Title: Astoria Satin Resonator
Type: Tenor
Price: $1500

This fine instrument is another example of the new re-designed Pohaku Tenor size Resonator instrument. These were redesigned in the past few years to be a resonator instrument from the start and not simply a tenor ukulele that was modified to accommodate a resonator set-up. The elegant body with its slotted sound holes is shaped and proportioned to compliment the resonator hardware beautifully.

This build has a Western Big Leaf Curly Maple body and neck. The wood is tinted with amber and tobacco aniline wood dyes and then it’s finished in an absolutely smooth satin lacquer. This is a tenor 16 7/8” scale length instrument and uses a spun aluminum ‘biscuit style’ resonator cone which sits into a suspended sound well and is covered by a triple chrome plated brass cover-plate which is some metalworking beauty to behold.

The strings terminate at a through-hole plated brass tailpiece. This design does not break strings as many other resonator string attachment methods do. There is a strap button mounted as these ukuleles are heavy compared with “normal’ ukuleles and most people manage better with a strap. Up top the strings are tuned with Grover U98-18 nickel plated tuning machines which sport a super 18:1 gear ratio for fine tuning. The fretwork and set up are super accurate for easy in tune playing.

The neck attachment design is similar to what an electric guitar uses. There are two machine screws which enter through the back of the ukulele and are threaded into brass thread inserts set into the neck.

As expected these are pretty loud instruments. They are loud-bright sounding and not muddy-loud like some resonator instruments are.

The back of the instrument is arched as are all the Pohaku instruments are helping to project tone and make the ukulele more comfortable to hold. The weight of these resonator style instruments is a hefty 35 ozs. (as compared with 20 ozs. which is about what Pohaku tenor ukuleles weigh.) The overall length is almost 27 inches.