buzz or playability problems, but it is more noticeable on the high-gloss top (hard to photograph, but I tried). It has a white S/N label over the original which is common when an instrument was sold as blem or b-stock (again, bought used so I cannot say for sure); this is probably because there are two areas where the finish on the top didn't take well and ended up lighter (see picture). I installed a new bone saddle and set the action at 2.5-2.75 mm at the 12th. It's currently wearing Aquilla Lava strings with only 2-3 hours of play time on them.

Lanikai - 1.jpg
Lanikai - 2.jpg
 
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