We at Kanileʻa ʻUkulele want to make purchasing or ordering your new instrument as easy as possible. If you feel more comfortable making a purchase over the phone, call us at 808-234-2868 to speak with our incredible office team. They can answer any questions you may have. Another convenient method is via e-mail.

For questions about general information and custom designs:
info@kanileaukulele.com

For dealer inquiries and support:
orders@kanileaukulele.com

Our mailing address:
Kanileʻa ʻUkulele
46-216 Kahuhipa Street #3
Kaneohe, Hawaii 96744

Each Kanileʻa ʻUkulele is unique in its own way. We look forward to assisting you in designing your own custom Kanileʻa!

Once all the final details are worked out and the materials needed are available and ready, the building process can normally take 4 to 6 weeks for a model and up to 12 weeks for a custom. During the holiday season, that time can often be extended due to the increase in orders.

The biggest variable will be the type of features your Kanileʻa will have such as binding, a rosette and/or a custom inlay. This will determine the total work time involved in creating your instrument.

We accept:

• PayPal via info@kanileaukulele.com
• Credit/Debit cards: VISA, MasterCard, Discover, American Express
• Check with account holder’s information imprinted on it drawn on a U.S. Bank
• Money Order
• Wire Transfer (please email us at info@kanileaukulele.com for banking details)

In-Person payments:

• Cash – in-person ONLY; please DO NOT send cash via mail or courier
• ApplePay
• GooglePay

When working directly with any of our customer service team, we do require a non-refundable 50% deposit. This secures your instrument’s position in the build schedule once the design has been approved by you.

You may make periodic payments while your instrument is in production or pay off the balance upon completion…whichever is easiest for you. Once it is finished, we will contact you to confirm your delivery option of choice and complete payment. Your instrument will then be sent to you.

When you are ordering online through the website, payment in full is required.

Within the US, your instrument will be sent via FedEx at no charge, adult signature required. A contact phone number and e-mail address is required for all instrument shipments. Tracking information will be sent via email shortly after the shipment leaves our shop.

For international instrument orders, we ship via FedEx International at a $175 USD flat rate.

If you require a different signature option, please include that in the notes section with your order.

Upon request we can send your instrument via the carrier of your choice. There are applicable charges to use services. The cost for those services is determined on the dimensional weight and delivery address of the shipment.

Please note: once a package has been picked up by the carrier, only the receiver can make any changes to routing or delivery.

We use an exclusive curated string set by Worth strings out of Japan. Featuring some of the highest quality fluorocarbon strings on the market, experience the enhanced tone that these fine strings produce. Fluorocarbons are higher in density than standard nylon which result in a dramatic increase in brightness, clarity, and brilliance along with sustain that is perfect for both finger-picking and strumming

We understand that each ʻukulele player has their own vision of a sound they would like their instrument to produce. We can outfit your new Kanileʻa with strings of your choice that you provide. Our goal is to create an instrument that you will love to play!

Intonation is how true a note is to pitch as the player moves up the fingerboard. A “true” instrument, when properly set up, should produce the same note as an open string just one octave higher (e.g. open A string first course 440Hz, twelfth fret 880Hz). Another test is to play a 12th fret “harmonic” and then check it with a fretted 12 fret note. A “true” instrument should hit each note played exactly to the frequency that is required (G=392 Hz, C=261.6 Hz, E=329.6 Hz and so on).

For Kanileʻa, intonation is the most important facet in building a fine instrument. This is followed very closely by playability. Now, how do we achieve perfect intonation? It would be very simple to just double the measurement from the twelfth fret, glue on the bridge and say it’s close enough, right? Many builders still build instruments this way. They believe that only a trained ear could hear the difference. Not true! As a player develops their skill they will appreciate having their instrument stay in tune as they progress up the fingerboard. Each Kanileʻa ʻukulele has a scale length that has been compensated for our setup and allows for each note to be at perfect pitch. A computer program designed jig that cuts our fingerboard slots, rides in a keyway that ensures a perfectly placed slot each and every time.

Now understand, an instrument moves and wood breathes. We address these problems with a controlled building environment and utilizing properly seasoned woods.

What we cannot control is an individual’s playing-style. This will eventually play a role in the instrument’s intonation. If a player is a hard strummer and bends his strings during chording (which elongates the strings and throws off the pitch) this can affect intonation. This type of player should change their strings often to ensure intonation stays proper.

Our factory tours can be booked here

Windward Mall Store Address:

46-506 Kamehameha Hwy., Kāneʻohe, Hawaiʻi 96744
2nd level

Ala Moana Center Store Address:

1450 Ala Moana Blvd. Suite #1239, Honolulu Hawaiʻi 96814

Our Kanileʻa instruments are different in that we have applied some very modern styles of bracing and thickness tolerances along with age old drying and seasoning techniques that allow our instruments to ring like no other. And while the aesthetic features are wonderful the questions every player should ask is how does it sound? Volume is the first aspect a new Kanileʻa owner will notice. Next, is the instrument’s sustain (how long does the sound last after the pick or strum?) Ease of playability is another important facet. A big part of enjoying the instrument will be its ease of playability (its final set up) and this only comes with years of experience as a player who has became a builder.

