Our Haleiwa store-front is open from Wednesday - Saturday from 11am - 6pm and on Sundays from 11am - 5pm.
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0:00 “River Flows in You” Corey on ABD-6 Cedar Top Guilele Pro Classic & Mika on ETSH(C)-PC Cedar Top Macassar Ebony Tenor
3:15 Corey reviews new ABD-6 Baritone size Guilele
6:38 Mika reviews ETSH Pro Classic Tenor
10:18 Mika reviews Pono RTSH Pro Classic Tenor
14:44 Corey shows the new 00 Cedar Rosewood 12 fret to body slotted headstock guitar
21:34 Duet “Wahine Ilikea”
24:03 Mika demos the 8 string deluxe mango tenor
27:25 00 Spruce Acacia 14 fret to body guitar
36:56 New TE Models in blue & red stain (Chambered body tenor electric)
45:10 New mango deluxe BE (Chambered body baritone electric)
Robi and Kala'e are two of Hawaii's most wonderful and extremely talented musicians, so this was a great time. We dig into Sistah Robi's adventurous life & illustrious musical career with Hawaiian Style Band and other legendary musicians. Joining us again, the multi-instrument, singer-songwriter, & music teacher, Kala'e Camarillo, showcasing a unique and beautiful Hawaiian duo. Mike Love jumps into the conversation in the 2nd half too :) I had some technical issues on this one but Robi and Kala'e are so good it hardly matters. Recording these sessions is a work in progress. Mahalo for watching, sharing, & supporting.
In this episode Kala'e plays his parlor Pono guitar. Mika plays a silver series KoAloha tenor, and Corey plays a Tyde that will go up for auction soon. We are the new distributors for Pono Guitars and have a large coming with them in all sizes. So look out for those at the end of year!
Nothing like new custom tenors from Noa and Ryan at Ko'olau Ukulele. Luckily, we're located right next to them so we get a good portion of the incredible instruments they make. After a pair of Ko'olau the boys show off two I'iwi. Charlie Fukuba creates these top of the line customs and has been for the last 25 years. So Corey shows the 25 year anniversary model in Koa and Mika samples one of the best sopranos ever. We end this episode with a listen to a superb baritone from the creative builders at Tyde Ukulele.
Original songs from Ben were "Babygirl" Up Up Up" and "Dancing With You". Ben is working with us now! So exciting. He's such a fun, happy, talented guy, and a hard worker. Alika is playing the new Pono bass you can find here. These are really a lot of fun and super easy to play! Not easy to play like Alika, but easy to have fun and lay down some rhythm. Check them out.
2nd time on the podcast for the wise and talented Bryan Tolentino. (Gotta check out the one with him and Hale too!) First time for one of the coolest musicians I know, Asa Young. Together we talk story and learn some truths.
We start this one off with a duet "How Deep is Your Love" from Kala'e Camarillo & Mika Kane. The Camarillo ohana has been crucial for over 50 years in teaching the keiki of Hawai'i ukulele. It was great having these two talents, Rama & his son Kala'e, share music with you guys on fathers day.
Intro Pachelbel's Canon duet on two new I'iwi customs. Mika plays the 25 year anniversary Bearclaw Spruce Spalted Koa tenor and Corey play a Torrefied Spruce Koa. Corey samples 6 different low G options.
3:46 First w High G 6:14 Smoothwound .030. 8:30 Thomastik Infeld Flatwound .030. 10:00 Uke Logic Fluorocarbon Soft Tension .036. 12:00 Uke Logic Fluorocarbon Hard Tension .042 14:39 Ko'olau Silver Wrap .032 16:56 Aquila Silver Wrap .029
Mika samples low G 17:48 Smoothwound .030 18:29 Flatwound TI .030 19:13 Uke Logic Fluorocarbon Soft Tension .036 19:55 Uke Logic Fluorocarbon Hard Tension .042 20:35 Ko'olau Silver Wrap .032 21:33 Aquila Silver Wrap .029
22:57 Sampling Pono RTSH just now back! 29:12 Sample RTSH w Ko’olau Aho Smoothwound Low G set
30:29 3 Three incredible new customs from Pepe arrived! 43:48 I'iwi 25 yr anniversary model.
