The Klasiko arrived in October 2015, as a limited edition in the three sizes. Omega Music priced these a little under £200 and this was the second ukulele designed and produced to their specifications, with a solid cedar top with laminate rosewood back and sides. Following their experiments with a prototype and different string brands, they settled on Worth Clear strings.
The Klasiko is a handsome factory-made ukulele, with some nice touches in the abalone script on the headstock and omega sign amongst the frets.The solid cedar top looks authentic under a satin finish. Omega noted back then that a dense gloss alters the tone; it is evident with this instrument which has been well played in – and is loud.
This uke has a relatively thin neck profile and a 37mm nut width in this Concert and the Tenor. A Kala tenor ukulele has a 34mm nut typically, so this gives more room for your fingers, while retaining a normal tenor uke’s scale length. The closed-geared tuners have black, soft-touch buttons.
Omega blurb back in 2015 suggested “By designing our own ukulele, we’re effectively cutting out the distributor and therefore we’re able to produce a better sounding ukulele than those at a similar price level on the general market – there is no middle-man taking a cut. This Klasiko ukulele has taken a long time to get off the drawing board as we sought to make improvements to get it just right. It has a strong, bold voice and volume to spare, so we think it is a winner!”
There a few references still on youtube to the instruments’ various forms:
Matt Warnes, now owner of World of Ukes, Editor of UKE Magazine, and part of The League Of Ukulele Gentlemen performing group, remembers: “The original model I did was called the Zedro. Klasiko and Zedro names were both taken from the basque language for no reason whatsoever except that they sounded good! The ukes were made by the factory that makes Snail – and were available a few years before Snail ukes arrived in the UK. I released a new version of the Zedro a few years ago with World of Ukes with a gloss finish as both original models, which had a matt finish, would show wear over a number of years on the top, depending on playing style”.
Economically, own brand enterprises don’t work so well anymore unless they’re higher end, just as there’s so much choice now in the £150-250 zone (and many good ones too). Increases in price to get them shipped from China means they are no longer viable. With most of these inexpensive instruments, you can expect some tiny imperfections in the finish, but they still look good and sound excellent, particularly for the budget. But it is so much harder to stand out, as these did, years ago.
I loved this Concert, and the lack of gloss put you properly in touch with the organic nature of the sound board.
Ukulele 