Lanikai ukuleles initially made in Hawaii??

mm stan

Mystery Man
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Aloha All,
I was looking on Hawaii's craiglist and I seen a Lanikai ukulele with
a label inside the soundhole saying Lanikai Hawaii...I seem to remember
reading something that the initial Lanikai's when they first came out
were made by Kanile'a ukeleles ..but i'm not sure, does anybody know for sure..
If it is then $275.00 sounds okay. Many thanks in Advance...MM Stan..
 
it is called the lanikai LK and it was built by kanilea. the only difference between that and a new kanilea is the bracing. it is a great deal in my opinion
 
i don't personally have one but i was going to buy one before i bought my koaloha. they only made one tenor and the head of lanikai has it. they made sopranos, concerts, and superconcerts but the uke was discontinued in 2007 i think the uu member natalie has one here. i think bbycts has one also.
 
Mahalo Nui Kakou,
That's means..thank you very much all.....Awesome guys...
If there are any owners of one of these out there, can you give me comments how they sound....
Would appriciate it very much!! MM Stan...
 
We just bought two Lanikai ukes, about a month ago. A LU-11 and LU-21T.
The LU-21T tenor had a lable that said Lanikai Hawaii, but had a little sticker on the back that said "Made in China". I'm not sure about the other uke. If I understand your question right the label inside may not mean it was made in Hawaii.
 
Honer/Lanikai uses other companies factories to build their ukes.

The Lanikai ukuleles with LK were built by Kanile'a in Hawaii (compare a Kanile'a K-1 soprano to a Lanikai LK-1S)
The Lanikai ukuleles with LU were built in Kala's factory in China (compare a Kala KA-T to a Lanikai LU-21T)
The Lanikai ukuleles with LSM were built in Pono's old factory in Indonesia (compare a Pono PCO to a Lanikai LSM-C)

I owned a LK-1C and it sounded quite nice, but I have never heard a real Kanile'a in person for comparison.
 
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I have a Lanikai LK-1S and a Kanile'a K1-S - they are virtually identical except the Lanikai has the older style bracing and much prettier wood. The two sound about the same and I love them both. I keep the Lanikai at work and travel with it - the Kanile'a stays at home. They are totally comparable to each other in every way - I can't even say that on such a small instrument body the TRU bracing in my Kanile'a makes a significant difference over the older bracing in the Lanikai. If you can get a Lanikai LK-1S for $275 you should definitely jump on the deal immediately if the uke is in good shape. I paid more for mine (new) and felt like it was a fine deal even so.
 
Much Mahalo's guys for the input, appricate it very much....unfortunately it sold while I was
doing research on it.....guess you gotta grab um quickly...with these popular deals....MM Stan...
Shucks...
 
For future reference...

My email to Lanikai Support dated 07.17.2020
"Hello, I recently bought an unused Lanikai LK-1S Serial Number414.4. I cannot find much info available about this product line, when it started, what it features, when it ended, what the original cost was, etc. Can you please help? Thank you!"

Lanikai reply dated 07.20.2020:
"Hello Xxxx,

They are nice ukes and yes, made in Hawaii. This series was not around long - 3 to 5 years, closed out sometime in 2008. Probably less than 200 made of these total.

The MSRP was around $799

Solid Koa body, mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard and bridge, open gear tuners, it was made by the Kanile’a ukulele company in Hawaii.

We hope this helps,

Kind Regards,

Melissa

Customer Service Specialist
12020 Volunteer Blvd.
Mount Juliet, TN 37122
( (P): 615-773-9908
E) melissa.bandy@khsmusic.com"
 
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