I really appreciate your content about Uke's as a life long guitar player, recently bought an Ukulele and transitioned very fast, learning new songs, and having a great time. Thank you for the content you create.
Real Hawaiian Koa is ALWAYS worth it. I have one by Martin and one by Kamaka. Both are tenor. Both are from the 1960's. Both are well into the thousads when I had them appraised.
I would’ve loved to see an apples to apples comparison of a Koa uke vs Mahogony/Mango/Spruce/Rosewood/etc Ukes. Laminates vs solid wood koa comparison has too many confounding variables to be a fair comparison.
Yes, the Koa is worth it. Even chord sounds different, whereas the other uke with the low-G makes each different chord sound more similar with less depth and harmonic richness.
10:13 I could definitely tell the difference between the High G and the Koa. The difference between the Koa and the Low G is a lot more subtle. I think I can tell the difference - but I needed to re-play it a few times.
A better comparison would have been koa vs other solid wood ukes, no ? I wonder, for example, is the sound that comes from that Koaloha tenor really $1000 better than the flame maple Kala ?!!
To my ear the Koa uke sounds richer and more full and warm. What I want to hear is the Koa uke strung with a high 'G' vs the laminate one!!! I feel the solid Koa uke is definitely worth the difference in cost, Thanks for the great comparison Terry!!
Yes KOA wood is worth it. I feel Lucy. The last time I was in Hawaii, I found a KOA UKULELE and a hard case for around $200. I love it. It isn't top quality but I take it with me and love the sound. You have help ed me so much. I'm thinking about going to a low G tuning.
I think the audible improvement in both warmth and balance make the koa worth it. That said, my next uke acquisition is likely to be a nice baritone, so I'd love to hear one of those in Koa. Oh, and Hawaiian-made is a tremendous plus.
Wonderful Koa wood aside, you're also getting much better tuners, neck and fretboard wood, overall craftsmanship, etc. The solid Koa uke is one to be passed on through the years a real heritage instrument.
Congrats on 100K subscribers, looking forward to the giveaway! Listening to your different reviews helped me decide on my love of low g for ukuleles. As far as this review, I have been trying to decide on which wood to get and there is definitely a sound difference in the Koa and Laminate. It would be great if you would do a review soon between Koa, Mango, Acacia and mahogany. This would be a huge help to me and others on deciding on my (our) next Ukulele . Thanks
Very instructive video, thanks. I'm just starting to practice my hear so I don't hear a $2k difference between solid wood and laminate. I do hear the low G though 😜
Finger style is where you really see the difference. The extra thousand dollars really makes a huge difference. The others sound like swap meet toys compared to it.
I just bought few weeks ago a koa Tiny Tenor Pineapple Romero Creations Uke with ULTP and yes, i can say now, i can heard the difference and, no doubt, the one i prefer is my TT koa and first for 1) fingerpicking and 2) struming (may be a bit less important for blues ?) Despite the fact that for some difficult chords, it's harder for me with that tenor scale (wider fret) the sound that a get from that koa uke worth the "pain" in my opinion. Rich and full sound. Mahogany is nice too, a bit less dynamic. I feel that mango wood is mellow with a narrower strech of frequency. Koa is the hawaian specie of acacia wood and i haven't try this cheaper (than koa) wood, may be it's a nice wood too. I also think that strings are to be matched with the instrument, wood alone isn't all. And yes 100 k subscriber, cheers !
In this video, it says you sell the KoAloha Koa tenor for “about $250”? (At about 3:25). If so, “sign me up”! (I know you meant the KoAlana, but you are holding your long-time Koa tenor in the video at the time).
I'm not a koa soundboard fan I think back and sides it can be a great choice as far as price goes not sure you could tell the difference in deluxe and master grade by sound one 300 one 3000 upgraded as far as laminate why are we even comparing it you get what you pay for but with koa you quickly start paying for the look not the sound
Would have liked to see more alternatives in this videos. Solid acacia, mahogany, and mango maybe. Its more of a laminate vs solid Koa comparison. Some laminates come close but as for this video, yes the solid Koa seems worth it. Solid acacia or something in a similar quality instrument much less so though.
