Pono Koa Tenor: Another Ukulele Upgrade

After a few weeks of playing the OU5 concert ukulele I found out that I needed more frets up the bridge to do a lot of Jake Shimabukuro's pieces. I then decided to upgrade to a tenor ukulele.

After reading through the ukulele forums and consulting with a few people who know more ukulelia than I do, I decided to go for the Ko'olau Pono tenor. There was a solid mahogany version [PT] sold at Bounty Music for under $300. However, I opted for the koa version [PKT] with the gloss finish for about $30 more. I also got the hard case although there was already a gig bag included.

The PKT came with Ko'olau Gold strings with a #3 wound string. The sound was beautiful with these strings. The sound projection from the PKT was impressive to me who was used to trying to coax a little more volume from my OU5 concert by strumming or plucking harder. With the PKT, there was also a crispness in the sound. However, as I soon found out, the strings were a little bit too hard on my amateur fingers.

I've played electric, acoustic and classical guitar before but I've never had so much fatigue and soreness from playing for long lengths on these strings. Also, I was not used to the squeaking sound that the wound string makes when I do slides and chord transitions across the fretboard. These squeaks are OK for guitars but they have no place in a ukulele. Part of the reason I went from a guitar to a ukulele was to unload the complexity of a guitar's 2 additional strings. The sqeaks are an additional baggage that I can forget about.

Although there are Ko'olau Gold strings that have the #3 unwound, I still decided to ditch these strings. In any case, I have replaced the Ko'olau strings with Aquila Nylgut strings. These strings were a little more gentle on my fingers. Maybe someday when I'm a little more seasoned, I will go back to the Ko'olau Golds which I still believe are excellent strings.

Below are some views from the PKT:





The sound from the PKT is fabulous coming from someone who started with an OU5 concert uke. I've gotten used to the Aquila strings and they do seem to have a sharper and clearer tone to them. The PKT stays in tune for quite a while now that the new strings have stabilized. I usually still check the tuning out of habit and I rarely do any adjustments anyway.

There was a discussion in the EZFolk forum about the type of wood used in the PKT. I checked with teh dealer and they stated that the PKT is actually solid mahogany with a koa [veneer] top. In any case, it looks and sounds great.

The Oscar Schmidt OU5 Concert Ukulele

The OU5 is a nice beginner's concert size ukulele. A concert size ukulele is bigger than a soprano ukelele but smaller than a tenor ukulele. This ukulele looks fabulous with a natural gloss finish. Although the sounboard top, sides and back is koa plyboard [as opposed to solid koa], it still looks great especially with the abalone top inlays. It also has Grover deluxe die-cast tuners and a Rosewood fingerboard. For its price, it is one classy-looking ukulele that can look good beside the Kamakas and CF Martins.

The OU5 does not seem to be as resonant as my entry-level Hilo. I have read reviews about the OU5 and they recommended changing the strings. After 2 weeks of using the OU5, I changed the strings to D'Addario J65 Ukulele Strings. The string change made the sound crisper although I still do not notice any substantial change in resonance.

In any case, the OU5 is a good unit to play. The fingerboard is smooth and the fretboard metal strips are nicely ground so there are no rough edges. It stays in tune quite nicely for this summertime. I keep it in our basement where the temperature ranges from about 70-78 degF and it stays tuned for about a week before I start tuning it again. I still have to see how long it stays in tune during the other seasons.

All in all, the OU5 is worth its price. You get a decent ukulele that you can enjoy playing and showing off to your family and friends.

Ukulele

After more than 20 years of getting myself interested in guitar playing, I finally switched to playing the ukulele.

My first ukulele was a Hilo which I purchased from Guitar Center. I did not enjoy playing it because the strings were too high above the fretboard. Moreover, I constantly had to tune it since the friction tuners provided were low quality and they slipped a lot after playing a few chords. I would not recommend this ukulele to beginners since it may just frustrate you and you may lose interest in ukulele-playing altogether. I recommend getting a good ukulele that's reasonably priced. Some good ones come in the $75-$200 range. My ukulele is an Oscar Schmidt OU5 concert model that's priced about $180. I bought it at a discounted price of $120 [including tax] from Elevation Music Store. Shipping was free. You can probably buy this now for $100. More on the OU5 in my next post.

There are 4 ukulele sizes [from smallest to biggest] -- soprano, concert, tenor and baritone. Unless you have limited airspace within 1 foot of your body, I recommend getting a concert or tenor ukelele. The baritone ukelele is tuned like the four bottom strings of a guitar [EBGD]. The 3 other ukuleles are usually tuned using the standard GCEA. If you put a capo on the 5th fret of a baritone, then you essentially have the standard GCEA ukulele.

Some of the more contemporary ukulele masters are Jake Shimabukuro and James Hill. Their playing styles transcend the barriers of the stereotypical perception that the ukulele is just a toy and not a musical instrument. I may not be as good playing the ukulele as Jake or James but their virtuosity provide mortals like us with exciting musical possibilities that we can eke out from such a tiny instrument.