New Guitarlele Day

[JMFingerstyle]

Just purchased this Kala KA-GL-E Guitarlele. This 6 string ukulele is laminated mahogany with a 17" scale, and is strung for A-A tuning with Aquila Super Nylgut strings (so it uses standard chord formations for guitar, but plays like a guitar capoed on the 5th fret).

Fit and finish was very good, with bone saddle and nut, a Pau Ferro fretboard, and Grover tuners. It's also equipped with Fishman electronics, which I didn't demo in this video, but it sounds great through my Fishman Loudbox Mini. The body is the same size as a tenor uke. It's quite loud for an instrument of this size, and the 1.87" fretboard is a little cramped, but it's a lot of fun to play, although it well take a little getting used to.

Two minor QC issues out of the box....a loose screw on one of the tuners, and the nut is a little jagged and could use a bit of sandpaper, but overall it's a surprisingly nice instrument for the price.

I've already ordered a magnetic X-Brace so I can attach my Tonewood Amp to this puppy.

EDITED TO ADD: The Tonewood Amp didn't really work out for this instrument. The body of the Kala is just so small that the Tonewood couldn't produce good effects.

[Rudy4]

Nice. Do you experience difficulty with playing without bending the strings due to nylon and short scale?

It seems to be close in specifications to it's counterpart, the piccolo guitar as marketed by Ibenez EWP14.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...n-pore-natural

[JMFingerstyle]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Nice. Do you experience difficulty with playing without bending the strings due to nylon and short scale?

It seems to be close in specifications to it's counterpart, the piccolo guitar as marketed by Ibenez EWP14.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...n-pore-natural

Not really. The strings are fairly hard and high tension, and the frets are pretty low and close together. You can bend easily if you want to , but it's not so flexible that you bend the strings out of tune accidentally. It's funny, I've got guitar-like instruments with a few dramatically different scale lengths, from a Taylor Baritone to a Godin Inuk, and now to the Kala Guitarlele, but it only takes a minute or two to re-accommodate to the scale changes when switching between them. The scale on this is closer to a mandolin than a guitar, though...I'm able to do a 7 fret stretch on this little guy!

Interestingly, Aquila offers two other string sets that supposedly work on this, but I don't know if they would require modifying the nut or saddle. Besides the standard A-a guitarlele set, they also offer a standard-tuned E-e set and an octave higher e-e set.

I also noticed that immediately after I purchased this (from Sweetwater) last week, it went to "no longer available" on their website.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...tural-mahogany

I did see that Ibanez Piccolo when I was shopping, but wanted to get a nylon for a more ukulele-type sound.

[DownUpDave]

Congratulations they are very fun instrument, a friend has the koa laminated version. I have a Romero Creation baritone guitalele, baritone body and corresponding 20” scale length. It can be tuned E-E but even with extra hard tension strings the low E is still a bit floppy and dull. Does better tuned F-F or G-G.

Enjoy your new instrument, it’s sound real good on the video, nice job.

[JMFingerstyle]

Thanks, DownUpDave. I've been putting it through its paces this weekend, and I'm really enjoying it as a change of pace. Lots of fun, and the Fishman Kula pickup installed in it is pretty nice as well.

[SpruceTop]

An interesting instrument--Enjoy!