Solid Spruce Top Striped Ebony Baritone Ukulele w/ Cutaway & EQ

I really love it. It was my 80th Birthday present to myself, so I was really anxious how it would travel to Australia but it was well packed and arrived fine. I changed the strings straight away as the wound strings were a bit harsh on my ancient hands. I had never paid so much for a uke before (nearly $a1000) so I was a little concerned re a line going from the large end to the bridge, down the middle. It may be just a join or a grain. I dont think its a crack or anything too bad. I'm attaching a pic. The pickup is great BTW, I can drown all those inferior units out now....LOL

I’ve played a concert uke (also from Kala) for many years, and was looking for a way to amplify my sound for live performances. After much research and review, I’m really glad I chose this instrument.

Baritones may not be as popular as the smaller ukes, but I was drawn to this model's rich, warm voice. The top 2 strings are nylon, while the bottom are metal, creating a sound that is both soulful and ethereal. It’s comfortable to play and feels solidly constructed. Despite the different tuning, I even find it easier to compose on the baritone than the concert. The pickup and spruce top give it the volume to hold its own with miked vocals and an amplified acoustic guitar. The built-in tuner is convenient, but not needed since it is much less exact than a digital clip-on tuner.

Overall, I’m very pleased with my purchase and would recommend this model to anyone looking for a quality baritone that can be plugged into an amp.

I’m very glad I asked Will about upgrading from my Curly Mango , he was very right about the Spruce top. I’ve only been playing for a little over a year but now I have 7 ukes in total. I say that because I really like these instruments. My new Spruce top hasn’t gone on the wall yet and the others haven’t come off, except to record and compare to my first Kala! I’ll be getting the Curly Mango b-tone soon. That one is also very nice but I didn’t get to play it much , like one minute. Freak accident. Sounded and felt nice, ante up time! Therefore, I consider the Spruce top my first Kala. What I first noticed about the Spruce top was that it was very ‘soft’ to move along the neck. I compared it to my others and uhuh!! Not as ‘soft’. Smooth, soft, easy, whatever it’s called. Especially high on the neck, chords and notes up there were noticeably easier to play , shape of the head I guess. I’ll get to appearance later. Secondly, the sound makes me want to keep playing, therefore I’m getting better quickly, and that’s nice. The word ‘soft ‘ pops into my head again when I think of a word for the sound. Maybe switch the name to Soft top. Joke. I guess I could use warm but Warm top doesn’t cut it. The reverb is very nice, sustains well . I guess ‘sleepy ‘ would be the best description. That’s all I have for sound. Lastly, appearance. Bold contrasts in wood tones, sophisticated comes to mind. Trim/edging is same as wood, classy, sophisticated. This ukulele makes…

This is without a doubt the best sounding baritone ukulele at its price. I was initially torn between the solid Acacia (KA-SA-B) and this one because honestly, the Acacia looked nicer (love the fretboard inlay) and more traditional. However, it doesn’t come with a pickup/tuner and I preferred one factory installed. But most importantly, after watching hours of YT videos for both ukuleles, I just really loved the sound of the SSEBY. And after receiving it, I was even more impressed with its sound. I was admittedly skeptical initially of the spruce top, given its tendency to be a very bright/shiny tone wood and I was worried it would sound more like a guitar than an ukulele, but Kala knew what they were doing pairing it with the striped ebony. This Uke has the most beautiful deep warm richness to its tone without muddying the midrange that I wasn’t able to find in even $1000+ baritone ukuleles from other brands. And the spruce allows for incredible sustain. It sounds to me like a traditional Koa ukulele that has been EQ’d to boost the low (sub 200hz) and high range (above 1000hz, resulting in a subtle cut in the midrange, making it very easy to balance well with vocals in a mix. Not sure what else I can say other than you just have to hear it for yourself.

Lastly, just wanted to mention that it initially arrived with the built in tuner not working/registering notes, but I contacted customer service and they had a new one shipped out to me within a week that was flawless