1970s Kamaka White Label Koa Soprano Ukulele

By the '70s, Kamaka ukes had settled-in to a sort-of modernity in some sense. The top thicknessing and general lightweight build of the design was still very-much a "handmade charm" affair, but as you can see with this guy, a quirky through-slot bridge design has yielded to an almost Martin-like style with a black plastic saddle, the neck has its own fretboard, there's a side dot for reference, and the instrument is pretty symmetrical. One the oldies you definitely have some body-shape variation all over the place!

This particular little koa soprano sports gorgeous, flame-figure wood on the top and back and lightly-figured wood in the neck and fretboard. It's eye-catching and matches the curly koa on our family's own '70s Kamaka soprano.

This barely needed any work to play decently but it wound-up getting the work needed to make it a solid player -- a fret level/dress, saddle adjustment, and a set of new Gotoh 4:1 geared uke tuners at the headstock. These are vastly superior to the clunky, heavy, over-large friction pegs Kamaka put on their ukes from this time.

It sound is sweet, warm, and chimey with good note separation.