About
Reviews (1)
03 November 2015
Fun, great sounding instrument
2 of 2 found this helpful The Kala MK-B Makala Baritone Ukulele is a great sounding instrument. It has a nice deep tone with good volume and plenty of midrange tones. It came with Aquila Nylgut strings which sound nice. The tuning is standard DGBE like a guitar but minus the two lower E and A strings. Though there is a touch of brightness in the higher B and E strings, there is less brilliance than you get from a guitar due to the non-metal strings, so the overall sound is a bit darker, more mellow. Search YouTube for videos of this instrument, and you'll hear it for yourself. It's really a pleasant sound.
The instrument is playable right out of the box. As for the action, mine is great at the nut but a little high as you go up the neck. I took it into a local music store, and they confirmed this; they said they could lower the bridge by 0.5 to 1 mm at my next change of strings. Even with the higher action, the intonation is off only very slightly at the 12th fret. I generally play standard chords near the nut or with a capo, so the effective tuning is bang-on. The strings are easy on the fingers, and the uke is a lot of fun to play!
The lower-pitched strings (D and G) are wound strings which have a shorter shelf life than the others, so my next string change may be soon. I'm considering D'Addario Titanium strings which are supposed to be brighter; they have gotten excellent reviews. If I go with these, I may update this review after using them for a while.