USED Kanile'a Custom Premium Curly Koa 8 String Super Tenor Ukulele - Previously owned by Joe Souza #20408

Well, well, well... What do we have here? Could this possibly be a Kanile'a Custom shop Electro Acoustic 8 string Super Tenor? It sure is and you will love the story behind this instrument too... This Ukulele was made for Joe Souza, the head of the Souza family, great all-powerful overlord and master luthier at Kanile'a. Joe had this instrument and a twin 5 string made for a small run of performances to showcase Kanile'a instruments on a tour of Portugal and the UK that finished at GNUF 2019. They seemed genuinely sad to see them both go when the instruments were passed on to us at Grand Northern Ukulele Festival 2019.

This Ukulele has several deluxe appointments but the first key thing to do is just take a look at those wonderful pictures - this Ukulele utilises some of Kanile'as best premium Curly Koa around the body and even with the more understated silk satin finish, you can get caught up in the grandeur of all of that wavy delicious Koa grain pattern.

An 8 string holds a very special kind of place in the band being an instrument that uses much more of the total frequency spectrum and fills out the overall sounds possible on the Uke. The extra large Super Tenor body size creates some real texture an is extremely rich to the ear. Anybody that has played a 4 string super Tenor will be able to knowingly nod along that there isn't anything quite like it and Kanile'a really do it better than anyone else.

The key cosmetic appointments of this instrument include the Ebony Cutaway and Armrest, matching black front binding and a unique looking thick white mother of pearl rosette surrounded by more black trim. This Ukulele also has one of Kanile'as ultra slim Cobra headstocks and Gotoh Stealth tuners that are small but very mighty.

Inside the Ukulele - Kanile'a have utilised their new TRU-R bracing system which makes this Ukulele extra light and in our experience, very loud. The pickup is one of Kanile'as own new piezo systems that requires an internal 9v battery but is surpisingly light and very usable.

This was only traded in because the owner had fallen in love with a very serious and expensive upgrade model. The Silk finish, which is essentially a knocked back gloss, is much harder wearing than a traditional Satin, and as such there are very few marks to the finish at all. I cannot see one on the body anywhere, but I'm going to call it a 9.5/10 to be on the safe side! The case has a bit of wear, but that is the case doing its job :-)

Selling price new was £2700 - the list price was £3000, but we offered it as a special deal following GNUF 2019. This is a rarity, with a history!

Spec:

Custom Kanile'a 8 String Super Tenor
Owned by Joe Souza, and played around Europe on tour
TRU-R Bracing system
Premium Curly Koa top, back and sides
Ebony Cutaway and armrest
Black Front Binding
Thick White MOP Rosette with black trim
Ebony Fingerboard, bridge and headplate
White MOP Position markers
Kanile'a Cobra Slotted Headstock
Black/Gold Gotoh Stealth Tuners
Gold Strap Button fitted to rear of neck
Black Tusq Nut and saddle
UV Silk Finish
38mm Nut Width
Kanile'a active piezo pickup (takes 9v battery) with endpin jack socket
Strap button installed on heel joint
Worth C8 all plain fluorocarbon strings, in good condition
Kanile'a Case (well used) included