All three songs are originals on his upcoming album. The fist is “Sway”, played w a Pono TE-MGB. Then “Ride the Wave” w his Pono Spruce Rosewood OMC. And at the end of the interview Tavana plays “Plastic Island” w his custom Iseman Weissenborn. Aloha!
An intimate concert with Mika and Corey sharing their gifts on the beautiful new Moore Bettah, Ko'olau and Kanile'a ukuleles.
The talented Kapili and Aaron Crowell share their musical gifts and share stories of Hawaii life.
Corey & Mika give us more great duets and a lot of wonderful tips in this episode. Hope you enjoy! Mahalo for watching and sharing, and share your thoughts in the comments below the video! A hui ho!
A great intro sets the tone of this episode, in which Mika and Corey explore 8 varied ukuleles.
An episode dedicated to the makers of these fine instruments! A delicious mix of 6 different ukuleles served up with some serenades all the way from sweet to spicy.
A great episode to relax to, including a hauntingly beautiful intro duet, Corey handling a lovingly crafted Romero and ending with a sonically shining pineapple super-concert!
The ultimate string comparison episode! We play and compare three different sets of strings on each ukulele so you get to hear all the tonal differences yourself, click through to the YouTube description to find detailed timestamps of favourite ukuleles and compare the different tones the strings make.
The award-winning Karlie G shares her gift of a voice and casts a spell on the studio with her original songs “Mine”, “Night Ride” and “95”.
A great hang out episode with some real shows of skill, including an unexpected exhibition of ukulele funk on a high G! Who knew!?
A wonderful journey through the different Pigeon Tree models, finishing with a duet with the boys.
Mika and Corey are back sharing their gifts through a series of fine Kanile’a, Kala’s custom models and a fine desert of instrumentals on the new Rebel Pluto model.
Corey has an accident, Joel joins the chat, Corey goes even more wild on the ukulele along with the fine talents of Kalei.
Brittni, Corey, & Kalei look over and play some beautiful models, Kalei shows off a technique which seems like pure magic 44 minutes in.
ʻĀina, a young and gifted ukulele builder from Oahu shares his magnificent sounding sunburst ukulele and tells the story of Hapa ukulele.
Packed w talent this week for the 2019 finale. We try some special ukes and have some fun like always. Mahalo so much for all your support. Happy New Year!
We get together with Aaron to try 3 new fantastic Schertler acoustic amplifiers.
This week Brittni Paiva joined Kalei Gamiao, Corey Fujimoto, and Andrew for a fun session trying some of the world's best ukes. A great collaboration at the end too. Hope you enjoy. Aloha!
Kalai, Corey and Joel try out a mix of new strings, what makes the best sound?!
An episode for those interested in Ukulele construction! We sit down with David from Ono Ukulele to discuss his newest ukes and building techniques. Corey and Kalei give them a spin.
Kimo Hussey, a master player and educator, shares his heartfelt music and ukulele secrets along with the highly talented Aaron Crowell.
The family that make the great Kanile’a ukulele company come in to chat and share their stories including their efforts to preserve the beautiful nature of Hawaii
The master-craftsman behind the Custom Grimes ukuleles: The great Steve Grimes joins us in the studio to talk ukulele life and what the ukulele community in the 70’s was like.
An adventure around the new Romero Creations models, even a fantastic pineapple shaped 6-string baritone
Great news released on this one. One of our favourite players has just joined the team! On this episode, we talk with Brittni and then about halfway through, Brittni, Kalei, and then Corey try out different and new baritone string sets on Pono ABD, acacia baritone deluxe models. The Uke Logic fluorocarbon sets will be up at the website soon. Likely the baritone option you'd love most. Toward the end, Brittni tries Pono's larger baritones. The first one is the Pono UL4N-3, Mango UL baritone, and then the Pono BN4-1 Acacia baritone. Mahalo and Aloha!
