Ko'olau

Ko'olau Guitar & Ukulele Co.
Ko’olau Guitar & ‘Ukulele Company was started as a small family business in 1979, as Kitakis Stringed Instruments on Oahu, Hawaii.

Since their founding they have expanded considerably and now work out of a factory in Wahiawa, Hawaii. To begin with they did mostly repairs but they did make some new instruments, including Mandolins. Now though they specialise in making new Ukuleles and Guitars and when people talk about the "Big K's" in Hawaii this is one of them.

Ko'olau does all scale from Soprano to Baritone, Pineapple, Lili'u and Taropatchs as standard ranges, plus a full custom shop with one of the specialities being inlaid fretboards. Unusually for Hawaii though all of the necks of their Ukuleles are made of mahogany not koa and they have a far greater selection of woods used for the bodies of their standard ranges. Ko'olaualso make some more contemporary designs like solid, (Chambered) electric ones and Archtops, however as time goes on they say they are increasingly cutting down on the standard models and concentrating on the custom ones.

The instruments branded Ko'olau are all made in Hawaii but the company also has a factory in Java, Indonesia that produces their less premium line, Pono, (though I believe that early production came from China, certainly it is the case that some Pono Ukuleles have been made in China). This line also has a full range of scales, from Soprano through to Baritone and beyond, All multi-string course variants, Guitaleles even solid, (Chambered) electric Ukuleles, in a number of, always solid not laminate, woods, but there is no custom shop.

Pono has made acoustic guitars but these are being phased out from the catalogue, and they have introduced a kind of wide necked Tenor Guitar they call the UL, (abbreviated Baritone Ultra Long) specifically meant for "Chicago Tuning" and being treated as a big Baritone Ukulele