Solid versus laminate is a misleading, apples-and-oranges comparison. Solid koa sounds better than the laminates ... but so would solid mahogany, solid (non-koa) acacia, etc. Compare good, old-growth Indonesian-grown acacia to Hawai’ian-grown koa, and you would two very, very similar instruments.
What a load of waffle - you repeated yourself umpteen times in the first 4-10 minutes before playing the ukes - just one massive excuse to advertise your company and products.
Professional ukulele player, here. The koa ukulele sounded like crap. It's boxy and empty, lacking real note definition or projection. It is honestly the worst sounding uke I have ever heard.
I really appreciate your content about Uke's as a life long guitar player, recently bought an Ukulele and transitioned very fast, learning new songs, and having a great time. Thank you for the content you create.
The solid koa had a fuller sound, more resonance, and sounded warmer.
9:11 min is when the tonal comparison actually starts.
The Koa model sounded warmer to my ears…
Real Hawaiian Koa is ALWAYS worth it. I have one by Martin and one by Kamaka. Both are tenor. Both are from the 1960's. Both are well into the thousads when I had them appraised.
Great help, thanks for this.
Oh my gosh! Koa has a beautiful, full sound. If you have the cash, buy Koa! I love my koa wood ukulele!
I would’ve loved to see an apples to apples comparison of a Koa uke vs Mahogony/Mango/Spruce/Rosewood/etc Ukes. Laminates vs solid wood koa comparison has too many confounding variables to be a fair comparison.
Not worth it to me. I have a few Kala's. Spruce top, a Koa and a cedar top. They all sound wonderful to me. It also depends on the strings you use.
Congrats to 100,000 subs
Thank you so much 😀
I just bought a Gretsch G9110-sk, full koa, brand new from a local music store. The sound is excellent, great resonance and looks!
Love the koa. To me the difference is night and day. I’d like to know the difference in sound quality between koa and acacia wood.
Great idea for a video
Solid Hawaiian Koa Wood is fully worth the price 🤙🏽
Yes, the Koa is worth it. Even chord sounds different, whereas the other uke with the low-G makes each different chord sound more similar with less depth and harmonic richness.
10:13 I could definitely tell the difference between the High G and the Koa.
The difference between the Koa and the Low G is a lot more subtle. I think I can tell the difference - but I needed to re-play it a few times.
A better comparison would have been koa vs other solid wood ukes, no ? I wonder, for example, is the sound that comes from that Koaloha tenor really $1000 better than the flame maple Kala ?!!
To my ear the Koa uke sounds richer and more full and warm. What I want to hear is the Koa uke strung with a high 'G' vs the laminate one!!!
I feel the solid Koa uke is definitely worth the difference in cost,
Thanks for the great comparison Terry!!
Congrats on 100k!!!!
Great demo - I'm sold!
100k subscribers congratulations. Excited for the mango ukelele giveaway 😍
🎉
Yes KOA wood is worth it. I feel Lucy. The last time I was in Hawaii, I found a KOA UKULELE and a hard case for around $200. I love it. It isn't top quality but I take it with me and love the sound. You have help ed me so much. I'm thinking about going to a low G tuning.
Koa sounds amazing but have you seen that the difference is as noticeable when playing live / through an amp ?
My opinion is yes.
I think the audible improvement in both warmth and balance make the koa worth it. That said, my next uke acquisition is likely to be a nice baritone, so I'd love to hear one of those in Koa. Oh, and Hawaiian-made is a tremendous plus.
Wonderful Koa wood aside, you're also getting much better tuners, neck and fretboard wood, overall craftsmanship, etc. The solid Koa uke is one to be passed on through the years a real heritage instrument.
Yes, I heard the difference. Koa has more solid resonance. Cheers.
Congrats on 100K subscribers, looking forward to the giveaway!