Aaron, Kalei, Corey & Andrew go over some amps, cables, pedals, and then try some of a new string line, Uke Logic. Hope you enjoy.
This was from last week before the episode where Aaron sampled the 9 customs. Sorry everyone's cameras but Aarons turn off there in the middle for a while. Just a chat with a long time friend and some tips thrown in. Hope you enjoy. Aloha!
Join as we explore our range of Ko'olau ukuleles
Aaron returns for a journey through nine custom crafted tenors
Kind of a long one, but what can I cut!? It was a real conversation and Bryan and Hale have true wisdom, tribute and storytelling, lots to share and we loved it. We also had the wonderful Cynthia Lin sit in on this discussion! Mahalo to these artists for freely sharing with the community.
The charming teacher and performer Cynthia Lin joins us in the studio, shares her sunshine spirit and set of joyful sing-alongs songs!
A great episode with some shimmering sounding ukes, the boys return with three wonderful instruments to play with
A super episode with two wonderfully friendly icons of the ukulele scene, come with us for some tips, technique, and plenty fun w/ some of our favorite folks.
A knowledge-filled episode wrapped up in a bow of great music, this week we decided to focus on the setup team and interview one of our luthiers, Billy Dominick. Also, Corey and Kalei play a few songs as they create the set for their Asian tour. They do a killer Beatles Medley that starts at 12:36.
The gang talk shop through an exploration through the glorious Kanile’a models .
Some really special instruments in this one, including the KoAloha red label and the majestic “Moore Bettah: The Watermans Hale” model.
Joel, Corey and Andrew join together to have a play on some Kala Cedar top tenors, a beautiful Tyde “Camphora” and look at the latest in tuning tech.
Always the best day when a new Petros comes in, the faberge egg of ukuleles that sound even better than they look
Jake Peters, creator of Manley ukuleles, an amazing teacher, an inspiring mentor, a singer song-writer, an incredible musician and gifted luthier comes to shares his music and stories in the studio.
The men of manufacturing magic behind the Kala brand come in and share their insight into making the internationally known ukulele brand.
Abe (ah-bay) is an ukulele teacher/performer and hosts his own podcast- Abe's Ukulele Podcast.
The wonderful songwriting and performing duo Craig Chee and Sarah Maisel come in to share their music and Aloha spirit in the studio
This is the first of three podcasts we did the other night. Coming soon with an interview and performances from Craig Chee and Sarah Maisel, and after w Abe Deshotel, an ukulele teacher and podcaster. So check back in soon for those. In this one we go over a similar Leolani to what we showed last week but in mango. There was a lot of questions about this system so I thought we could cover it again and go over some of what we've learned about it. We do have these units coming in separately for resale or install as well. And we'll have the cedar top ones back in a few weeks. Check the site as we'll be listing these mango models picture specific. Mahalo for tuning in and for your support. Aloha!
Trailer for the documentary "Uke Way" from Andreas Garcas & Victor Jofre at 27:23. Original unreleased music by Paulina Olguin aka Pauli. First song “un dia” second at the end “mi naturaleza” at 1:01:10. Victor and Pauli are visiting us from Chile and just brought us 25 new ukes! Victor builds in the classic Tahitian style and beyond with his own hybridization. Check around the site for these new ukes going up and let us know with any questions. Aloha and mahalo for your support.
First we go over a new Leolani with the new Double pickup which allows you to use effects through your instrument without the need of external amplification. Then we go over a custom Pineapple Sunday by Pops with amazing pyrography from Dino. Pyrography is a wood burning art (this is not painted). After that we look at the Pops Pineapple Sunday made at the Rebel and Opio factory. Lastly we give our first impressions of the Beau Hannam fret less custom tenor. All of these are getting listed in the next few days at our website. Mahalo!
