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Topic: Ukulele maker branches out to steel... |
Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 16 Sep 2008 8:08 pm |
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| Lots of bucks for something with only six strings on them. Very nice though. |
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Don Kona Woods
From:
Hawaiian Kama'aina
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Posted 16 Sep 2008 9:50 pm
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Ron,
Would you try one out and see how it sounds for all of us?
This is a summary - Ko’olau Lap Steel Guitar are built using Mahogany and Koa with two models, a KLS-1 and KLS-2. Both are similar in overall design and appointments, with the exception of the pickups. Model KLS-1 will have a Lace Alumitone, and Model KLS-2 will have a Lollar P90 pickup. The Lollar pickup $400 more expensive.
Aloha, 
Don |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 2:17 am
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| WHY the adjustable bridges ? |
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Chris Drew
From:
Bristol, UK
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 3:52 am
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| basilh wrote: |
| WHY the adjustable bridges ? |
Good question...
Makes it look like an Artisan! 
Maybe it's there for the same reason as on an Artisan, that it's cheaper to buy a mass-produced standard 6-string bridge than to spend the time making an albeit much simpler & more suitable but non-mass-produced & hence more expensive alternative...
At that price though I'd expect better than that!
You'd think a buffed-up piece of brass angle would be a much better bridge than what's on there.
Really nice looking guitar otherwise. |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 5:00 am
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| basilh wrote: |
| WHY the adjustable bridges ? |
Because you can buy them cheap. It is just a standard guitar part. I don't see these at $2000. Just my opinion. |
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Todd Weger
From:
Safety Harbor, FLAUSA
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 5:57 am I agree with Bill and Baz...
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These are beautiful looking, and I'm guessing beautiful sounding, too, but I'm wondering why a piece of L-angled brass is that much more expensive than a six-saddle adjustable...?? I also think the price is way high, but I suspect that 70% of that cost is the koa, and if done in a much less expensive wood, the guitar would be closer to the $700-900 range.
They shore iz purrrty, though!
_________________
Todd James Weger --
1956 Fender Stringmaster T-8 (C6, E13, A6); 1960 Fender Stringmaster D-8 (C6, B11/A6); Custom-made 25" aluminum cast "fry pan" with vintage Ricky p'up (C6); 1938 Epiphone Electar (A6); 1953 Oahu Tonemaster; assorted ukuleles; upright bass |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 6:43 am
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| basilh wrote: |
| WHY the adjustable bridges ? |
Probably because they've only just started building lap steels and they haven't got it right yet. 
I don't accept for one minute the argument that it's cheaper to use a standard part. Most manufacturers in the "good old days" of lap steel just used an L shaped piece of steel, or a piece of brass pressed so that it had a pointy peak. Drilling a few holes in the body and fitting string retainers is very cheap and gives you better sustain. At $2,000 I would expect better.  |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 7:37 am
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| Alan Brookes wrote: |
| [quoteI don't accept for one minute the argument that it's cheaper to use a standard part. Most manufacturers in the "good old days" of lap steel just used an L shaped piece of steel, or a piece of brass pressed so that it had a pointy peak. Drilling a few holes in the body and fitting string retainers is very cheap and gives you better sustain. At $2,000 I would expect better. |
Alan. If you are building a guitar and you can order a $19 part as opposed to tooling up to machine out a nice part then that is MUCH cheaper to do.
The L shape bridge would be even cheaper. |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 10:45 am
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Don, since the shop is on Oahu, I'll try and stop in. Gotta bring my RX amp along tho, if I want to try the steels, humbug...
I'd like to see a simple koa plank with 8 'strings thru' and over a Wallace TrueTone. |
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Cartwright Thompson
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Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
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Posted 18 Sep 2008 3:53 am
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Can someone please enlighten me about what's wrong with using an adjustable bridge, as long as it's solid and well made? I know there's no point in having one, but when you look at this bridge...
....it's set up with the individual saddles in one straight line and a flat radius. I don't see the problem (except, perhaps, that you can't manipulate the spacing?).
I don't see any disadvantages regarding tone and sustain compared to a thin L-shaped piece of metal, quite the contrary..
My Lap King Rodeo came with a Rickenbacker bridge, individual saddles that could be adjusted (but were in a straight line), flat radius,- and it sings.
_________________
"Play to express, not to impress"
Website - YouTube |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 19 Sep 2008 9:31 am edit
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edit
Last edited by George Piburn on 20 Jun 2012 5:33 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 19 Sep 2008 10:59 am
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| Steinar Gregertsen wrote: |
| Can someone please enlighten me about what's wrong with using an adjustable bridge, ]. |
Steiner. Nothing....but when you are talking about a guitar with a price tag of over $2000...that is a cheap go to for a bridge that should reflect the price of the instrument.
I consider this guitar over hyped and over priced.
How thick is the Koa top?? In the ad copy it is called a koa "faceplate"??!?!? Is the thickness covered by the binding? Usually that is the case. For this price, it should be solid koa.
What is so special about the pickups offered. You can go to websites and buy these. |
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