Kala KA-SSTU-T Tenor

Color: Natural
Finish: Satin
Slim tenor "travel uke" body - shallow body depth (ranging from 1-1/4" to 1-3/4")
Solid spruce top
Mahogany back and sides
Nice binding
Black/white/black/white binding with black rosette
Rosewood fingerboard and bridge
Synthetic bone nut and saddle
Die-cast chrome tuners with black buttons
Aquila strings
Travel bag included

UTILIZATION

This is a fun ukulele to own and play. It is great for anyone that travels frequently and needs a very small instrument that can fit in luggage or overhead bins. Ukuleles are small to begin with, but this uke is easy to fit in a large briefcase, backpack, or a duffle bag with room to spare, so anyone that needs their fix of uke magic can still fit a few changes of clothes and a toothbrush in there. It plays very easily, and sounds like a good uke should, and weighs next to nothing.

SOUNDS

The diminished body depth does not appear to hamper the tone in any noticeable fashion - it still has a bright, smooth jangled attack, with decent volume. It would be nice if this included a simple pickup system, but then again, most travelers that want to take a non concert-sized uke with them are probably just taking it to practice in a hotel room, not to gig with. And for this purpose, the sounds are great.

OVERALL OPINION

This ukulele is fun! I've had a lot of comments on it because of its size. It certainly offers a good sound and playability for a reasonable price. I've had a lot of fun playing mine, and putting it in my backpack on outdoor hikes to jam by the campfire. It has a good enough sound that I can still teach lessons with it. All in all, a good purchase that I would recommend for anyone that is looking for a good ukulele to have fun with.

The Kala KA-SSTU-T Travel Tenor Ukulele is a thin body instrument that is designed for bringing on the go. I've only played this ukulele a few times, and haven't used it for recording or anything like that. This ukulele is in the thin body line of Kala instruments, as they've also got a soprano one and few others as well. This isn't an electrified instrument at all, as it doesn't have any pick ups.

UTILIZATION

My favorite part about the Kala KA-SSTU-T Travel Tenor Ukulele is definitely the feel of the neck. It's really fluid feeling and is incredibly easy to play. I'm definitely not a ukulele connoisseur, but I have played and a number of them and know enough about the instrument and stringed instruments in general to get a good idea of what a good playing one will feel like. It's got a wide neck since it's a tenor, making it a bit easier to play than a soprano, which is the type that I own. While I'm sure that there are better feeling ukuleles out there, I doubt you'll find too many of them at this price.

SOUNDS

The tone of the Kala KA-SSTU-T Travel Tenor Ukulele isn't the most vibrant sounding instrument out there, but it still sounds pretty great. I haven't played too many high end tenor ukuleles, so I don't have much to compare it to when it comes to tenor ukuleles, but judging from playing this on it's own, it definitely has a nice and bright tone quality. The strings are nylon, as is the case with all ukuleles as far as I know, so if you play single notes it's reminiscent of a classical guitar. I play mostly chords on the ukulele, and the KA-SSTU-T has a great sound for getting that underlying ukulele texture.

OVERALL OPINION

I was definitely surprised to learn how cheap of a price the Kala KA-SSTU-T Travel Tenor Ukulele commands, as it's really reasonable. I own a different Kala soprano ukulele, but after playing this one it makes me wish that I could trade up to it, as it definitely has a much better feel and sound than my cheaper one. The difference in price really isn't much either. I can't say I'd recommend this to an experienced ukulele player, but if you're just looking to get started, this is the perfect tenor ukulele to go with.