I recently bought a Kala Lacewood soprano (which goes by the rather complex name of Kala KA-ASLAS-SP) and I love it. Kala ukuleles have been growing considerably in popularity recently and it's not hard to see why. They have a good coverage of low and mid price ukuleles and they are all well put together and good value. So picking one of them up for myself was a bit of a no-brainer.

Construction

It's not obvious from the name, but the top of the ukulele (the most important part for the tone) is made of solid spruce. Spruce isn't a material traditionally used for ukuleles - it is more common on mandolins - but it gives the ukulele a very punchy tone.

Most of the rest of the ukulele (back, sides and neck) is made of solid lacewood. The big appeal of lacewood is its spotty grain. Which gives this ukulele a great look.

The ukulele is well put together. The finishing is very good (although the glueing between neck and bridge is a little messy.

Sound

The Kala soprano has a great tone to it. It is loud and very forceful. It's sounds great when you're strumming it. I love the sound of it strummed at speed. Here's a clip of me doing just that.

Picking the ukulele doesn't give you quite the same force. It's not terrible, but I find it hard to give it enough force to get a satisfying tone and volume. Here's me doing some picking on the ukulele.

Playability

Again there's a divide between strumming and picking. Strumming feels great. In fact, it's already my favourite strummer.

Picking, however, I find to be more tricky. As with all sopranos, I find my fingers tripping over themselves when I try to fingerpick a soprano. It's definitely possible (as you can see in the video below) but this uke wouldn't be my first choice for someone wanting to concentrate on fingerpicking.

Overall

I'd highly recommend this ukulele - particularly for those of you who want plenty of bite and volume in your strumming.

Other Kala Soprano Ukuleles

Kala do an excellent range of soprano ukuleles. The lacewood model is more in the mid-range of prices. If you're looking for something on a budget, the Kala Makala soprano ukulele is probably one of the best entry level ukuleles around - you can find a selection of these currently for sale in the sidebar.

On Video

Here's an excellent performance of Andante by David Beckingham on his Kala KA-ASLAS-SP lacewood spruce soprano. He gets a nice, sweet tone out of it. Although the sound isn't anywhere near as punchy and forceful as that you get when strumming.

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