Kai KTI-5000

I bought this ukulele as an upgrade to an all laminate, but really decent Tenor of a very famous brand, that I owned.
I cannot describe in words, the difference in sound and build quality between my previous one and the Kai kti-5000.
Just the sound of it leaves me speechless!
So many frequencies, so much richness and so much sustain.
The instrument itself is so gorgeous up close, I am almost drooling when I am looking at it!
For me it is perfect.
As far as my experience with having it sent to me internationally, everything was perfect too.
The packaging was as safe as it can get, the shipping time really fast and the the instrument itself arrived in a flawless state.
I highly highly recommend it, especially if this is going to be your first all solid wood ukulele, you are in for a treat!
A little something about the nut width, it is listed as 36.5mm here and I believe it is listed as 37mm in the official Kai website, but I took a measure tape and measured mine at 35mm.
To me that is perfectly fine, in fact I prefer it at 35mm.
But to anyone who does not like that, there is some confusion around this subject.

The ukulele looks great with a lot of details. The wood looks awesome, and the varnish is shiny, but not too much to be annoying. However, the volume is rather low. The hole on the top has only aesthetic value; it adds nothing to the sound. The uke is great for accompaniment and strumming, but it doesn't stand out as a solo instrument. The price is jutified by the quality of materials and finish.

This is a beautiful looking piece.

On arrival one of the tuners was faulty but thomann sent out a replacement tuner. The tuners do the job. I specified I wanted just the part replaced as i was very happy otherwise, and had begun setting up the instrument to the best of my abilities. Their service was very prompt.

The fingerboard was very dry looking and I cleaned it with naphtha and oiled it, polishing the frets too (although they were pretty good anyway)

I think I lowered the action by sanding the bottom of the nut a tad too but it was low to begin with to be fair.

To get it to intonate farther up the fingerboard I fashioned and fitted a compensated saddle. (Not in every players box of tricks I know).

I'm unsure how necessary this is as it wasn't bad on delivery but I have fitted it with strings that have a wound C and had adjusted things as I've described so i thought I may as well. My hearing is not perfect pitch but it wasn't far off.

I normally play guitar (intermediate level self taught but I can finger pick and all that stuff, I don't use a plectrum) but wanted to try learning a bit of uke, which I've enjoyed.

The uke does not balance when trying to balance on a finger between the neck and body like one sees reviewers do on YouTube, as the body is quite heavy. Perhaps tenors in general are like this. I would imagine the wood is quite thick and weighty compared to some. But, anyway, I play sitting down. Still I think volume would be increased if they used thinner (more sanded) wood for the body / soundboard. Like you'd expect a good mahogany guitar to be.

Yet,

It sounds lovely now after about 8 months of moderate play. Certainly it has increased in the length of sustain. The wound C helps that of course (it's why I chose those strings) but even with that it has improved over time.

Another review says it is not a solid wood instrument but it is, there is just a thin strip of laminate on the interior protecting or reinforcing the sound holes, the gimic sound holes on the side is just that, a gimic really in my opinion but it doesn't detract from the sound either.

The varnish is finished to perfection on mine, but it is relatively thick (not gloopy in any way).

As I said it sounds lovely but I've not played many other ukes.

I may sound as though I am being very critical but I think it's worth the money.

It's a stunning looking wee sweet sounding instrument, that would have been fine without the messing about.

I've given it 4/5 stars as with a solid wood instrument you'd expect a compensated saddle and bit more of a set-up,and for the instrument not to feel as dry on arrival.

I hope this is helpful to someone.

K