A new Kiwaya KTS-4 Soprano for a very happy bunny

So much excitement - it seems a long time since I had a little fantasize about what my ideal soprano ukulele would be like, and I dismissed any ideas of owning a custom-built uke as quickly as I had dreamed about one. Why people have them is a whole subject for discussion in itself - suffice it to say, I'm not in the market. I'm still a learner and was brought up not to be extravagant. But I did decide that I wanted a soprano for a traditional sound, and that I wanted a good one - for quality of build, precise intonation and a beautiful finish, in solid wood.

When it came to factory-built ukes, there were three contenders, and I wanted to see them and play them. Whilst in London, I dragged poor LSH (Long-Suffering-Husband) off to a ukulele shop - yes, a music shop selling just ukuleles, and advertising the Kiwaya and the Bruko on their website - but no chance, they don't seem to actually stock them. I did spend a happy hour in there playing all the other solid wood ukes though, while LSH spent an equally happy hour in the excellent pub across the road, where the draft bitter was apparently excellent - but I was particularly interested in the Kiwaya KTS-4; I posted Ken Middleton'e reviews of the Kiwaya (made in Japan) and the Bruko #6 (made in Germany) on here, and low and behold, a few days later a used Kiwaya KTS-4 (solid mahogany, no laminates) came up on ebay uk! What a coincidence is that!

I watched that baby and drooled over it all week - LHS doesn't really get why anyone should want more than one wooden uke. And I like a peaceful life. But as the final minutes ticked away I got very twitchy... and he noticed. Doesn't miss a thing - not after forty years. So I told him about it. He must have been feeling particularly mellow - because he replied "You'd better get up the stairs to your computer then!"

"What - to bid for it?"

"Yes if you like!"

Did I need telling twice? I do love that man of mine...the minutes ticked away while I fiddled about getting to the page... now what should my maximum bid be......?

Well - I got it! And yesterday it arrived. It's fitted with Aquila strings, which I plan to change very quickly, so I'm not going to talk much about the sound except to say that yes, the intonation does seem to be spot on, just as it should be, and when you pluck the strings, you can feel the whole body vibrate. The body is built of very thin wood - which, in a ukulele, is a good thing, as long as the internal bracing is adequate.

I just love the look and feel of this uke - it surpasses expectations. The satin finish on it just glows. The tuners are good quality friction tuners and the neck is nice and thin. Rosewood fingerboard, of course. And it is SO light - I'm going to weigh it and compare the weight with my little Mahalo soprano - just to see the difference.

So - that's my soprano story. I'm very happy with my concert uke, and I love this - and I can't really get into tenors at all..... so I'm a happy bunny. A very happy bunny......

Plan - put Living Water Strings on it. Aquilas are very loud, and I want to try the Living Water - because they are just beautiful on my Tanglewood concert uke.

Then - put a Living Water low G string on the Tanglewood to try it out. A low G set-up is great for the jazzy numbers...busy day tomorrow....

I think I want a Kiwaya KTS-4 Soprano Ukulele - here's a review by Ken Middleton

The soprano sized Uke has grown on me greatly - I like the sound, and I like the fact that if I see a chord fingering that goes from fret three to fret ten, I can reach it! I was horrified to find such a chord in the tab for Music Box Waltz, by Roy Smeck. It's reachable on a concert uke, but barely - I've got long fingers - I don't know whether people reach stretches like this on a tenor... but that's another story.

Anyway, I really fancy one of these, the Kiwaya KTS4, or even the KTS5 with more frets, although that one is considerably more pricey. The laminate version, the KS1, has great reviews, but I would love a solid wood instrument, one with a thin enough top to give it the volume and sound that I want. In my dreams, I reckon.

But, I'm hoping, this weekend, to get to a shop that sells these ukes and try them out - the Japanese Kiwaya KS1, the KS4 as above, and a Bruko, a German-made uke which also has gained a great following. I'm expecting the sound to be very different, from what folk have said - it'll be interesting! And there are many more factors to take into account when playing a ukulele; the necks can vary in thickness, some being thinner than usual, and some being thicker; so can the width at the nut (where the strings go through slots at the top before they attach to the tuning pegs). These things can make a lot of difference to personal comfort and preference, and it's one good reason to try to get hands on and play before buying, rather that buying unseen online. The other reason of course is the sound.

I can't finish without a word for Ken Middleton's review. This one is from 2008 and is as thorough and well-considered as ever.

Whoops - I've actually just this minute found a review from Ken where he compares the Bruko 6 to the Kiwaya! It's here....

Thanks, Ken for the music, for the reviews, for the tabs, for the strings.... you are the man.

I planned to do something completely different this morning - this is my trouble, you see..... lah-di-dah.......

In my local music shop today, something as rare as hens' teeth - a new, quality banjo-ukulele!

Yes, I couldn't believe my eyes - as I was passing through, I called in to Colbecks in Sutton Coldfield today, and saw - a ukulele banjo! It came in this morning, they said, a top of the range Ashbury AB-48, and the first they've had in since Christmas. It's a lovely-looking instrument, with a mahogany resonator and rim, a brass tone ring and 16 tension hooks and I have a feeling it won't be there long, these little babies are in such demand and such short supply.

