Yesterday our friends Jeff and Cheri offered to bring us along to tour their neighbor’s ukulele factory. Of course, we said yes because who wouldn’t want to tour one of the most successful ukulele buisnesses in the world? We learned so much on the “VIP tour” that we received from Joe, who knows a ton about ukuleles and was nice enough to share some of his knowledge with us. I decided that the experience was completely blog post worthy, and there are probably some people out there who could benefit from learning a little bit about this magical and inspiring instrument and how they are made in Kanile’a Ukulele’s factory.
When we arrived at the factory, Joe greeted us with enthusiasm. He started the tour by telling us all about one of the most important parts of making ukuleles: the wood. I had no idea that so many types of wood are used in making ukuleles. If I remember correctly, the body is made of Koa trees, which are native to Hawaii. The neck is mahogany from Oregon, the fret strips are ebony or rosewood, and the braces on the inside of the ukulele are made of Sitka spruce, except some very high-end versions use native sandalwood. Some of the wood they buy from their neighbors, who collect dead pieces off the ground instead of cutting down trees. This is part of Kanile’a’s goal for sustainability. Also, for every ukulele they make, they also plant a new koa tree on their property on the Big Island.
After the wood is gathered, it must be dried for 4 to 5 years before it is ready to be made into a ukulele. Here is a picture of the drying wood.
After the wood is dried, it is ready to be cut. Kanile’a uses a huge machine called a CNC mill or “computer numerically controlled” mill to cut the wood. A special code is entered into a computer which controlls a large machine and tells it where to cut and when to change out its own drill bit for a wider or finer cut. The machine creates a lot of sawdust which is given to a local wildlife organization to use as mulch.
The next step is for braces to be crated out of that Sitka spruce. The braces are cut using a special laser machine for precision and speed. At the same time, koa wood is cut and matched together to make a beautiful symmetrical design.
Next, Koa wood is bent using brand new custom machines to make the rounded sides of the ukulele. They are much better than the mechanism that Kanile’a used previously which required four grown adults to use and was not nearly as successful as the new machines. Here is a picture.
After all the peices are cut, they are carefully assembled by some experienced workers. After assembly, the process is only half way through, so bear with me! Beautiful inlays are added during this process. They are usually made of shiny abalone from the southernmost pacific island, ultra-fine sand from nearby Kailua Beach, or beautiful black ebony wood.
After the ukuleles are assembled and inlays are added for decoration, they are ready to be finished. Kanile’a uses a special UV glaze that makes the wood look very glossy and almost wet! The glaze is much better for the environment than glazes used on most other ukuleles because it doesn’t emit harmful fumes. The finish looks thick, but is actually only half as thick as an average strand of human hair! There is also a natural style finish that is less glossy but still beautiful. After the finish, the ukuleles look like this.
Once the finishing process is complete, the ukuleles go under a final inspection to see if they have any tiny flaws. If they pass, they are taken to the showroom to be sold directly to a person, or to the shipping room where they are packaged into ukulele cases and shipped around the world.
At the end of the tour, we got a special VIP treat! Joe and another employee named Mikah performed a beautiful duet for us. If you would like to hear traditional and contemporary hawaiian music played on Kanile’a ukuleles by proffesional artists, you can buy their recent album here. The music was inspired by planting a koa tree for every ukulele created by Kanile’a. It is very inspiring and has good messages about nature and respecting the land.
Overall, it was an amazing and super educational experience that blew our expectations out of the water! Thank you so much to Joe and all the other folks at Kanile’a for an amazing tour, and to Jeff and Cheri for taking us there!
That is so cool!