Kanile'a gloss vs. satin finishes

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T'Bone

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Conventional wisdom says that a satin finish will give you better tone, but Kanile'a's UV gloss is supposed to be super thin. Can anyone with firsthand experience verify whether there is really a difference between the two?

Incidentally, how does the UV gloss finish look? Plasticky or just shiny? Contemplating getting one, interested to hear people's opinions on both finishes.
 
I don't think the human ear is sensitive enough to hear the difference, if any. It would be hard to do a side by side comparison, because there are too many other variables in each instrument. I played a number of gloss Kanile'a side by side, and each sounded a little different. So, my thoughts are that the finish in this case has little effect.

The gloss finish is beautiful, but some people just prefer satin. It is a high, mirror gloss finish. It really makes the wood color and grain glow. I love my gloss uke, and I wish all of mine had that finish. Satin finishes can develop shiny spots where it is handled and strummed the most, so keep that in mind. I have had my gloss uke for 2 and a half years, and it's finish looks as good as new.

–Lori
 
My Kanile'a's UV gloss is stunning, really shows the grain, on the downside it's a bit slippery to hold, but as Ken said both are great.
 
Where did you get the notion that Satins sound 'better' than Gloss?

Some of the world's finest ukes are gloss.. in fact, I think most of them are.
 
kissing said:
Where did you get the notion that Satins sound 'better' than Gloss?
Click to expand...

Ukulele Underground, maybe!!

I have noticed a very slight difference in tone between a gloss instrument and a corresponding non-gloss one. However, I would not say that one is better than the other.

The other thing to consider is that Joe from Kanile'a really knows how to make ukuleles. If he thought that a gloss instrument was in any way inferior to a non-gloss one, I don't think he would make them.
 
When I had a satin K1-T, I can say that the vibrations did feel noticeably different from the gloss K1-T that I still have. Did it sound better? I don't know. I *felt* that the satin instrument was slightly more responsive. But that could be due to a wide variety of factors--down to the different boards the instruments were built from or the age of the instrument.

However, the reason to buy the gloss Kanilea is that the UV finish is simply gorgeous. IMO, it's the most attractive finish in the entire ukulele market. When money is no object, go for the gloss. And if money is an issue, save up a little longer and get that beautiful gloss anyway.
 
One thing I'd say about the Kanile'a satin - it's so thin it's almost not there. As such, it is very easy to mark the wood on the instrument - strum marks etc. there is no protection.

All of that said, I prefer it to gloss - just not a fan of gloss instruments all that much.
 
Can't say I've played enough of each at the same time for an adequate sound-related assessment; however, I will concur that I believe Kanile'a has the most pristine gloss finish of any of the major Uke companies by a fairly wide margin. A fair number of alternate company's gloss finishing appears as if I'd personally shot the clear with an HVLP (unfortunately, I'm not a very proficient spray-finish man!)

The wise choice would be to simply procure a concert & tenor in alternate flavors! :eek:
 
Thanks all for the help everyone!

As for one sounding better than the other, I've seen the idea kicked around this forum a bit, as well as several other places. But I've also heard that thickness and exact composition of the finish matter quite a bit too, hence the specific question about the two Kanile'a finishes. That being said, it seems that the consensus is that their gloss is top-notch, and any difference between the two finishes could be well within general inter-instrument variation.
 
Kanile'a gloss is simply beautiful. As Ken said...get the one that you like.
 
I had this same decision four years ago and ended up getting the satin, not only because I liked the sound better but it was a little cheaper as well. However, since then I've tried a few gloss kanileas that sound phenomenal. My satin has a really sweet sound that is great for fingerpicking but lacks on the volume side where other gloss ones might have an edge. Again, this is not the same for all kanileas but just my experience
 
experimentjon said:
When I had a satin K1-T, I can say that the vibrations did feel noticeably different from the gloss K1-T that I still have. Did it sound better? I don't know. I *felt* that the satin instrument was slightly more responsive. But that could be due to a wide variety of factors--down to the different boards the instruments were built from or the age of the instrument.

However, the reason to buy the gloss Kanilea is that the UV finish is simply gorgeous. IMO, it's the most attractive finish in the entire ukulele market. When money is no object, go for the gloss. And if money is an issue, save up a little longer and get that beautiful gloss anyway.
Click to expand...

I was thinking to add "natural" one to my high-gloss-premium-Kanilea, just to try & feel the difference in tone; in any case I do believe that regular 'straight-grain' Koa sounds better than 'curly' one, so that I wanted to see cheapest Kanilea K-1 UV-Natural... but after reading this thread I am forced to agree: your play skills play most important role. Yes maybe... some 'woody' Ukulele may sound better than some other 'glossy'... but you can always find 'glossy' sounding than this one 'woody'... you can never stop :)

Just focus on play skills...
 
P.S.

What you hear is not the same what your listeners hear. for a (classic!) example, you can hear (and believe) that using fingernails will make sound better and crisper; but your listeners at the distance 5 feet and farther will hear very different sound that you...
 
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