Lanikai OAK Tenor
Or by its official name, the Lanikai OA-CET. In many places, however, this unusually attractive ukulele with its silky feel is simply listed as OAK, referring to the oak wood. Many thanks to Olivér for giving me the opportunity to try his electro-acoustic tenor ukulele , which he recently bought from the Ukulele.hu webshop:
I had never previously had the chance to hold an oak ukulele, but this time I was able to admire one for a short while. The wood grain is beautiful, and naturally every instrument has its own unique appearance. Here it is coming out of the box and the factory soft case supplied with it:
The instrument is slightly heavier than average — presumably because of the wood — but only by ukulele standards. The whole package was no more than a kilo and a half . The dark binding tastefully emphasizes the natural grain of the wood, and the ring around the soundhole is the same dark color. But what they got especially right is the finish. The ukulele has a satin finish: neither matte nor glossy like a mirror, but somewhere between the two. Thanks to this final layer, the instrument is literally soothing to look at, and just as pleasant for the hands. It feels exceptionally good to the touch and is very comfortable to hold.
As is customary with Lanikai, this ukulele also comes with two strap buttonsinstalled at the factory. Its shape is actually the same as that of my own Lanikai ukulele, so in that respect the OAK was not new to me. Even so, the way it sat in the hands and the way it felt were different because of the wood and the satin finish.
If you would like to buy a ukulele like this, you can do so in the Ukulele.hu webshop . This OAK is already in the premium category, as its price also shows. If you would prefer to spend a little less on a ukulele, I can also warmly recommend its smaller acoustic concert-size sibling, which you can find in the webshop under the name Lanikai Oak Concert .
In the following short video, you can hear a few bars played on Lanikai's oak tenor ukulele:
