There are two options here, the acoustic version and one fitted with a Mi-Si pickup (which is well worth the upgrade).

This is a larger than normal baritone body and scale, tuned DGBE with steel strings. The sound is big and bold, with a fine chiming quality. With the addition of the Mi-Si, all that lovely tone can be amplified or used, to great effect, with effects.

The UL4-1 is an all solid instrument, with cedar on the top and gorgeous rosewood on the back and sides. I’ve struggled to get photos of the back without reflections from the gloss so I’ve provided a closeup - it’s really beautiful.

Acoustic Option: There’s a great volume, a big, rich warm sound and a frankly amazing sustain. Just before taking the photos, I gave it a strum. I retrieved my camera, changed the settings and then when I went to take the shots, it was still ringing out - epic sustain.

Electro Option: The Mi-Si is the pickup I use on my main uke, a brilliant bit of kit that sounds great and is nice and simple - no plastic panels with tone controls, just a jack input that doubles as a strap button. It has a supercapacitor, not a battery, so you can charge it with the supplied adaptor for a minute and get 8 hours of active play.

I first tried one of these Mi-Si / Pono combinations when fitting the pickup to the UL4-1 for a customer order. I fell in love with it so much that I immediately repeated that exercise in order to have one for me. As I write, I am resisting, but we’ll see how long I last!

For a video demo of the Pono UL4-4, click additional info below. (It’s a comparison of this model with the acacia back and sides UL4-1)

For common accessories and customisations (like strap buttons / low G fitting) scroll down to the bottom of the page where you'll be able to add these common items to your basket. This Pono is supplied with a very good, fitted gig bag. At one point they were supplied with hard cases, but the price became too high, so Pono switched to well padded gig bags to prevent the price increasing any further.

Just for info, the strings on these are D’Addario light gauge (.052 to .012).