Klōs Guitars Full Carbon Baritone Ukulele - REVIEW

Delighted to have this US brand back on the ukulele reviews, seeing as they are brand I first looked at when they started out and they are still going strong. This is the full carbon baritone ukulele from Klōs they released in late 2023.

Klōs are from Salt Lake City, USA and have their roots in carbon fibre instruments going back to guitars in 2015. I first looked at their original uke in 2019 - a tenor ukulele that wasn't 'quite' fully carbon fibre (they now call it the 'hybrid for that reason) but did very well to my review standards.  They then moved to their full carbon models and the tenor I looked at in 2020 which impressed me further still and got a mighty score. Carbon fibre instruments are not new, and they are not new in the ukulele world, but at a time when every man and his dog was putting out plastic instruments with a 'bit of carbon in the mix' (not actually carbon fibre at all..) it was nice to see the real deal. I don't normally do too many reviews of 'other scales in the same series' but this being a baritone I consider to sound and play differently enough to warrant it.

SUMMARY VIDEO REVIEW

Klōs were set up by brothers Adam and Ian Klōsowiak and Jacob Sheffield in Salt Lake City USA starting with a carbon fibre guitar back in 2015 and there have been numerous instruments that followed. So as I say above this is in the full carbon series but represents their first foray into the 'big gun' of the ukulele world, the baritone scale. 

This is the same sort of full carbon fibre matting construction (pretty much everywhere and the real deal as I say), scaled up in size from the tenor. Where it differs from the other ukes is the addition of a staggered cutaway on the upper bout which I like and kinda looks organic. Being real carbon fibre these are made from sheets of woven carbon strands held in a resin that is pressed in a mould to form the shape with the back, sides and back of the neck being one moulding and the top being applied to create the sound box. You know what this stuff is - think power boats and expensive lightweight parts for racing cars and aircraft. It's used because of that very light weight but incredible strength meaning that they key positive with the Klōs instruments is the durability. These are resilient to pretty much everything where the other well known 'carbon' ukes that don't use the material are really, really not.  Incidentally this uses the regular weave look of carbon fibre but there is a more expensive option 'carbon timber' which kind of looks like brushed metal to me. I like this myself as it's obvious what it is.

The bridge is a through body style made of what they call 'composite ebony' and I read that to mean a 'richlite' type material which is a paper based composite, also very hard and very smooth. It's extremely tidy and holds a straight topped saddle made from 'NuBone XB' (another composite). Spacing here is 40mm.

The body is otherwise undecorated but when you have this weave look doing the business, why would you need it? It's finished in a nicely done gloss which is smooth and tidy and the curves of the body, cutaway and neck transition are very tactile. Something else you will spy on the body that will have my regular readers assuming I will be going into an orbital rage is an onboard active pickup system. But for several reasons this is not bothering me in the slightest. Firstly it's an option, so unlike some brands, not mandatory. Second, being a much larger instrument the additional weight and real estate take up is really not as noticeable. But perhaps most importantly, being made of carbon fibre I would not be comfortable retro fitting a pickup to this material as I am not sure it acts like wood. As such i'd rather THEY fitted it at source than messing it up. The same goes for the included strap buttons because whilst i'm happy using a tapping wood screw on a wooden uke, I wouldn't know the best way to approach fitment on this material. What I will say about the pickup though is that it looks like a very generic system and think that on a premium priced ukulele they should be offering something more high end like LR Baggs or MiSi.

It's next to impossible to show you anything inside as there isn't anything to see! It's not built like a regular uke so kerfing and bracing don't apply. Interesting to see the metal ferrules for the strings to latch on to on the inside of the bridge though.

The neck is integral to the body mould as I say and just kind of flows out of the body naturally and very pleasingly. Because of that you don't need much heel if any at all so you get lots of hand space at the upper end. That tapers down to a comfortable profile and a roomy 38mm nut width with 30mm between D and E. Great. 

That is topped with more 'composite ebony' for the fingerboard which is smooth as glass and looks superb. I can't tell if it is edge bound or that the frets are in slots that finish shy of the sides, but I can't see the ends. These are regularly dressed, but honestly some of the best fretwork i've seen on a uke (an trust me, I look at them closely for the macro pictures!). You get 20 of those with a 14th fret neck join.  It's also nice to see that it has a shallow 16" radius which I think is a first for the Klōs ukulele line adding a slight curve to the frets.

