The last several days has been pretty good in terms of ukuleles for me. There was the Jake Shimabukuro concert in town. And there were two new ukes that arrived within the last week. The newcomers are a LoPrinzi model A mahogany tenor and a DaSilva Santo reproduction soprano. The LoPrinzi arrived last Friday and the DaSilva arrived today.
LoPrinzi ukes have always received high praise from people who have played them and I had always wanted to try one. There was one that appeared on the FMM Marketplace and I decided to grab it since I do not currently have a mahogany tenor (yes, it's a UAS excuse). To make room, I sold the Kelii tenor to someone who really wanted one. The first impressions of the LoPrinzi is that the workmanship is outstanding. Among the best workmanship I've seen. Sound-wise, it's not quite in the league of my Kamaka and Kanile'a, but it's very nice, and I still want to try some Worth CTs on it. Definitely worth the price.
The DaSilva Santo reproduction is one heck of a tiny ukulele. I had seen videos of it being played by John King and Mark Occhionero, and pictures on Mike DaSilva's website, but I was still surprised by the size of this uke. The body actually seem smaller than a sopranino and is very narrow. I tried to sell the Martin style 1 on ebay to make room for this one, but unfortunately I got jacked by a non-paying bidder so I'll probably still have the Martin for a while longer.
This picture should give you an idea about how small the Santo reproduction is. On its left is the Kiwaya KTS-7 and on its right is a tourist Leolani sopranino. As you can see it is noticably smaller than the KTS-7 and it doesn't appear to have much more body volume than the sopranino. After playing the Santo reproduction for a bit, the KTS-7 felt huge! It does pump out a lot of sound and is a very cool and very well made ukulele. I specified a UV cured finish instead of the standard french polished finish to save some money ($200 off) and increase its durability. The finish appears to be the same as Kanile'a's UV cured finish and if that's the case it should be pretty much indestructible. I will share more thoughts about the LoPrinzi and the DaSilva here in the future once I had more time with them. Stay tuned!
LoPrinzi ukes have always received high praise from people who have played them and I had always wanted to try one. There was one that appeared on the FMM Marketplace and I decided to grab it since I do not currently have a mahogany tenor (yes, it's a UAS excuse). To make room, I sold the Kelii tenor to someone who really wanted one. The first impressions of the LoPrinzi is that the workmanship is outstanding. Among the best workmanship I've seen. Sound-wise, it's not quite in the league of my Kamaka and Kanile'a, but it's very nice, and I still want to try some Worth CTs on it. Definitely worth the price.
The DaSilva Santo reproduction is one heck of a tiny ukulele. I had seen videos of it being played by John King and Mark Occhionero, and pictures on Mike DaSilva's website, but I was still surprised by the size of this uke. The body actually seem smaller than a sopranino and is very narrow. I tried to sell the Martin style 1 on ebay to make room for this one, but unfortunately I got jacked by a non-paying bidder so I'll probably still have the Martin for a while longer.
This picture should give you an idea about how small the Santo reproduction is. On its left is the Kiwaya KTS-7 and on its right is a tourist Leolani sopranino. As you can see it is noticably smaller than the KTS-7 and it doesn't appear to have much more body volume than the sopranino. After playing the Santo reproduction for a bit, the KTS-7 felt huge! It does pump out a lot of sound and is a very cool and very well made ukulele. I specified a UV cured finish instead of the standard french polished finish to save some money ($200 off) and increase its durability. The finish appears to be the same as Kanile'a's UV cured finish and if that's the case it should be pretty much indestructible. I will share more thoughts about the LoPrinzi and the DaSilva here in the future once I had more time with them. Stay tuned!
I love those Santo style ukuleles.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think the Santo is really cool. I think it's going to get me playing more sopranos. It has already brought me a new level of appreciation toward the Kiwaya KTS-7 while anticipating its arrival.
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