2nd podcast this week because I wanted to catch Anya before she moves. Anya's performances, City of Stars, Only Hope, You and I, & Riptide. Beyond that, we cover some of the same things we did on the last one that I thought could be done better. Kalei reviews new Pigeon Tree ukes and they compare High and Low G on aNueNue. Mahalo for subscribing and supporting us. Aloha!
8:30 Zach teaches a Jack Johnson style strum 32:27 Kalei shares a left-hand exercise 43:22 Joel shows how to widen or lower a nut slot with limited tools 54:00 Corey teaches a harmonics run
Got back from a trip yesterday and met up with Corey and Tobi after they closed the store in Kaka'ako. Had to squeeze in one last podcast with my friend & colleague, Tobias Elof. Late night session so we had to mix in some jams but we covered a lot more. Hope you find it useful and enjoyable!
Jam - Old Town Road - 7:20 Teaching that 16:47 - Tobias goes over his history and styles with ukulele along with tips and exercises. 23:02 Dub strum and beat - Jam 29:44 Kalei’s High D set for Baritone 41:38 Kalei plays “Looking through the eyes of love” 46:11 Discussing Bach’s take on the character of different keys 48:59 Tobias plays Bach Cello Suite No.1 in G Major, Prélude 58:12 Corey shows the variety of songs in C-F-G7 and then playing the 1-4-5 in various keys. 1:01:55 Incorporating scales. What modes are (touch on that). 1:08:31 Jam out
Kind of a long one but I'll put timestamps below for you to jump around if you want. 2:16 - Interview w Neal Chin (& checking out his new Black Label KoAloha) 26:28 - Fingerstyle w Neal Chin 39:17 - Campanella lesson w Tobias Elof + alternate chord shapes 49:45 Working with tone w Kalei Gamiao +arranging chord melodies 1:15:30 Exercises w Corey (sheet music download here- http://www.theukulelereview.com/wp-co... ) Video demo of this song at the link above with other sheet music. 1:48:39 4 different styles of Mary had a little lamb 1:51:05 Corey plays Hisaishi songs on Redwood/Ebony DL Noble Custom tenor. 1:56:15 one by Kimura we have written out here- http://www.theukulelereview.com/wp-co... 1:59:20 Jam out.
Paul heads KoAloha Ukulele production as well as their custom shop. Today we check out a new Black Label custom and get Paul's thoughts on all kinds of uke related topics. Kalei Gamiao, Corey Fujimoto, and Tobias Elof give us some sound samples including a comparison of the Black Label, regular Koa tenor, and Opio acacia tenor.
We got to sit down last night w/ the crew and Tyler from Tyde music located near Lake Tahoe. We try out three of their instruments and two of those will be going up at the site. At the end we get a gorgeous performance from Zoë Bestel & Tobias Elof. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back next week. Aloha!
This week we're trying the same instrument with 6 different saddle materials. Tusq, Nubone, Bone, Plastic, Rosewood, Ebony. Let us know your thoughts and what other comparisons you're interested in. I'll try to make a short clip comparing these back to back in the same song and put it up here soon too. Thanks for watching, subscribing, sharing, and supporting us by letting us help you find the right uke and gear to inspire you musically. Aloha!
This week we're joined by Anya who works at the Haleiwa location and Tobias and Zoë again, performance at the end. So Anya plays "la vie en rose" (she played an original too I'll put up separately here) and Zoë and Tobias do "smile". This week we tried just focusing on one topic and covering as much as possible on action, or string height. Thanks for tuning in. Let us know what you'd like to see or hear about next time. Aloha!
