About four years ago when I started playing the ukulele, the first "real" uke I bought was my Kanilea K2 tenor.  I really wanted one of their island inlay tenors but couldn't afford it at the time.  Ever since then, I've been fortunate enough to have some great ukes, but I couldn't get that island inlay one out of my head.  Still, I just couldn't justify having two Kanilea tenors. 

So a couple of weeks ago I was browsing the Hawaii Music Supply website and happened to notice that they had a sale on one that they had in stock.  I mentioned it to my spouse as a joke, and asked for it as my anniversary present.  To my shock, I was told that if I sold my current Kanilea tenor (I have a one uke in, one uke out policy now), the balance owed would in fact be my anniversary present.

So I ended up selling my K2 tenor (thanks Mike I hope you like it!) and bought the new one from Music Guy Mike last Friday.  He ended up dropping it off at the Kanilea factory this week so that Joe could install a pickup in it, and yesterday I took a bus out to Kaneohe and got my new baby. 

I'm not going to lie, when Joe opened up the case to show it to me, I got incredibly choked up and almost started to cry.  This uke had been my dream for so long and I couldn't believe it was finally mine.

I am still in Hawaii so I don't have any photos taken of it yet, other than the one Kristen took yesterday (and put on Kanilea's twitter and Facebook), and the ones from the Hawaii Music Supply website.  I'll take more when I get home and put it in its humidified cabinet next to its sibling ukes.

I am naming her "Ailana" which means island in Hawaiian, due to the island inlay.  I know it is probably too much bling for some folks but I love the abalone.  I ended up replacing the stock plastic bridge pins with some koa ones that I bought years ago.  They are a little too loose in this uke so I just ordered some rosewood w/ abalone that I will use instead.

So far yesterday I tried four types of strings on it (I brought six types with me to try out).  First, I tried my fave PhD (that I use on my KoAloha and Kamoa) -- to my surprise, they seemed kind of muddy, while they are great on those other ukes.  I then tried my old standby Worth CHLGHD and both A strings I tried snapped on me when I was tuning it.  The Worth CMLG were not bad but they were a bit too tinny.  On a lark, I tried Worth BTLG strings.  I usually find them too warm, but I was pleasantly surprised to find they sounded good.  They were loud and had a nice clarity.  So for now, they are what I will use until try some Fremont Blacklines (that I forgot at home).

First impressions, the curly koa is nice eye candy.  The neck is super smooth and fast.  I haven't tried the pickup since I don't have an amp with me, but I will at home.  The tone is not quite as good as my KoAloha, but seems to rival my Kamaka and I much prefer the glassy UV finish to the Kamaka and KoAloha finish.  It isn't as loud as the KoAloha either but I don't mind that.

I just want to thank Music Guy Mike so much.  Not only did he get the uke to Kanilea but he delivered a hard case to my hotel in Waikiki last night since he forgot to bring it to Kaneohe.  He really went above and beyond and his customer service was amazing.

I also want to thank Joe for installing the pickup for me in such short order so I could pick up the uke before I leave Oahu tomorrow.  He and Kristen are such wonderful people and I can't thank them enough for letting me bug them with calls and emails.

Until I can take some photos at home, here are the ones from the factory and the HMS site.