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Old 08-18-2017, 10:51 AM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Staten Island, NY - for now
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Bought one of these for my wife last month - the obligatory pictures:

https://www.elderly.com/instruments/...or-ukulele.htm

- and a demo video:



I was extremely impressed by the brighter, more modern (and IMO more versatile) tone of this spruce/maple uke; coming to the instrument as primarily guitar players we tend to take a guitar-oriented approach, for better or worse, and the broader dynamic range coupled with the longer scale length allows for not only the fingerstyle that's sweeping the uke world, but also non-traditional techniques (in uke terms) such as flatpicking and electric-style string-bending lead work. In addition, like any good maple-bodied guitar this puppy has loads of natural projection, not necessarily in terms of overwhelming volume (although that's also there in spades) but the "cutting power" associated with a fine archtop guitar - the ability to project sound well out in front of the player and be clearly heard in a dense instrumental mix - and set up in low-G tuning I doubt there's anything it couldn't handle...

In terms of construction QC, somebody at Ohana has clearly done his homework: exceptionally lightweight (significantly less than similar Kala and Lanikai tenors, not to mention the low-end stuff) - which translates to lightning-quick response - tight clean construction/finish both inside and out, no dead spots anywhere on the neck (not exactly commonplace in a sub-$400 uke), first-class fretwork, ready-to-play right out of the box, and let's face it, you don't see maple ukes every day (FWIW saw a video of an $850 LoPrinzi all-maple tenor and the Ohana compared very favorably - a bit more brightness and "ring" from the LoPrinzi's maple top, but whether or not that's a good thing is a matter of personal taste). I'm guessing there's a good reason Ohana is somewhat of a "semi-boutique," limited-distribution marque among factory-made instruments; if that's how they maintain such a high standard of tonal/structural quality, I say more power to them...
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