My family loves it so much that when my grandmother passed away, we had her ashes scattered off the shores of the island, and both my mother and I have it in our wills that we wish to have the same done for us.
I can't really explain it to someone else, why this place has such a hold on me. But the best way I can describe it is that when I leave Kauai, I feel like someone is putting one of those heavy dentist xray shields on me. And whenever my plane touches down at Lihue airport, or my ship sails into Nawiliwili Harbor, the weight is lifted and my soul feels complete.
I saw somewhere that the phrase "Kahi ko'olua uhane" means where the spirit resides. For me, that place is Kauai.
So when I saw that Kamoa Ukulele was beginning to build Kauai built koa tenor ukuleles, I simply had to have one. Well, unfortunately, I now have a one in, one out ukulele policy. So that meant I had to sell one of my other ukes to finance (and make room) for the new one.
You can see a tiny bit of info and some photos on the Kauai Built model here. http://kamoaukulelecompany.com/info.php?id=18
With a great deal of sadness, I decided to sell my KoAloha Pineapple Sunday. It is a wonderful uke with a beautiful tone, but I just never played it, as the tenor style is more to my liking. Fortunately, I was able to get a buyer, and so, this week, I went to Kamoa while I was staying in Kauai and played and looked at all nine KB-T tenors they had in stock (in the Kapa'a and Koloa stores).
I ended up choosing one, and have named it Kahi ko'olua uhane, or uhane ("spirit") for short. First impressions are that I love the golden blonde curly koa, it really spoke to me amongst all the models there.
The tone is quite nice, though not as loud as my KoAloha tenor. I would say sound wise, it is probably comparable to my Kamaka tenor, and sounds better than my Kanile'a (though not quite as good as my KoAloha).
These ukes come with Gotoh tuners in either a mother of pearl white or gold. I chose the mother of pearl, and have already ordered a pearlized strap button to have installed on the uke.
So far, I have tried Worth CHLGHD, Phd and Worth CMLG strings on it. I think I like the brightness of the Phd but the volume of the Worths, so for now anyway, I'm going to give the CMLG a go, as they seem to be a compromise between the other two.
One thing I like is that the label notes they are handmade in Kauai. I know it is nuts, but I feel like I have a tangible piece of the island I love (though they are actually made from koa from the Big Island!)
The KB-T ukes have hand shaped Spanish cedar necks, but the remainder of the body and bridge are koa, with a rosewood fretboard. Sam had one model with a gloss finish (which is generally my preference) but they are going to pretty much all satin finishes as he feels the sound resonates better with the satin. The one I chose was the satin and I have to say, it has been so long since I played a satin finish uke that it feels really nice to me (see related story about changing my Kamaka from satin to gloss).
Here again is the video of Sam from Kamoa talking about these ukes. They are not cheap, but they are beautiful, sound great, and I am thrilled to have one. He also discusses their great new basses and electric models, but you can hear about the Kauai built at 7:25 - 8:21 on the video.
My final first impressions are that this is a very nicely made, beautiful ukulele, but probably a niche right now. Kamoa is definitely an up and comer but for the moment, they certainly lack the name cache of Kamaka, KoAloha, Kanile'a and Ko'olau. The price, however, is comparable to those brands. For me, it has been a great purchase, but it probably is not for everyone. That being said, if they end up being the 5th big K one of these days, then I'll be the even prouder owner of KB-T #44. :)
Here is Uhane joining her fellow ukes Waimea (the Kanile'a K2 tenor), Pele (the Kamaka HF-3 tenor) and Lono (the KoAloha KTM-00 crown bridge tenor).
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