Coast Ukulele - Solid Tasmanian Blackwood Tenor Ukulele w/Live Edge Soundhole #73

First of all, let me start by saying that this Coast tenor ukulele is in the top 1% of Luthier built instruments I have played in my 16 years of working with ukuleles here at Southern Ukulele Store.

Having followed Kawai and the Coast ukulele brand from its inception in 2020; I had eagerly awaited holding one for the first time and seeing if the Aloha spirit that Kawai radiates in his social media posts could really be carried over into his ukuleles.

The overall vibe and presentation of these instruments have been outstanding, a joy to behold and a joy to play. They have an understated almost traditional beauty to them despite the elaborate look of the live edge soundhole. Kawaii's progression from an enthusiastic hobby builder to one of the worlds best instrument makers is beautiful to behold. As a man who has spent nearly half of my life selling or playing ukuleles, I feel blessed to have anything Kawai wants to build for us.

Kawai likes to say that the whole family is involved in the building of these ukuleles and although I don't enjoy alluding to the heartbreaking journey they have been on, I have paraphrased the information Kawai has made public at the bottom. - As a team of young fathers here at SUS ourselves, we feel personally invested in this lovely humans journey to become a ukulele master. We can't sing their praises enough based on the warmth they brings to our business and the quality of the instruments themselves.

This is the third live edge Ukulele we have had at SUS, with the previous Coast, live edge instruments both selling within one hour of being listed on the website. I know that many of you have been eagerly awaiting this ukulele having followed Kawai's building journey of live edge ukuleles. This Tasmanian blackwood ukulele made an appearance in our post NAMM 2024 roundup as Romeo and I made a special trip to Petaluma in Northern California to meet Kawaii and learn about the process behind Coat Ukuleles. We love contributing to the Coast story, if you want to see that video you can watch it below.

The live edge soundhole is quite small which does make for a mellower sounding ukulele but thankfully the twin side sound ports do a fantastic job in retaining the harp like tones you are hoping to get when you pick up something made of such sexy wood. Tasmanian blackwood itself has a similar vocal range to Hawaiian koa with a tight mid range, perfect for a bigger ukulele. 

Speaking of the wood, it is just stunning. The different hues and autumnal tones of the blackwood is a real thing to behold including the sapwood which has a natural progression diagonally across the top. The feel of the unusual body resonating against you is wonderful and it feels perfectly balanced with a traditional ukulele headstock, lightweight Gotoh planetary tuners and the introduction of a 38mm nut width and zero fret for better precision and intonation. This is the first high gloss Coast we have had an I have to say objectively that this has been an important step forward for Kawaii, bringing the tone of his ukuleles a little bit further forward and making for something that has some bite and some attack to it rather than being completely mellow or on the dark side.

It's a 'tone machine' - we love it and can't wait for him to make us more in the future.

This ukulele is made in Petaluma, California. Coast ukuleles may be a new name to many of you reading this but it certainly won't be the last time you find yourself inspired by one.

Specification:
Solid Tasmanian blackwood body with Live Edge soundhole and twin side ports
Maple binding and accents
Hard rock maple fingerboard and bridge with ziricote block inlays
12'' fingerboard radius
37mm nut width
Zero fret
Carbonfibre truss rod
Tasmanian blackwood neck
Dyed stabilised stone inlays - moon motif headstock
Bone nut and saddle
Gotoh Planetary tuners
Waterbased gloss finish
Crossrock hard case included with Coast tag