Ukulele Online

I did a post a couple of days ago about how expensive koa ukuleles are, yet there are many ukuleles around calling themselves koa that sell for less than $200 (such as the Oscar Schmidt OU5).

This is most likely because they are laminated. The expensive koas are made from solid koa wood. The cheap koa ukuleles will almost certainly be made from cheap wood with a thin covering of koa wood (i.e. laminated).

When you buy a laminated ukulele, the koa wood is almost solely to improve the look of the instrument. It won’t make any noticable difference to the sound. That’s not to say you shouldn’t buy a laminated koa ukulele. I have one myself and I love it.

How can you tell if it’s laminated or solid koa when you’re buying on the internet?

That can be tricky. General practice is to say the ukulele is to use the term ’solid koa’ or ’solid wood’ when it is solid, but to keep quiet if it’s laminated. It’s a bit sneaky if you ask me. If you’re unsure whether a uke is solid or laminated and the description doesn’t say, it’s best to assume it’s laminated.

The ukulele and the cavaquinho are both from the same family of instruments – both originated from Portugal.

There are many similarities between them: they are a similar size, they have four strings. There are also differences. In terms of construction, cavaquinhos tend to have a larger body than the uke and have slotted headstocks like a classical guitar rather than tuning pegs like a ukulele.

There is also a difference in tuning. Cavaquinhos are typically tuned DGBD (giving them the sound of an open G chord). This tuning is lower than a ukulele and is also relatively different so the chord shapes of a ukulele do not work on a cavaquinho.

photo credit: fo.ol

The price of vintage koa ukuleles seems to be going up and up in recent years. Not long ago, there was very little price difference between a Martin ukulele made of mahogany and made of koa. Those days are long gone. A 2K will fetch hundreds of dollars more than a 2M.

Part of this increase in price is due to the availability of koa. True koa is only available on Hawaii and is getting increasingly hard to find.

There’s little doubt that koa is more beautiful than mahogany and this is probably the biggest factor in the price difference between koa and mahogany ukuleles. There is a difference in sound between them, but I wouldn’t say one is better than the other.

If you want the look and sound of koa wood without the price tag, you do have options. There are an increasing number of ukuleles being made of woods in the same family as koa, Acacia wood, such as Australian blackwood. These include brands such as the Koa Pili Koko Kelii and Lehua ukuleles. It would take a more eagle eyed and eared connoisseur than me to tell the difference.

photo credit: uketeecee