Another get together with Tobias, Zoë, Kalei, Corey, and Joel. Discussion includes: 1. Ukulele Capos 2. Clip on Tuners 3. Ukulele cases 4. 6 new models from Kala 5. Comparing the new Kanile'a OHA-T to their K-1 T Nat
Part 1 of a series discussing common questions in ukulele world. With Tobias Elof & Zoë Bestel 1. How did you get good at playing? 2. How does the Pineapple shape compare to the regular shape? 3.Electronics. Does a pickup affect acoustic tone? What's the difference in passive and active? Which is best? 4. What's the deal with wound strings? 5. Strap button? Get one? Get two? 6. What's the best ukulele? Demo of Joel installing strap buttons. Zoë Bestel "Spiders"
Late night session goofing around and trying some different string sets on a few koa tenors from the Island. The ukes and strings used here can be found at our website https://theukulelesite.com ..maybe, and just listing the Kanile'a now and the Ko'olau Aho set we need to make more of...soon. Anyway, mahalo and aloha!
Be warned! Ukulele abuse within! This episode starts off with a test to see how much force these ukuleles can deal with! The first uke we threw is the Kala Waterman. We carry a number of these and the Ukedelics at our two locations on Oahu. Then we did some back to back comparisons of 10 tenors in the 4-800 dollar range. 4 spruce tops, 3 acacia, and 3 mahogany. First samples by Tobias Elof and then Kalei Gamiao. After that we threw 3 Oahu cases off of the storage racks. The Islander uke was really in there. The Moore Bettah at the end was not actually in the case but Kalei had the idea and I thought it would be fun. Movie magic. Not really haha. But then we get a real treat with Zoë playing an original song called "Gumusservi"!
We've done comparisons like this before but we figure its good to keep doing things like this. Each piece of wood has its own cellular structure and each instrument is unique, but this is just another data point for you. These are the same size (tenor) brand (Pono) strings (Ko'olau Alohi wound 3rd) and are played by two excellent players (Corey Fujimoto & Tobias Elof) playing the same songs in the same position with the same mics. Afterward, they get together with Zach and Joel and discuss. At the end Tobias shows how he plays the melody of this Swedish Waltz we recorded here, he does it slow and we catch close ups for those that would like to try it.
Tobias Elof & Zoë Bestel come into the studio and share their beautiful music.
We just grabbed some of the instruments in the room there for a comparison. We'll keep doing this kind of stuff. Mixing up various instruments for your comparison.
Our adventures and booth interviews exploring NAMM 2019!
A wonderful video exploring new ukes and some wonderful performances from the icons of the ukulele world! Will be posting full performances and booth interviews individually from here on. Many more artists not mentioned here will be coming as well. Mahalo for watching!
So we have a lot to share from this NAMM. Here is the first part of it. Mahalo for tuning in. Aloha!
Mostly rambling and talking over each other. But there's some cool ukes in there too.
These ukulele pickups are offered for install when you buy a use on this site! Demo on the mahogany tenor Pono MT. If you want to just hear the 5 compared for tone with the volume on the amp adjusted to be somewhat even you can skip ahead to @24:45. In the first comparison we didn't adjust the volume so you can hear gain level differences they naturally come with but it's pretty hard to judge tone especially on the passive ones with them being so low. In the second demo we go over adjustments and EQ. Hope this is helpful. Yes, I should adjust the EQ coming out of my face while I'm at it and see you next time. Subscribe and stay in touch. Mahalo!
Brad Bordessa has been playing and teaching the ʻukulele professionally for over a decade and comes into the studio to share his songs and techniques. We even sell Brads wonderful chord book here on the site. Search for “ukulele chord shapes” to find it.
This one features a fun new member of team, Sean T, with Corey backing him up. Sean plays his custom Black Label 5 string KoALoha tenor, a Kala ATP-CTG-5 5 string tenor, and a Kanile'a Willie K 5 string. Corey is playing a Kamaka HF-3L.
We first featured Victor Jofre, maker of Asonu Ukulele, on our channel here a few years back, maybe longer. We've been selling his ukes up at our store in Haleiwa and sometimes online here. Recently we got another 18 of these killer Tahitian 8 strings and now the hybrid 4 string as well as another new cool shape from we'll put at the site soon. Lots of cool stuff from Asonu. Stay tuned for more news when Andreas Garces completes this movie "Uke Way". We helped them record Jack Johnson last week and will catch an interview with Jake and they caught a number of other musicians and footage here. This film will be super cool!
