difference between a mahogany and koa ukulele demo musicguymic mgm sound sample

[Bohnesuppify]

The comparison is not the best. You have different strings on different Ukuleles.

If you play a mahagony Kiwaya with Worth Strings and a Koa Kiwaya with worth Strings, so you can make a real comparison.

[surfukeguitar]

mahogany is quite a dark coloured wood, so the first ukulele is probably made out of mahogany

[cihad2003]

the second one looks like mahagony

[NeverAlways311]

what mix of songs is he playing?

[Andi0012345]

Dude, you are using different strings to do the comparison. It should not be that way, and you probably already know, string affect the sound greatly. So your video not only compare the wood, but the strings too.

[spbeckman]

The strings also make a big difference.

I have two identical Makala dolphin bridge ukes. (One is being given as a Christmas gift.) One has aquila strings and the other has the factory strings. These two identical ukes sound completely different.

I assume that the second uke in your video has white aquila strings. This can account for the warmth of the sound as compared to the first.

[mrsub360]

The difference in sound is not just because of the woods, numerous other factors are different between those two.

[Joebeimon]

Love me some Matsumoto Shave Ice!

[SoCalOski]

Awww ... no fair using the Kamaka koa. It blows away that mahog.

[heliam]

Put those white strings from the second one, the koa, onto the first one, the mahogany and you'll get an even warmer tone on the mahogany.

But I prefer an Engelmann spruce top.

[Dackycat]

For a test like this to really be meaningful, you would have to play two ukes of the exact same model and manufacturer, but one in mahogany, one in koa. There is just too much difference in the construction details between different manufacturers for this to be useful...the second uke is clearly of much higher quality than the first.

[harranjo]

Every time I hear people play ukulele, it reminds me of music from Super Mario World

[OpTiCHeCToR]

@harranjo legend ;D



[TheUkulelePanda31]

Were you sleeping through this?

[SketchLegit]

I think the big difference is actually that one is a Kamaka Uke making a huge difference in wood quality and craftmanship. Also if i'm not mistaken one looks like a saprano and the other a tenor (second one). This would also make a difference in sound... just saying

[ProjectEsuna]

@SketchLegit He states in the video description that the second ukulele is a KoAloha super-soprano. One thing that certainly might make a difference here however, is the fact that a super-soprano is concert scale. A concert scale would have more tension on the strings and project more.

[rodgeComAu]

I think I actually prefer the first one, mahogany, by a tiny bit. Nice playing bro.

[2JobsStillPoorUSA]

I think Koa sounds the best.

[TheSlipKnot981]

@2JobsStillPoorUSA of course it does. It is the most expensive and the first Hawaiian ukuleles were made from it. Some of teh most expensive ukuleles in the world are made from koa.

[JoshieWard]

Strings are different. I would like a comparison with the strings being the same because they make such a difference.

[sosuperreal]

the first one is the mahogany ukulele and the second one is the koa ukulele.

[jblackbath]

Wait, which one's the mahogany and which one's the koa?

[ChickenVendetta]

I don't think that this is necessarily a fair assessment because of the different strings. -_-

[rodneylw100]

Yikes. I liked the brighter sound of the Koa as far as the highs in the strum but the low end was muffled sounding. The hog lows were much clearer to me.

[steelgtr]

different strings. not fair!

[kainoinsaneo]

what are the songs that you are playing? i really like all of them! if you reply it would be greatly appreciated :)

[N4GW]

Which one did you play first

[TheSethGalleyChannel]

@N4GW i would guess it's in the order of the title.

so mahogany first, and koa second.

the first one's fret bord is black and gives off all out mahogany...

you can tell by the colour.

[CPfangirl435]

@N4GW i believe its the mahogany

[casarole45]

@Top180Zero I'd be interested to check out your playing, upload a vid, I'll check it out. Then we shall debate more =D

[casarole45]

@Top180Zero have to say, I really really disagree. Smaller sound does not = worse sound at all, I love soprano's, sweet high tone. It's all personal preference but... There are many very talanted musicians out there who favour the soprano. As there are many who favour the other sizes for there personal tonal qualities.

[Gruuvin1]

I have to agree with Mahalo. At least need to use same kind of strings to make a more equal comparison.

[shankandbrisket]

Nice demo! Now all we need are Martin comparisons :-)

[ukuleleprodigy]

well of course i <3 the koa. It's a KoAloha!!!

[Haarmonics]

Wow, very nice playing. The second sounds better to me, but both really sound nice.

[cyberg00se]

I thought the kts-5 had bling on it?

[mahalo111]

You need to have ghs strings on the koaloha or aquilas on the the mahogany uke if you want to accurately hear the difference. Even with that, you have to different makers. Particularly the koaloha with their unique bracing sounds very different than other instruments.

[tux325]

Kiwaya kts-5 and Koaloha Supersoprano

[floydbluethereal]

Great! But there are different strings on the ukes...

[deach69]

So the answer is get both.

[iamdanielle]

i definitely prefer the koa. thanks for the comparison video, mike!!