We invite you to see for yourself how we build our playable masterpieces. We offer a guided tour Monday through Friday at 9:30 a.m. and can be booked online here.

We are located on the windward side of Oʻahu in Kāneʻohe. Any questions? Please call (808) 234-2868.

Address:
Kanileʻa ʻUkulele
46-216 Kahuhipa Street, #3
Kāneʻohe, HI 96744

The perfect sound is a lifelong pursuit for us. Our philosophy is to constantly improve and strive for the ultimate sound. It all starts with the introduction of technology along with a balance of traditions that is part of the Kanileʻa ʻUkulele system:

• Owner-invented TRU (Total Resonating ʻUkulele) bracing system
• Industry leading revolutionary UV (ultra violet) cured finish
• Proper preparation of air dried, ¼ sawn cut tone woods
• Unique wider lower bout body shape
• Worth X Kanileʻa fluorocarbon strings
• Exclusive Kanileʻa tuning machines with an 18:1 gear ratio
• Precision setup of action and ease of playability
• Perfect intonation

Everything we do is toward the ultimate goal of a Kanileʻa that produces an amazing sound you will fall in love with – intonation, sustain, resonance, playability. We consider all of these things top priority for every single Kanileʻa we build.

One of the most special ways to personalize your ʻukulele is with an inlay of your name or symbol that represents you or your heritage somewhere on the instrument. The most popular is your name on the fingerboard or headstock inlayed with Mother of Pearl or Pāua abalone, which is a shell material from New Zealand. We have been fortunate to work with customers who are very creative with their inlay. From a Diamond Head inlay in Pāua, a Purple Heart frog on the headstock, to a big “Kanileʻa” or the Hawaiian Islands inlayed in Pāua on the soundboard. We appreciate the chance to show our artistry.

As a company, we are engaged in every process of the Koa and other Hawaiian endemic woods we utilize in building our playable masterpieces. We are part of the planting process (through our passion project Reforest Hawaiʻi) and when acquiring wood we make sure that every piece that comes into our factory is responsibly sourced.

We are also hands on in the milling process. Where many companies will leave it to basic millers to cut their wood and send it to them, our Master Luthier and company co-owner Joe Souza will fly to Hawaiʻi Island himself to mill the logs and prepare them for shipment to our Kāneʻohe facility on Oʻahu. This guarantees that the most beautiful cuts of wood are available to you, our valued client.

As part of the building process, we have found the perfect marriage between tradition and technology, modernizing crucial steps along the way to ensure efficiency and consistency while keeping true to traditional drying and design practices.

All of these things are above and beyond a builder’s requirements to turn out an instrument but we do this to guarantee that the Kanileʻa you purchase will provide you and your ʻohana (family) with decades of music, song, joy, love and family tradition. This is not just a commodity. This is an instrument built to be passed from generation to generation in your family and must stand the test of time. Kanileʻa instruments are built for this purpose. We feel that we offer all of this at a fair and competitive price.

Yes, all of our Kanileʻa instruments are built here at our shop in Kāne’ohe on the Island of O’ahu. We use only solid wood materials (no veneers or plywood) and have built great relationships with the best instrument suppliers all over the world. Our Hawaiian endemic woods are milled and dried in our factory. Exotic woods like mahogany, ebony, rosewood, cedar, spruce and more are responsibly sourced and are sent to us as blanks to be dried in our facility.

We laser cut, sand, glue and bind all the wood pieces of our Kanileʻa here. Inlays are designed and done here as well using responsibly sourced materials such as Kailua Beach White sand, White mother-of-pearl and New Zealand Pāua abalone. In final set up, instruments are outfitted with our exclusive Kanileʻa or Gotoh Stealth geared tuning machines, bridge pins, nuts, saddles and strings sourced by trusted vendors. You can with confidence and truth proudly proclaim your Kanileʻa ʻukulele as MADE IN HAWAIʻI.

We offer a limited Lifetime Warranty. The instrument is covered 100% for Manufacturer defects. This will be determined by Kanileʻa after visually inspecting the ʻukulele. This applies to the first purchaser. The warranty is non transferable. You must provide receipt of purchase. If purchased from a dealer please contact the dealer directly. They will assist you further. Please refer to terms and conditions, Limitation on Obligations and Claim Procedures. Learn more about our warranty here.

