Review Details

Pono Acacia Tenor Gloss Deluxe (ATD 5025)

Product Rating:

Product Rating
Price
100%
Quality
100%
Value
100%

Product Review (submitted on March 24, 2012):

Wow, what an excellent ukulele. I was debating between the AT and the ATD (gloss finish, ebony fingerboard and bridge) and settled on the ATD.

At first glance, the instrument is absolutely stunning! The grain pattern is beautiful and the coloring is actually a lot less red (I think they photos on this site aren't properly color corrected). If you want to see better pics, go to ukuleleunderground.com/forums and search for pono ATD. I've posted several pics under my alias MikeR.

On closer inspection, I don't see any cosmetic flaws. The only thing I noticed is that when I took off the wound C string to replace it with a non-wound it left a small indentation in the bridge. But I believe these instruments come with wound C strings.

The tuners feel nice and I like the smaller tuning buttons. All but the A string tuners on mine feel well lubricated and easy to turn; but even the A string feels good, just takes a little more pressure. I was surprised by how quickly the strings settled in and stayed in tune (two days of playing and I can tune them and forget 'em)

The intonation is excellent almost all the way up the fretboard and the tone is very mellow. I will probably change strings in a month or two to the Ko'olau Alohi's to see if I can balance out the mellowness a little bit.

The neck is a little thicker than some others i've played, but maybe that's due to the truss rod inside (one of the reasons I liked this uke). I've found the thicker neck makes barre chords easier for me. It feels really comfortable.

For 469 dollars, I couldn't be happier. I feel like I am playing something much nicer than that. I also had HMS install a MiSi pickup and upgraded to the hardshell case. This is an investment I think you'll want to protect!

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