Kamaka HF-3 D4I Jake Blue Tenor Ukulele – New

The Kamaka HF-3 D4I Jake Blue Tenor Ukulele is a collaboration between ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro and Casey Kamaka, the head of Kamaka’s design team. This is only the second time in the company’s history they have worked with a musician to create an instrument to add to the catalog. (The first was the HB-2 Bell Shape Concert Ukulele, which was designed with input from Herb Ohta.) It’s built from premium curly koa that’s accented by green abalone heart shell and features Jake Shimabukuro’s signature inlaid in pearl in the ebony fretboard. The binding is ebony with a single line of blue purfling, an elegant and unstated accent. It has a slotted headstock that is fitted with Gilbert tuning machines with snakewood buttons. The letter I in the model name stands for ‘ipuka, a Hawaiian word for an opening that lets light shine through. Kamaka uses the I designation on the slotted headstock models.

Like all new Kamaka instruments, the HF-3 D4I Jake Blue is impeccably crafted. The HF-3 D4I shows how Kamaka crew keeps raising the bar and making their fine ukuleles even better. The tenor ukulele is our most popular size. We think this model’s versatility is part of the reason. It sounds great with the traditional “my dog has fleas” tuning but it also works well with the Low G tuning, as well. Thanks to the longer scale, the frets on a tenor uke are a little further apart, so complex chords are easier to finger as there’s more room, making tenor uke the most popular switch for guitar players. The Kamaka tenor is the does-anything-and-does-it-well ukulele and the HF-3 D4I Jake Blue lets you do it in style.