Gear to Skip: 2010s Kohala KO-S Soprano Ukulele

My buddy Tom picked this up at a thrift store "over the mountain" for $12 and I bought it for $15, put $15 in time and $5 of strings into it. Now that it's setup and adjusted and has a set of fluorocarbon strings on it, it really isn't bad for a hunk of junk. The original black nylon strings were just garbage. I'm still not sure about having ~$35 into a $50-new uke, though. This will end-up sold at-cost for someone to learn-on locally, however, which is more important than its  monetary value.

My opinion on it? Please spend $100 on a uke, at least, if you plan to take the instrument on. Ohanas are so much better than these. This is just above the level of a toy. Thankfully, modern tooling means the frets and bridge were at least in the right places and the frets were 95% level, so it could be made playable on the quick. Tone-wise it sounds like what it is -- thin, ply, and uninspired in bracing and design. It gets the job done, though.

But hey! An actual rosewood bridge? How about that?!