Acacia Poi Pounder Tenor Ukulele

I bought the Kala Acacia Poi Pounder tenor locally here in Honolulu. In person, it’s the most beautiful ukulele I have seen—more attractive than the review videos and product photos. The padauk rose and binding frame the highly figured flame acacia beautifully. I suspect the acacia was treated with char-su like wood stain, imparting a warm glow. The acacia figure varies with viewing angle and light. Workmanship is amazing—squeaky clean and better than my USA-made Elites—and perfect setup and well-polished frets to boot. The end graft inlay is beautiful, but I drilled a hole in the middle of it for a strap button (an ebony button with a gold screw), so it’s not normally visible. A headstock inlay would have been a more practical choice.

The tone and sustain are reminiscent of a classical guitar. In other words, a sweet tone with long sustain rather than the bright and percussive (short sustain) traditional ukulele sound. It ships with Revelator strings: silver wound low G and C and Worth Browns for A and E. I love their tone and feel, and yeah, they add to the classical guitar tone vibe. With that said, Pounder tone is smooth, clean, focused, and extremely sweet but with just a hint of brightness: ideal for fingerpicking and rasgueado with nails. I suspect soundboard bracing is on the stiff side, so the Pounder can be played hard without buzzes. And unlike my other ukes, no wolf notes. I suspect the Pounder will be ideal for close-mic recording.

Volume is okay but a bit on…