You can help the Ukulele Safari by bidding on a Mahalo signed by Bosko and Honey.
MGM has a new top-of-the-range Pono: the Pono PKC-500 ukulele. It’s decked out with all the trimmings and that’s reflected in the price tag of $1,119.96.
This Yamaha ukulele is advertised as having, “great and old YAMAHA’s sound.” What?
Another stunning cigar box ukulele from Black Bear.
Cordoba are mainly known for their classical and Spanish guitars, but this Cordoba 25CK looks like a very nice piece of work.
I’ve always been curious to the actual makers of some of these ukes. The Cordoba is eerily similar to a Lehua ukulele, and by eerily similar I mean it looks identical. Though Lehua claims their ukes are solid Australian Blackwood (an acacia similar to koa), everything else is the same, including the Made in Portugal.
Similarly, look at the Lanikai and Kala ukuleles, they are identical in every way, the only distinguishing factor are the fretboard dots and the name on the headstock.
It would be interesting to find out exactly where the maker is and how many brands they make ukes for.
Minamin: I don’t understand it either. I’m not sure on eBay’s pricing structure, but I wouldn’t think it’d be cheaper to do it that way.
Jason: You’ve got a point there. There’s not much to choose between them. There does seem to be a couple of small differences: shape of the headstock and the soundhole end of the fretboard. I’ve seen the Cordobas being referred to as “Portuguese Koa”. Whatever that is. I would assume it some variety of acacia, but it sounds more like advertising speak than fact.
The Cordoba 25SK is what I have and it is legit.
Wonderful deep tones and good resonance!
I wonder how the 25CK is…
Good to hear, Nelson. Do you have any information on what exactly ‘Portuguese Koa’ is? I can only find mention of it in respect to Cordoba ukes.
Well…it would seem that there is no such thing as Portugese Koa…just a term used to describe a cousin of the wood…
it’s an easy way for the company to say koa but not really mean it…bastards.
Anyway, I looked around alot of forums and I’ve heard problems with this wood cracking alot.
Hell, upon closer inspection I noticed I have a crack near the top left of my body!
So it sounds good…but it looks like this wood doesn’t hold up very well.
Thanks, Nelson. That’s interesting to know. I’ve just had a look at a couple of threads on the Cosmos about the Cordoba. Not good at all.
[…] ukulele. This Lehua is the last of the bunch and is a fine looking solid Austrailian Blackwood (acacia similar to koa) uke. It’s your choice, solid wood soprano or tried and true tenor size Kala with custom […]
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Maybe it sounds like an old Yamaha motorcycle.
Also, in regards to the Cordoba, I’ve never understood the purpose of offering a “buy it now” price so close to the starting bid. Who is going to bid when you can buy it for $1 more?