Koki'o tenor electro-acoustic

I normally put the exact model name of the ukulele in the title, but this time I spared you because this instrument has been given the longest, most meaningless and least imaginative model code I have encountered: U-SSPLFM-CE-T. I understand the final three letters: CE probably indicates cutaway and electro-acoustic, while T obviously means tenor. That more or less completes my list of negatives about this ukulele. The previous two Koki'o instruments – the Mini and the transparent model – were more like fun party ukuleles, but this tenor is pure pleasure. Fate has been kind to me this year because I have already had the chance to try quite a few excellent ukuleles, and there is no question that this one joins that list.

Even with a magnifying glass I cannot find a fault in it. It is tasteful and beautiful, and naturally it sounds good too, helped by the spruce top. Playing it is a pleasure and I can hardly put it down. Tuning takes only moments thanks to smooth, easy-to-turn tuning machines, and the tuner built into the electronics is excellent. Rather unusually for a ukulele, the electronics provide separate bass, middle and treble controls – bass seems a little excessive to me – controls more commonly seen on bass ukuleles.

This tenor ukulele has a satin finish. Your eyes can hardly take in the beautiful lines and grain, which almost appear three-dimensional. Hats off to the designers and makers: they conceived and built a genuinely beautiful ukulele.

I told a small lie at the beginning of the post because I saved one more negative for the end: the price. This is the most expensive ukulele I had dealt with up to that point. A beginner may unfortunately discover after several months that the ukulele is not, after all, the instrument of their life – fortunately I know very few such people – and buying an expensive instrument only to leave it standing in a corner would be a costly experiment. Spending this much on a ukulele is already something of an investment. On the other hand, anyone whose budget allows it and who is planning for the long term – beginner or experienced player alike – will not be disappointed by an instrument like this.