Review Details

Pono Cedar/Macassar Tenor (ETSHC(C)-PC 7183)

Product Rating:

Product Review (submitted on June 9, 2014):

This is not your average ukulele. Instead, it has all features of a very classy guitar. Soundwise, it rings out like a grand piano, with crystal clear treble and booming bass notes. Since ebony is very dense, this is one heavy tool (850g), compared to other tenors such as the Kanilea K1-TSF (560g), the Pono AT (630g), or the Pono MGTP (670g).

We liked the bronze wound strings that were on it and thought they blended in much better than on most other ukes, but one of them snapped at the bridge while in the case, leaving a ding on the soft cedar top. After that, we tried some silver wound strings from Ko'olau, but thought they sounded too "metallic", so we ended up with unwound Worth Clear, our usual choice.

Although we own a couple of Hawaiian made koa ukes and prefer their sound as well as their simple woody appearance, we look at the ETSHC as our most distinguished, special one. Our advise for someone who is new to this price range would be to buy a Kanilea or a Kamaka first and then complement it with this awesome Pono.