Got together with the guys for a bit after work to look at new models and compare ukes.
The third podcast from NAM 2018. A huge plethora of content! This podcast has different makers featured and artists as well. Here's the timeline if you want to skip ahead: 0:57 - Kala Interview 8:44 - Pepe Romero on Signature Romero Creations Mini Guitar 12:04 Neal Chin (Original from Spotless Mind Album) w Milo Fultz on Ohana Bass 16:07 Interview w Casey Kamaka 20:07 Pepe Romero samples Pepe Romero Jr custom TT guilele 23:48 Interview and sound samples with Tyde Ukulele 36:00 Neal Chin live at Hapas 40:36 Karlie G live at Hapas
We hang out with Daniel Ho and check out some custom Seagull ukuleles!
So we did three podcast over at NAMM and I guess I thought I was gonna upload them each night, but you know, there was just too much to do and fun to have! It was already past midnight when we did this and the other two podcasts. So better late than never I guess. I'll be uploading these over the next week. At our channel here I've been uploading some of the booth interviews and artist performances so check those out and much more to show you from this years show. Aloha!
This is a charity project from some of the finest ukulele makers. They each built a custom tenor out of the same amazing woods and we will be auctioning them off for a non-profit, Ukulele Kids Club, who provides ukuleles and music therapy to kids dealing with major medical problems. This fund raising is all arranged and done through the organisation, Luthiers for a Cause. Featured ukuleles and interview with Kevin Beddoe of Kinnard Ukes, legendary guitar maker Steve Grimes, Jay Lichty, Beau Hannam, Jake Maclay, and Joji Yoshida. From the east coast to Japan, these are some of the best uke builders out there. Apply competent giving us dry sound samples to enjoy, we start with Kimo Hussey, then Corey Fujimoto, and end with Kalei Gamio.
Impromptu session with a new friend from Germany, Thomas Streng. The camera was shutting off for some of the conversation so I cut it out but you can hear more of it at The Ukulele Review Podcast at iTunes or at soundcloud
Ron and Zanuck play a few songs from their new album and then Zanuck shares some thoughts for growing as an ukulele player.
Corey texted me from the store today saying this guy Pat Megowan brought by two tenors he built and they sound great! So I told him to bring Pat down to our workshop so we can sample them. So that's what we did and I get to know him here and get to experience these very special custom tenor ukes along with you. Oh I should mention because we were doing true sound samples there is no compression so try listen on good headphones or speakers to best hear the tones. Hopefully we see a lot more of Pat's instruments. Enjoy!!
We didn't plan this interview but Abe happened to stop by today and I was ready to take a break for an hour and record some tunes and have this chat with one of my favorite musicians and close friends. Hope you enjoy. Oh by the way, the video cut out for a little bit of the interview. but you can listen to the full interview at our soundcloud or itunes podcast- the ukulele review.
This is a talk we had with Kanile'a owner Joe Souza, from our Podcast -"The Ukulele Review" on iTunes or Soundcloud.
Enjoy our talk with this UK ukulele builder, Pete Howlett.
Tobias is an awesome uke player from Denmark. He’s the only person I know of that actually majored in ukulele at his university. And as you can hear, he graduated with honors. He’s a fun and fantastic musician playing all kinds of folk styles and now is creating his own style of meditational music with the ukulele. We pick his brains and get a number of recordings from his last release which is awesome!Mahalo for watching!
If you want to learn how to do some setup work yourself this will help! We also have a thorough setup video on our process that we do to all ukes we ship out here. Our podcast "The Ukulele Review" is fairly new but we've been trying to do one each week and have other episodes covering various uke topics and featuring different builders and players.
We decided to film this podcast to give an optional look at what Kalei is doing as he shows us a few ways to jump into improvising or soloing with your ukulele. Hope you enjoy!