Hilo Ukuleles 2955 Premier Series Solid Koa Concert Uke Ukulele

Bad neck angle on the two I ordered and returned, the action was way too high as you went up the neck and wasn't fixable by just sanding the saddle. I does appear to be solid wood at least on the top and had a good sweet sound, but unless you were to reset the neck, it just won't work. Too bad.

Amazon dropped the price on this uke, so I took a gamble.Good news: looks like solid koa to me.Bad news: all the bad reviews appear to be justified.It's made with quality materials, but it's put together sloppily. Poor neck angle (which causes the action to be too high as your go up the fretboard), uneven stain, a couple of small cracks under the finish, misaligned back seam, and a fairly heavy gloss finish.It's a shame. With more care, this would have been a nice instrument.Who knows -- maybe you'll get luckier than I did.

With great glee did I unpack my first ukulele, today. The finish is pretty, with only small pits and what looks like tiny flecks of sawdust sealed into the gloss finish. The wood produces good sustain. There is, however, what I think is a really puzzling thing, but I'm not immediately sure if it's a regular thing for ukulele strings: they're out of order. The highest string, as it should be, is the smallest gauge, the low string is the second smallest gauge, and the middle two are the thickest gauges. As with (I think) any stringed instrument, the strings ought to be arranged from the smallest gauge in the high spot to the thickest gauge in the low spot.

This is a beautiful instrument. The tone is excellent and the sustain is very nice, probably about a good four seconds or a little more. Very much enjoy the shell inlays. The finish is very nice. The color and wood grain are excellent, it looks to me like all the panels, including the sides are book matched. The neck is bent a little, with a straight edge laying on the 1st and 18th fret, there is a 1/16th inch gap between the straight edge and the 8th fret. The string action was very high. I had to adjust the nut, and made a new bridge of bone, the strings come of the top of the bridge less than a 1/16th of an inch above the bridge plate. These adjustments made the string height OK for me. I also swapped the strings out for Martin M600, as I believe they hold less tension. There are some glue smudges around one corner of the bridge plate, the bottom of the fret board by the rosette, and on the head-stock by the nut. On the rear soundboard seam at the bottom there is a two inch long, very slightly raised line as if the panels are not perfectly level. There is no manufacturer warranty or information about the manufacturer that I have been able to find. I will probably buy a "Square Trade" warranty for it, just in the off chance that something major goes wrong. Overall it is, in my opinion, a very nice instrument. I tend to be somewhat of a perfectionist. Some people might not notice all the things I have mentioned.

Neck was bowed to the point that even without the bridge in place the strings were still 1/4" off the frets,so there is no way to correct this problem.UPDATE: NOW I'm MAD - I purchased 5 Ukeleles from Amazon recently, a HILO, KALA, HOLA, ENYA, and a DONNER.The DONNER, being one of the cheapest is the only one with good intonation (is chromatically in tune all the way up to the 12th fret).ALL the others are so bad, they are virtually unplayable to a musicians ear without modifcations.IF DONNER can do it, WHY can't the others, especially when they are more expensive ?The craftsmanship on most of these UKES are excellent considering the cost, but the most important thing in my mind, is that a musical instrument should at least be in tune. The HILO was so bad, also in other areas that I had to return it.Most people will not be able to correct these UKES without taking to a instrument professional for repair.This is just WRONG!

The uke looks good. However, the neck angle is ridiculously bad. I exchanged it hoping the first one was a fluke but the second one was as bad.

The article gives the impression it's an Hawaiian made Hilo solid koa ukulele. This instrument is made in China. The finish has numerous imperfections. The article indicates a model number 2955. The instrument received has a model number CS1671BSA. Don't really know if the article description and the instrument I received have anything in common. The G and E strings aren't staying in tune. Hopefully they only need to be stretched out. Nothing special about the sound coming out of it.