Review: Kala Salt & Pepper Doghair Mahogany and Flame Maple Cutaway

BY BILL LEIGH | FROM THE FALL 2024 ISSUE OF UKULELE

It hasn’t quite been 20 years since its founding, but in that time Kala has managed to become one of the most popular ukulele brands in the world. The company has done so by focusing on the sizable middle, offering a wide range of quality ukuleles that are neither expensive boutique instruments nor cheap toys. As an example of their broad line of affordable instruments, among the Petaluma, California, company’s latest offerings are a pair of all-solid tenor ukes: the Salt & Pepper Doghair Mahogany (KA-SDH-T) and the acoustic-electric Flame Maple Cutaway with three-band EQ (KA-ASFM-T-CE). In taking both for a spin, I found some similarities as well as distinct differences.

If Looks Could Kill

Both Kala ukuleles are eye-catching in their own particular ways. The Salt & Pepper Doghair has a solid mahogany top, back, and sides, and a mahogany neck. All of these
have the instrument’s namesake mottled complexion, which is achieved through a process that involves applying grain filler before the wood is sealed. If the Salt & Pepper Doghair’s unusual appearance looks a tad familiar, it might be because the concept originated in 2017, when Kala released a custom shop version of the Doghair Tenor priced at $1,049 under the Kala Elite USA label. This newer production model is not the same as the earlier hand-built instrument, but has many of the same visual touches.

The body has a lush gloss finish, comfortable curves, and easy edges. Cream binding and a mother-of-pearl rosette complete the body’s stylish visual look, accented by the white nut and saddle, as well as the heel cap. The neck, which has a welcoming satin feel, is home to a deep-hued rosewood fretboard. The headstock has cool looking open-back tuning machines, and the strings are Aquila Super Nylgut, so named because they have characteristics of both nylon and gut strings. The nut and saddle are both made of Graph Tech NuBone, a derivation of the company’s well-known Tusq material.

If the Salt & Pepper Doghair is strikingly handsome, the Flame Maple Cutaway is stunningly gorgeous. On the top of our test instrument, the maple’s figuring was somewhat subtle, but on the sides it was positively scintillating. The purpleheart binding, with its matching rosette and heel cap, contrasts beautifully with the bright maple body, as does the striped ebony fingerboard. Accented by gold open-back tuning hardware, the slotted headstock not only looks sharp but also makes for a sharper downward string angle at the nut, as well as allowing all tuners to be turned the same direction.

The maple neck sports side and top position markers, including at the 15th fret, right at the start of the Florentine cutaway. Indeed, the cutaway provides ample access to the higher positions, but if you’re not used to playing up that high on a uke, be forewarned that the frets are spaced pretty close together up above the 15th position marker. Still, it was nice to have easy upper access. I also found the cutaway was a nice place to rest my fingers when strumming with my thumb.

Like the Salt & Pepper Doghair, the Flame Maple Cutaway has a NuBone nut and saddle (colored black to fit the aesthetic), and Nylgut strings. Unlike the Doghair, the Flame Maple has Fishman Kula electronics, which features a built-in tuner, three-band EQ, and volume control. Access to the CR2032 lithium battery compartment is conveniently located on the output jack plate.

Of Sound Mind

Despite their obvious cosmetic differences the two instruments are essentially the same shape, with a broad lower bout, ample body depth, and a gently curved back. The Doghair is a bit lighter and less neck-heavy than the Maple, which has a more substantial headstock and the added weight of electronics. Apart from the Doghair’s glossy body finish and the Maple’s satin feel, the physical experience of playing them was similar. The strings had the same feel and tension, and the necks, with their superb setups right out of the box, felt uniformly easy and comfortable from the lowest to the highest notes.

The instruments also had similar sound profiles, with foundational lower-mids and an articulate top end noticeably standing out on both. The Flame Maple Cutaway was a bit beefier on the C string’s lower notes, which imparted a pleasantly round sound on strummed and fingerpicked chords. The Doghair resonated slightly more through the instrument’s body and neck. However, both instruments sounded balanced, musical, and clear, with powerful projection and lovely overtones. 

Amplified, the Flame Maple Cutaway’s electronics captured the instrument’s crisp, clear voice, bringing it up to band-level volumes. The three-band EQ provided quite a bit of tone shaping flexibility, from bringing out the lows to scooping the mids for a beefy sound with a sparkling attack. When I encountered a smidge of finger noise, rolling off some treble helped me tame it.

The Bottom Line

These two tenor ukuleles are perfect examples of Kala’s ability to create well-built, great-sounding instruments at affordable prices. While they are similar in their all-solid construction, and clear, balanced voice, they offer completely different visual aesthetics, each beautiful in its own unique way. The Salt & Pepper Doghair stands out for its unusual finish, and the Flame Maple’s electronics and 3-band EQ provide a lot of flexibility. 

If you’re shopping for a mid-priced, all-solid, tenor uke, you may want to give Kala a holla.