Islander Ukulele GL6-SA Ukulele

I was very excited to buy this 6 string guitarlele only to be disappointed on several fronts. The fret work is awful, the Spruce top which should be very difficult to dent came with several pock-mocks in it. The tuners are cheap and make the instrument difficult to stay in tune. The strings which I believe are GHS are atrocious and finally the instrument does not project well at all.

As an armchair plunker, I've gone wholly to guitalele-size instruments. Starting with Yamaha's classic GL-1, I added the more deluxe “hybrid” guilele by Cordoba. Then, wanting more range, I got Cordoba's Mini-M, which has a longer scale and 14 clear frets, versus the 12 frets on the smaller instruments. The Mini is a very nice-sounding instrument (see my Amazon review). Unfortunately, its wide, flat (unradiused) fretboard and fat, clunky neck profile simply do not work with my small hands. So I moved to the Kanile'a Islander GL6 SA, which is the best of the small instruments I've tried. Overall, the GL6 is very similar to the Mini—same size, quality, features and general appearance (the lower body section is “hippier,” in baritone uke fashion). Sound-wise, the less pricey Mini is actually better, with more volume, bass response, and resonance. As a non-performer, however, I'm less interested in brilliant sound than in playing ease; and the Islander is somewhat more player-friendly. The neck/fretboard is a handful on both instruments. Nut width for both is a full 2 inches, the same as a full-size classical guitar—way too wide for me. Both fretboards are mercilessly flat, without a hint of radius for fingering comfort. The GL6, however, is slightly less challenging to finger: (1) Its fretboard, although wide at the nut, does not increase quite so dramatically as one goes up the scale. The Mini is a monster above the 7th fret. (2) Its neck profile (where your thumb and palm are) is less bulky than the Mini's, especially higher up on the scale. But here is the game-changer: The Islander has a FULL SIXTEEN (16) FRETS to the body, compared with 14 on the Mini. I seldom play above the 8th fret, but what freedom, to have access to chords way up in the stratosphere! This alone justifies the Islander's cost. If you're a large-handed campfire or classical guitarist, you'll like the Cordoba Mini, with its booming sound. If your hands are small and you want more range, the GL6 is worth the extra money. For my part, I'll stick with the GL6 until some maker offers a 16-fret, 1-11/16 inch, radiused fretboard that is kinder to small hands. UPDATE 10/29/2016: The GL6 is still my go-to guitalele, although I'm still not happy with its wide neck/fretboard. However, I was able to improve its feel by gently rounding down the sharp outside edges of the fretboard, as well as the lethally sharp fret-ends, with a small file and emory board. I also improved the high string action by (1) carefully filing the nut's string slots deeper (necessary when replacing the extremely skinny original strings), and (2) removing the wood spacer or shim that was found underneath the bridge saddle. Now to smooth out the finish on the neck, which came quite rough. I like the GL6, but at its price the maker really should have taken more care in the details.