This is an all solid koa tenor ukulele, build by hand by luthier Jon Rice on the island of Oahu. It’s a beautiful, lightweight instrument which gives a tone that’s both sweet and full. It seems to punch out with brightness and rounded smoothness at the same time, with a sparkle and a depth at the same time.

It’s a traditional koa sound, that warmth and sweetness. It begs to play laid back, jazzy tunes and island music. In fact… my repertoire is very lacking in this area, but playing this Hawaiian-made ukulele really made me want to learn some tunes that would really it do it justice. If only I’d be born in Hawaii and raised with sunshine and island vibes, as opposed to the north of England and getting hooked on mid 90’s miserable music!

It is made from all solid koa, with a smooth satin finish. Aside from the abalone soundhole decoration, it’s fairly plain - but in a way that just lets the wood do the talking. It has clear fluorcarbon strings, a 35mm nut width and Grover geared tuners.

It comes in around the same price as an entry level Kanile’a (which is a lovely uke in itself). But there’s something about the charm of owning something made by a single craftsman that gives this an extra appeal for me.

At the bottom of the page are a number of optional extras. These add ons are common to every ukulele on my site - and things like strap buttons or a low G may be of interest here. But, this Windward ukulele comes with a rigid foam pod case, so you can ignore the case/bag options unless you’ve a real desire to go for a different case!

If you click additional info below, you’ll find a demo of the Windward koa tenor ukulele.