Beyond the NuBone nut is the usual Klōs headstock which i've said in the past looks too small, but weirdly I love the juxtaposition on the big baritone even more. In the top face of that is the Klōs logo in white.

The standard tuners are pretty generic sealed gears with white buttons. They work fine, and Klōs do offer an upgrade option to Graphtech, but I think for a premium ukulele they should have bitten the bullet and gone premium tuners as standard.

Finishing things off are a set of D'Addario fluoro strings with a wound D and G string and a simple Klōs branded gig bag (with this being carbon fibre, it doesn't need huge amounts of protection), and as I've said a few times, this is a premium uke so it has a premium price. In standard acoustic spec this is $1,399 and with the pickup version you are looking at $1,539. Those are serious sums, though carbon fibre is not a cheap material and this is made in the USA not China so I can see where the money is. I think they could make that a bit more attractive by upgrading the pickup and tuners as standard though i think.

So as you can see I really rather like this one. The looks are great and the build is impeccably good in every department. Set up is good to so no other complaints there either. It feels hefty for a light weight material like this and clocks in at 1kg, but it's actually wonderful to hold, particularly that curvy sleek heel area. It balances brilliantly too.

Baritones never tend to fail on volume and sustain and both are superb here - this is a really punchy instrument so no complaints on that front either. 

One thing I do find with some baritone ukuleles, even some high end ones is that whilst they are naturally fuller in tone to a tenor they can sound almost a bit metallic to me and almost reedy. Maybe it's the impact of extra wound strings and lower tuning on what is still a very small body compared to the guitar. In this case though this immediately strikes me for having a very full, rich and warm tone which is surprising for a non natural material. If anything this sounds more like a guitar and certainly closer to a guitar sound than most other baritone ukes I have played. It's like there is a much bigger instrument in there.

Strummed it has a clear tone and lots of harmonising interplay between the strings which again makes the tone sound even fuller. I love some of the shimmer you get from it with chords as it wavers in and out. Played this way it's like strumming a small guitar which, naturally, appeals to me. That's not to say it's all 'warm warm warm, bass bass bass' though because played up the neck there are some really pretty higher tones that you can create when picking away from the nut. In fact this gives it real balance to the tone which is another sign of a well considered instrument. The extended sustain too makes playing this way very pleasing as it's easy to add in some vibrato or bends to flounce up your play style. It's very versatile!

All in this sounds like a much bigger instrument and I will stick my neck out and say it's one of the nicest sounding baritone ukuleles I think I have ever played. I know sound is a subjective thing, but to my ears it's just absolutely spot on and I didn't want to put it down.

So, price aside, i've got very few complaints here. The build and finish are great, it's very comfortable and tactile to play and whilst I'd want either no pickup or a better one, the core tone and playability is right up my street. 

A glorious instrument that is the best of the bunch for me with Klōs. Very highly recommended!

https://klosguitars.com/

UKULELE SPECS ROUNDUP

Model: Klōs Full Carbon Series

Scale: Baritone

Body: Full carbon fibre

Bridge: Composite ebony through bridge

Saddle: NuBone XB

Spacing at saddle: 40mm

Finish: Gloss

Neck: Carbon fibre, integral to body

Fingerboard: Composite ebony

Frets: 20, 14 to body

Nut: NuBone XB

Nut width: 38mm, 30mm D to E

Tuners: Black sealed gears

Strings: D'Addario fluoro with wound D and G

Extras: Pickup system, strap buttons, gig bag

Country of origin: USA

Weight: 1kg

Price: $1539 in this spec ($1399 straight acoustic)

UKULELE PROS

Wonderful stealthy looks

Superb build and finish

Great neck

Terrific volume and sustain

Full, warm tone that sounds bigger than it is

UKULELE CONS

At this price i'd expect a better pickup

UKULELE SCORES

Looks - 9.5 out of 10

Fit and finish - 9.5 out of 10

Sound - 9.5 out of 10

Value for money - 9 out of 10

OVERALL UKULELE SCORE - 9.4 out of 10

UKULELE VIDEO REVIEW

© Barry Maz

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