Kanilea Islander
RatingsKanilea have been best known as a high-end, high-price, Hawaiian-made ukulele maker. But more recently they launched the much cheaper (from $100 upwards) Islander range with both solid and laminated ukuleles. They've been picking up some very good reviews.
Kanilea Islander Review
ItsAMeCasey reviews his Kanilea Islander MST-4.
US $300.00
2 Comments
I am relatively new to the ukulele however, in the short time that I have been playing, I have found that I love it. After buying a (very) cheap starter soprano, I got hooked. I really wanted something more advanced and came across the ‘Islander’ range by Kanile’a. Unfortunately, there was almost no information about these ukuleles on the internet – no reviews ect. Anyway, I bit the bullet and got an Islander MC-4 and I LOVE it. Honestly, the finish is beautiful and the sound is so good! It came fitted with Aquila strings which improve the sound quality immensely. I would recommend this ukulele to anyone wanting to advance and actually invest in a quality instrument. Again, it is amazing. The only downside was the price but compared to some ukuleles, it was reasonable and in my opinion, it was worth every penny – I play it everyday without fail.
I couldn’t get one of these here in the UK – nobody had any stock. I eventually sourced one from Ukebox.fr.
Have to agree with everything the reviewer says – simply amazing value for money and the perfect uke for taking to sessions as it feels so robust.
For me the best aspect of this great uke is the neck and string spacing. It’s slightly wider than any other tenor I’ve tried and this suits me perfectly. I didn’t like the stock Aquila sound either and restrung with Martin Fluorocarbon strings and it sounds absolutely wonderful. (By the way why are Martin tenor fluorocarbon strings so hard to source these days?) I know laminate instruments are not supposed to ‘open up’ with playing but I’m sure that this one is definitely sounding nicer every day – or maybe its just my playing improving because I can’t put the thing down….
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