If you've been after one, give Colbeck's a call.

The Tanglewood Cove Creek - I Finally Succumb to its Wiles!

Back in March - the 21st March, actually - I wrote how I'd been wowed by a Tanglewood ukulele in one of the local music shops. It was the Tanglewood TU7 XM Lacewood concert.

Well... more than two months later... it is mine.

I hadn't gone in the shop to buy it - on the contrary, I went in to buy the little Ashton union flag soprano uke as a gift for a friend. But the action at the nut of the little union jack uke was a bit high, and Mike the guitar techy who served me obligingly offered to file the slots down a bit.

That's when it got me. The Tanglewood. I wasn't even playing it.... after all, I'd decided to save for a nice solid wood tenor, most likely an Ashbury solid rose cherry... anyway, I was playing around while I waited on a very pretty solid koa Luna tenor with a pickup - £350 - more than I would, spend anyway... when I heard a lovely sound that jerked my head right up - and it was the Tanglewood Cove Creek I'd been so impressed with before. Bright but liquid, bell-like... and it has the long neck, 14 frets up to the body.

Then came the coup-de-grace - the offer of the sort of deal that's hard to refuse.... but I didn't give in without a fight. "Will you throw a gig-bag in with that?" Done.

So that's how I came to return home with my lovely Tanglewood Cove Creek "exotic" wood long neck concert uke. For a laminate ukulele, it really is lovely.


As for LSH...well, he really doesn't understand. Non-players don't; simple as that. But I'm happy with my little collection of ukuleles; I've put a low G on my original Greg Bennett so I can experiment with jazzy chords, as recommended by Glen Rose, as well as start trying to tackle John Moen's tab of the Bach Prelude for Cello piece - one bar at a time. My little blue Mahalo soprano is handy to leave lying around just anywhere, and hand over to interested friends... and as for my lovely 1920's Slingerland Maybelle banjo-uke - well.... she's going with me to Blackpool this weekend... to play with the George Formby fans at the meeting of the GFS!

If someone had told me six months ago that I'd be doing that, I'd have said they were mad...for my generation, for whom the Beatles and the Stones were nothing short of gods, George Formby was the antithesis of Cool... but watch this space, I'm going for it!

Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa.....

I didn't do Latin at school, but I know what this means.

My fault.

I dun wrong.

I'm (just a little bit) in the dog-house.

I bought a new ukulele...

And didn't tell LSH...

I meant to, but the time wasn't quite right...

You know how it is.

If you're into ukuleles, I'm sure you do...

But I should have told him before he caught me trying to stuff it under my desk.

I don't REALLY suffer from UAS - (Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome)

After all, I only had one uke - and one banjo-uke...

But I wanted to try a soprano...

So I bought a little sky-blue Mahalo. Only £20...

But I shoulda come clean.

Coulda woulda shoulda.

I shouldn't hide things from my husband...

Mea Culpa.

Where's that hair shirt.....


But it is a sweet little uke. And with Aquilas on it, it plays just fine - for me - for now. I've christened it "Rhapsody"

While I save for that tenor...

Had me a Blast at the Music Shop

My ukulele.

It's time I got round to telling you what a great time I had the other week at one of the music shops hereabouts. I needed to kill some time away from the house, leaving LSH to deal with an unwanted double-glazing salesman. So off I went to Colbecks, to sample their ukuleles and compare them with my own humble, five year old Samick Greg Bennett UK50 concert uke. They sell quite a good range, compared to other shops I've been in lately, and I came away lusting after a £127 Tanglewood concert ukulele in Mango wood - or lacewood? Nobody seems sure, but it was a lovely-sounding uke, and it pained me to come away empty-handed. But I did. I wanted to try an Ashbury, the UK equivalent of Oscar Schmidt, and they don't stock them. But I whiled away a good hour or so, strumming and picking almost every uke in the place. The fellas in there were just great, I have to say, and I promised that if I chose the Tanglewood, I'd buy it from them..... they were so friendly and helpful, and I think the retail shop trade is suffering greatly from on-line traders. Anyway, a young man came in with teenage son in tow, also to look at and try out some ukes. He was pretty accomplished, and before long we had a little impromptu jam session going, with the store manager joining in on electric piano - absolutely wonderful! And I think that between us, we raised the awareness of ukuleles among the local guitar-men - But I've thought long and hard about the Tanglewood, and even though a few have come up at much reduced prices on ebay, I won't be buying one after all. Because if I did, I know now that it wouldn't satisfy - I want something that looks - well - more traditional. But beautiful. I'll know it when I see it - and hear it - and can afford it! And that may take some time......

Colbecks Music sell these ukuleles - Luna, Lani, Boulder Creek Rip Tide, Makala, Kala, Tanglewood, Lanikai, Mahala and Antonio Carvelho hand-made koa -top ukuleles from Portugal. Quite a choice, and they make sure the set-up is good.

I don't have an "interest".... honest. Nice fellas deserve the business.