Koa is a very fine tonal wood. Its popularity in the guitar world has grown considerably. The guitar builders have found out what ʻukulele builders have known for years, Koa produces a very bright and vibrant sound with little over tones. This bright sound is what made the ʻukulele so popular. Now, some customers have trained their ear to a mellower/warmer sound. We will work together and design an instrument with a particular sound in mind. Koa is a beautiful tonal wood, but not the only tonal wood available. Some of the best sounding ʻukuleles we have built have been of Claro Walnut back and sides with a Sitka spruce soundboard. This wood combination is very popular with custom and production guitar builders. Another beautiful sounding wood combination is Brazilian Rosewood with a Western Red Cedar soundboard, which we suggest on our bigger (Tenor and Super Tenor) size instruments. The wood combinations are endless. The best advice is work with us to achieve the sound that you are envisioning for your new instrument.

We use an environmentally-friendly UV Polyester finish developed for Taylor Guitars of California. Our unique finish is applied in our spray booth and then placed in our Ultra-Violet light box for three minutes. Incredibly, your instrument can be sanded just after three minutes in the UV box. Once the second coat has been applied, the ʻukulele goes back to our sanders for a final finish sanding and buffing.

We have dealers worldwide that are able to assist you. A detailed list is available through our Kanileʻa Dealer page. Feel free to contact them directly.

Your Kanileʻa ʻUkulele is constructed from solid wood that was carefully dried and seasoned. Solid wood will absorb moisture in wet climates and give off moisture in dry climates. If you live in a desert, high mountain, or cold winter region, you will experience dry weather from time to time which could crack your ʻukulele. This is especially true during the winter when your heaters are being used. If not taken care of properly the damage can be very serious and is not covered by this limited warranty. Cracking can easily be prevented by storing your ʻukulele in its case and by using a sound hole humidifier.

A UV Cured Polyester finish is a perfect complement to our TRU (Total Resonating ʻUkulele) bracing system because both are crucial to the unique sound of a Kanileʻa ʻukulele. Unlike a typical lacquer finish which can often require 10-15 coats, the UV finish requires, at most, 3 coats of product. This full-protection finish moves and breathes with the ʻukulele, allowing expansion and contraction in varying humidity levels with little to no effect.

And the sound is simply amazing! With just 3 coats of product, a Kanileʻa instrument’s sustain and resonance is incomparable.

We recognize that there are many good pick-ups in the world. However, we looked specifically for ones that could best capture the “Kanileʻa” sound on an amplified system. Two of them we designed ourselves. The other two are created by an innovative company called Double. Here are the specifications of each:

• Kanileʻa Exclusive Passive – undersaddle piezo installation; includes one crystal per string; no battery bag in the body; less intrusive; for volume and tone control near you, you’ll need an outboard pre-amp.
• Kanileʻa Exclusive Active – undersaddle piezo installation; includes one crystal per string; 9 volt battery bag in the body; very POWERFUL system; This pickup does not have any onboard controls.
• Kanileʻa Exclusive Active with Volume Control – undersaddle piezo installation; includes one crystal per string; 9 volt battery bag in the body; very POWERFUL system; This will have a single volume knob right on the inside of the soundhole.

Whether you are choosing a Kanileʻa model of using the Design Your Own ʻUkulele feature, any pick up can be added to your order and will be carefully installed by our Final Assembly team before delivery.

First things first: register your instrument online here. Be sure to read through the lifetime limited warranty which includes our terms and conditions regarding every new Kanileʻa ʻukulele.

Secondly: take advantage of our Kanileʻa exclusive offer for new owners – one month unlimited access to Ukulele Underground, the world’s premiere ʻukulele online learning experience. This a great opportunity for ANY player, beginner to advanced, to step up their skills with chief instructor Aldrine Guerrero and his incredible team.

And finally… just play! Strum, jam, pluck, songwrite…your Kanileʻa is begging to be played! As you play, your Kanileʻa will “open up” and find its voice. Over time, you will notice tones becoming more rounded, warmer, richer…that’s just the nature of Koa and tonal woods in general. The more you play, the better your ʻukulele will sound.

A slotted headstock allows for two things:

• The creation of the slots removes material from the headstock. This causes the headstock and the neck to be lighter in weight for a more comfortable feel.
• Posts are outfitted from side to side, horizontally, through the headstock as opposed to from front to back through the headstock. This allows the strings to drop at a deeper angle past the nut, adding tension to the string without having to adjust the action. This makes for better playability and lessens the need to press so hard on the strings.

Slotted headstocks are available in various shapes and profiles. See all of your options here.

The most popular size is the Tenor ʻukulele (12” body, 9.5” L bout, 27” full, 17” scale). It is easy to handle for an adult and has a great sound.