Listening to your different reviews helped me decide on my love of low g for ukuleles. As far as this review, I have been trying to decide on which wood to get and there is definitely a sound difference in the Koa and Laminate. It would be great if you would do a review soon between Koa, Mango, Acacia and mahogany. This would be a huge help to me and others on deciding on my (our) next Ukulele .
Thanks
Check this video out ruclips.net/video/Zu1HBDEkFBo/видео.html
Koa trees also grow in Samoa.
Good point.
Very instructive video, thanks. I'm just starting to practice my hear so I don't hear a $2k difference between solid wood and laminate. I do hear the low G though 😜
The low G sounds awkward, I have finally figured out that I like the high G more. Or baritone, but it’s a different story.
Finger style is where you really see the difference. The extra thousand dollars really makes a huge difference. The others sound like swap meet toys compared to it.
Nice, thanks a lot
Koa all the way. Much warmer. They all sound great though
I just bought few weeks ago a koa Tiny Tenor Pineapple Romero Creations Uke with ULTP and yes, i can say now, i can heard the difference and, no doubt, the one i prefer is my TT koa and first for 1) fingerpicking and 2) struming (may be a bit less important for blues ?)
Despite the fact that for some difficult chords, it's harder for me with that tenor scale (wider fret) the sound that a get from that koa uke worth the "pain" in my opinion. Rich and full sound.
Mahogany is nice too, a bit less dynamic. I feel that mango wood is mellow with a narrower strech of frequency.
Koa is the hawaian specie of acacia wood and i haven't try this cheaper (than koa) wood, may be it's a nice wood too.
I also think that strings are to be matched with the instrument, wood alone isn't all.
And yes 100 k subscriber, cheers !
I agree, strings can make a huge difference on tone.
Awesome, you picked a great uke
@@Ukelikethepros For sure Terry ! You will see it again in some videos coming next...
In this video, it says you sell the KoAloha Koa tenor for “about $250”? (At about 3:25). If so, “sign me up”!
(I know you meant the KoAlana, but you are holding your long-time Koa tenor in the video at the time).
Ditto.
Koa hands down
I'm not a koa soundboard fan I think back and sides it can be a great choice as far as price goes not sure you could tell the difference in deluxe and master grade by sound one 300 one 3000 upgraded as far as laminate why are we even comparing it you get what you pay for but with koa you quickly start paying for the look not the sound
they have different types of strings i think the demonstration is not fair. if they had the same strings it would be a fair demonstration.
Solid wood and laminate is Comparing oranges to apples
No KoAloha that's made in Hawai'i is $250. In fact, made in Hawai'i ukuleles from Kamaka, KoAloha, and Kanilea are not under 1k
What Will said
Solid Koa was more full
Would have liked to see more alternatives in this videos. Solid acacia, mahogany, and mango maybe. Its more of a laminate vs solid Koa comparison.
Some laminates come close but as for this video, yes the solid Koa seems worth it. Solid acacia or something in a similar quality instrument much less so though.
Comparing high quallity solid wood to a laminate...
The sound not much different between Koa wood low G and KoAloha laminate low G.
Not worth to buy the Koa wood low G for over $$$.
Koa sounds 100% better.
Solid versus laminate is a misleading, apples-and-oranges comparison. Solid koa sounds better than the laminates ... but so would solid mahogany, solid (non-koa) acacia, etc.
Compare good, old-growth Indonesian-grown acacia to Hawai’ian-grown koa, and you would two very, very similar instruments.
Good idea, I’ll do a koa and acacia comparison
You kept repeating yourself about 10 times over in the beginning and you take forever to say nothing in general.
What a load of waffle - you repeated yourself umpteen times in the first 4-10 minutes before playing the ukes - just one massive excuse to advertise your company and products.
Professional ukulele player, here. The koa ukulele sounded like crap. It's boxy and empty, lacking real note definition or projection. It is honestly the worst sounding uke I have ever heard.
Might be time to get your ears checked. No such thing as a bad sounding KoAloha Koa uke. 🤷🏼♀️