1920s Aloha (Akai) Hawaiian Koa Soprano Ukulele

Overview: I worked on this ukulele last in 2013 and since then, I think, it's been in the hands of one of my consignor/customers. He brought it back, recently, as he's going through a bit of an instrument purge in his house.

It's a nice one, though, folks! It's got that sunny, bell-like, sweet-chime sound that you only really get from old koa ukes. The build is folksily off-center and not at all symmetrical and, to me, that's part of the charm of these old Hawaiian gals. Even at their best their strings are fairly low over the body so you have to enjoy that sort of feel -- I do, because I tend to strum old-fashioned with the tips of my nails right beyond the 12th fret over the body top.

This one was made by the Akai factory in Hawaii, owned and run by Chinese-Hawaiian entrepreneur Tai Chong Goo. The swirly-looking headstock is the giveaway. The build is otherwise similar to other Hawaiian makes like Kumalae and the like, with a Spanish heel, lightweight build, and -- in this case -- a profuse amount of Portuguese-style rope binding that looks a treat.

The koa on this one is that pretty orange color with streaks of dark brown that makes a uke-fan gush.

Repairs included: Previously, I'd repaired some top cracks and re-reglued a badly-done bridge reglue (as I recall), then leveled and dressed the frets and set it up. It's playing bang-on and ready to go.

• Weight: 0 lbs 9 oz
• Scale length: 13 1/8"
• Nut width: 1 5/16"
• Neck shape: slim D
• Board radius: flat
• Depth at first fret: 0.53"
• Depth at seventh fret: 0.62"
• Body width: 5 3/4"
• Body depth: 2 1/4"
• Top wood: solid koa
• Back & sides wood: solid koa
• Bracing type: ladder
• Bridge: koa
• Fretboard: koa
• Neck wood: koa
• Action height at 12th fret: hair over 1/16" (fast)
• String gauges: D'Addario fluorocarbon EJ99T
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: narrow/low

Condition notes: The top and back both have some repaired hairline cracks but they're no detriment. The bridge had been reglued sloppy-as-heck at some point and there's finish disturbance all around it. When I reglued it, I lowered the whole bridge a bit so I could get the action down and comfortable for modern fingers. Note how the string path is not on-center with the soundhole though the bridge is on-center with the neck alignment. This is very common on old Hawaiian ukes -- they were mostly not build in forms of any sort so "symmetry" is very loose. The tuners are period but unlikely original (these mostly had wood pegs) and they work just fine for friction pegs. A nice upgrade would be Gotoh UPTs but that's another ~$80 to put in.

Last point is that intonation gets steadily worse after frets 6 or 7, though first position chords are a non-issue and that's where most of these got their biggest workouts. The frets were simply not fit in exactly the right spots. You won't really notice playing up top on your lonesome that it's a little out of tune but you will notice if you're trying to play melody up the neck on this and playing with someone else.

It comes with: As I recall it at least has a gigbag.

Consignor tag: COST