Kanileʻa does build in other sizes as well:

• S – Soprano (10” body, 21” full, 13.5” scale) also known as the Standard size
• SS – Super Soprano (10” body, 22” full, 15” scale) Soprano body with a Concert neck – long neck
• C – Concert (11” body, 24” full, 15” scale)
• SC – Super Concert (11” body, 25” full, 17” scale) Concert body with a Tenor neck – long neck
• T 5 – Tenor 5-String (12” body, 9.5” L bout, 27” full, 17” scale) 5- string with Low G
• T 6 – Tenor 6-String (12” body, 9.5” L bout, 27” full, 17” scale) 6 string, 4 course: G-high C-C-E-low A-A
• T 8 – Tenor 8-String (12” body, 9.5” L bout, 27” full, 17” scale) 8 string, 4 course G-low G-high C-C-unison E-unison A
• ST – Super Tenor (12” body, 10.5” L bout, 27” full, 17” scale) Tenor with a wider lower bout
• ST 19” – Super Tenor 19” (12” body, 10.5” L bout, 28” full, 19” scale) Tenor with a wider lower bout & longer scale length
• B – Baritone (14” body, 20” scale) Tuning D-G-B-E with Kanile`a Exclusive Baritone strings
• GL6 – Guitarlele (12” body, 10.5” lower bout, 17” scale, 2” nut) 6-string classical guitar string spacing

Your Kanileʻa ʻukulele began its life in our climate-controlled factory with a constant relative humidity of 45 percent which wood loves. Here in this happy environment it was created, shaped, its finish applied, then it was sanded, buffed and perfected. To keep it looking and sounding beautiful, it’s good to know about humidity and how it can adversely affect your instrument.

What is humidity? It is the amount of water vapor present in the air. Relative humidity (humidity relative to temperature) is often represented as a percentage and can be measured using a hygrometer.

How does humidity affect my ʻukulele? The unfinished parts of your ʻukulele (inside the body, the fingerboard and the bridge) are suspect to taking on moisture or losing moisture depending on the relative humidity. Once out of our climate-controlled facility, even properly dried wood will take on a certain amount of moisture from our Hawaiian air often measured at a relative humidity of 70 percent and higher. If an ʻukulele is moved to a much drier region and moisture is lost too quickly, problems can result such as cracks, shrinking fingerboards and sharp frets.

How do I protect my Kanileʻa? One or two properly maintained humidifiers in the ʻukulele case is the best way to avoid these problems. Please read and follow the instructions on the packaging for the humidifiers to know when to refill them or change them out. And while you may be tempted to display your Kanileʻa in your home at all times, in its case with the humidifiers is the best place for it.

Where can I purchase humidifiers? They are available in our retail store. Just call (808) 234-2868 or shop online here. Humidifiers, cloths and other maintenance items are available for purchase as well.

As listed in the Terms and Conditions of your Kanileʻa Limited Lifetime Warranty:

“Terms and Conditions. Kanileʻa warrants solely to the original purchaser of this Kanileʻa musical instrument that the instrument purchased shall be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for as long as the instrument is owned by the original purchaser, and until the ownership of the instrument is transferred to another (unless otherwise noted by Kanileʻa). This Limited Warranty does not apply: (a) to wear or breakage of frets or strings, or other normal wear and tear of the instrument or its parts; (b) to asserted defects caused by modification, misuse or abuse or improper maintenance of the instrument; (c) to asserted defects involving subjective personal likes or judgments; (d) to asserted defects caused by accident or exposure to extremes of temperature or humidity which cause harm to the instrument; (e) to defects asserted by any purchaser who did not purchase the instrument from an authorized Kanileʻa dealer in the United States of America, Canada, Japan or Europe; (f) to electrical components not installed by Kanileʻa.”

To see the complete Lifetime Limited Warranty, please click here.

While most ʻukulele builders use a 1-3/8” nut width, Kanileʻa ʻUkulele uses a 1-1/2” nut width on its handcrafted Hawaiian Kanileʻa and its affordable Islander by Kanileʻa ukuleles. There are two reasons for this:

• Better playability. With the strings spaced just a little farther apart, this allows for better playability and finger clearance between strings.
• Avoid rolloff. The extra spacing helps a player to avoid the G and A strings from rolling off the fingerboard while playing, especially when it comes to intricate fingering.

Kanileʻa ʻUkulele has adopted the bridge pin system as seen on many high-end guitars as opposed to the tie-block system commonly found on the ʻukulele. There are a number of reasons for this:

• String energy. With the bridge pin system, string energy is channeled directly into the soundboard via the string as it is held firmly in place by the bridge pin.
• Bridge adhesion. After years, we’ve found that the tie-block method tends to cause the bridge or the soundboard to lift. However, with a bridge pin system, because energy and pressure are channeled INTO the bridge, lifting and separation is avoided.
• Easy string change. String changes are easy and fast: tie a figure eight knot, drop the knot in the bridge pin hole and (for the Kanileʻa) with the bridge pin slot FACING AWAY from the string, firmly press the bridge pin in the hole. See how easy it is here (video link within the website).