Sumi Kobo AAAAA Deluxe Koa Tenor Ukulele with 'Sakura' Deluxe Inlays

Alex here; Back in 2017, I travelled half way around the world on behalf of SUS to try and find something special and never before seen in Europe. The first Sumi's I saw were painstakingly detailed recreations of famous vintage Guitars scaled down to a Ukulele size and proportion. They sold within moments of my arrival back in the UK and I had to wait a whole year for more. In 2018, I got to see Sumi's original Ukulele designs for the first time and laid my eyes on this model... Some people might think that all instruments are pretty but ultimately just wood... But, seeing and feeling the quality of the Koa, the featherlight construction and instantly feeling the culmination of this builders 50+ years experience in my hands completely wiped clean my previous misconceptions and preferences to what made an instrument perfect. The Sakura AAAAA Koa Sumi was hands down my favourite Ukulele I have ever held. Sumi agreed to build us three before eventually building a fourth (he says the last) one in the summer of 2019. That is the Ukulele we have here... Less than 10 have been sold worldwide, it's impossible for me to emote in a listing how highly I rate this instrument.

Read my original blog from the 2018 here if you want to know our iniital thoughs at seeing this instrument. https://www.southernukulelestore.co.uk/blog/namm2018/

To describe it requires so much more than just the wood it's made out of; every detail is a deluxe appointment, perhaps too many details as it starts to sound a bit over the top listing them all in my head before putting them down to paper for you all.

The headstock features three tiers of maple with black and white purfling and this extends down the length of the fingerboard and is echoed in the outer binding of the Ukulele and in the maple on the bridge. The Soundhole rosette is Abalone to match the outher binding and back design of the Ukulele and it compliments the other aesthetic features wonderfully.

The fingerboard and bridge are made of Ebony and feature a unique Abalone custom Sakura 'falling petal' inlay that depicts an in bloom Japanese Anemone flower in the headstock. The petals that have fallen from the flower scatter in sequence down the length of the fingerboard before settling on a matching flower down at the twelfth fret with further petals scattering beyond. Much like the famous tree of life Guitar designs, this instrument tells a beautiful story before it plays a note. Is that the kind of detail that warrants a musical instrument being treated like an art piece? (Update - I have had the privelage of photographing several of these and each fingerboard inlay is different).

The sound of the Ukulele is sweet and has plenty of volume without the natural compression you often find with gloss Koa instruments. The Nitrocellulose gloss lends itself to a few very minor imperfections in the finish. This particular 5A Koa Sumi does have a polishing scratch on the back under the final finish however, the way in which these light finishes allow the wood to breath and mature much quicker than modern polyester and UV finishes more than make up for this. We actually couldn't be sure that these marks were not features in the very striking wood grain. The Sumi's are all just so unique and wonderful; anything made completely by hand without modern precise tools is going to be subject to a bit of Wabi-Sabi (Japanese term meaning the imperfections of an instrument are just as important to the overall aesthetic beauty).

Some may view this instrument as expensive, which is true, but Sumi uses only traditional hand tools in the building process and the cosmetic detail alone is countless hours of work and decades of experience. When this instrument finally leaves our store for its forever home - I am 100% sure the owner of this Ukulele will admire and enjoy it every time they take it out of the case.

Let's take a moment to enjoy this Ukulele as the beautiful piece of experience, creativity and art that it is.

AAAAA Flamed Koa top, back and sides
Ebony fingerboard and bridge
Unique Abalone inlays
Gotoh UPT Planetary geared tuners Gold with Cream plastic button
Abalone appointments
Clear Fluorocarbon strings
Comes with black vintage style woodshell hard case
Bone Nut and Saddle
Nut Width: 35mm
Overall Length: 67.7cm

Made in Japan by Eiichi Sumi 

Video of actual instrument below