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There’s a new ukulele in the house! Last year for Christmas my wife gifted me a new uke – of my choice. I ordered one that, after waiting months, turned out to have serious issues. (I would prefer not to name the company on this public forum.)
After doing a lot more research and after consulting with Andrew I decided to go with a Kanile’a. I should note that I have no connection with, nor will I benefit in any way from Kanile’a.
I delayed the build on my ukulele to wait for the Kanile’a Builders Experience feature which allows buyers of custom ukes to view the build process at nine different stages – live. What an awesome experience!! I’ve attached some screen shots of the process. Each of the steps lasts about one hour. I would heartily recommend this feature for those who are looking to build a custom uke.
The result was a beautiful instrument that plays and sounds great.
Hope you all enjoy.
@Drefrank: What a wonderful story you tell us. Beautiful pictures too. A jewel for the eye, that ukulele of yours. And looks like a happy player.
I’ve been a Kanile’a player myself for a few years now, also having heard of Andrew’s findings. And a lot of research beforehand by myself of course 🙂 Not regretting it for a second!Greetings, Dirk.Congratulations @drefrank. Your uke is absolutely gorgeous….What a great wife you have. Enjoy!! Nothing like a great instrument.
What a beautiful uke. It sounds great too! Thanks for sharing the building process. It must have been fun to watch. 🙂
Beautiful uke! I have a similar Kanile’a but without all of the appointments that yours has. I can tell you that with a lot of playing mine has gotten noticeably even better. It also got better a lot better when I put on some high molecular weight fluorocarbons. The PhD strings on mine sound amazing.
I’ve already experimented a bit with strings. In addition to the Aquilas that came from the factory, I tried the D’Addario titaniums, and currently Aquila reds are in use. To be honest I haven’t noticed all that much difference so far. Exactly which strings were you referring to?
I’m using the “ukulele creations” PhD strings and really like them. I like the regular Aquila new nylgut strings on another koa tenor I have, but I’m not a fan of the Aquila super nylgut that come with most Kanile’a, even though they have some other desirable characteristics like not stretching so much as the regular nylgut. I would imagine the uke logic normal tension would also be very similar and really good. I actually almost sent my Kanile’a K-1 T DLX back a year and 1/2 ago when I got it. Now I think it sounds amazing. They just get better.
I also meant to comment on your experience as to the performance of your ukulele changing over time.
I think this is a fairly common occurrence with new instruments and in fact I’ve experienced it in the past myself. It makes sense that instrument parts will settle in a bit as the playing proceeds and new stresses are applied to the previously unattached pieces. So I guess the moral is to play a new instrument as much as possible. Looking forward to seeing/hearing how things develop.As usual, I think Andrew gave you very good advice in getting a Kanile’a! And you have one with fantastic wood and beauty. Not sure how humid it is where you live but I found the Kanile’a to be thirsty uke and sounding especially good humidified.
Couple of things. I’m currently using the D’Addario Humidipak system. I have one pack under the peg head and another inside the body between the second and third strings. I’m in NH so heating season is in full force and the (heated) air is quite dry.
Just wanted to mention one other thing as to my consultation with Andrew. I had already decided on a Kanile’a before communicating with him. He was, however, most helpful in discussing some of the other design parameters- especially the configuration of the neck itself. I’m sorry if I gave the impression that he recommended a particular brand as he did not.
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