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In this guide
Kala sells its Satin Mahogany ukuleles in four sizes, and the KA-C is the concert. The company describes the line as its flagship and an industry standard, with a traditional shape, satin finish and cream binding. The build list is short and consistent across the range: mahogany top, back, sides and neck, a rosewood fingerboard, a Graph Tech NuBone nut and saddle, a standard headstock, Aquila Super Nylgut strings and no electronics. One black strap button is fitted at the factory.
As this was written, Kala's US site listed the KA-C at $99 with a $109 regular price, model KA-C, SKU KAC2006. That is $30 above the KA-15S soprano already covered on this site, which sells for $69 and has a 13.625-inch scale with 12 frets. The concert's 14.875-inch scale and 18 frets are the whole story of that price difference; the wood, nut, saddle and strings are the same names on both pages.
Our verdict
The KA-C is the sensible first ukulele for an adult: $99 direct from Kala, all-mahogany construction, a NuBone nut and saddle, Aquila strings and a 14.875-inch scale that spaces the frets wide enough for larger fingers. It costs $30 more than the KA-15S soprano, and the extra reach and six additional frets are what you pay for.
- A good fit for
- Adult beginners, players moving up from a soprano who want more room on the neck, and anyone who plans to play beyond first position, where the 18 frets matter.
- We would skip it if
- You are buying for a small child, you want the classic short-scale soprano sound and feel, or you need a pickup, a gig bag or a tuner in the box, none of which Kala lists with this model.
Reasons to consider it
- Same materials as the rest of the Satin Mahogany line: mahogany top, back, sides and neck, rosewood fingerboard, Graph Tech NuBone nut and saddle, Aquila Super Nylgut strings
- Concert scale of 14.875 inches and 18 frets give more fretboard than the 13.625-inch, 12-fret KA-15S soprano
- Cream binding and a factory strap button are included at a price only $30 above Kala's entry soprano
The compromises
- Kala's own page and its product feed disagree on several measurements, including the scale length (14.875 versus 14.8125 inches) and nut width (1.37 versus 1.4375 inches)
- Tuner type is not stated anywhere on Kala's page, so the hardware spec was not confirmed
- No bag, tuner or strap in the box; Kala's site notes only that it fits all Kala concert-size bags and cases
What we have not verified: Laminate versus solid construction is not stated on the KA-C page; the product feed tags the model with Solid: None, which points to laminate mahogany but is not an explicit statement. The tuning machines are undocumented on Kala's site.
The things in this guide
A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.
KA-C Satin Mahogany Concert Ukulele
The extra 1.25 inches of scale spreads the frets and the 18-fret neck reaches notes the 12-fret soprano cannot. At $99 direct, it stays under Kala's $150 threshold for free US shipping, so budget $20 flat shipping on top for an instrument order.
Before you buy: Nothing else is in the box. A clip-on tuner and a concert gig bag are separate line items, and Kala's returns run 30 days from delivery with customer-paid return shipping unless the item arrived faulty.
Price checked September 11, 2026. Retailer prices can change.Materials and build
Kala's spec block for the KA-C reads: top mahogany, back and sides mahogany, neck mahogany, fingerboard rosewood, binding cream, finish satin, headstock standard, nut and saddle Graph Tech NuBone, strings Aquila Super Nylgut, electronics N/A, strap button black x1. The cream binding around the top edge is the visible upgrade over plainer laminate ukuleles at this price, and the NuBone nut and saddle are a synthetic bone substitute that Kala uses across its lower-priced lines instead of plastic.
What the page does not say matters too. There is no mention of solid wood anywhere in the description, and the product feed tags the model Solid: None, which is consistent with laminate mahogany throughout; Kala's warranty text separately singles out its all-solid ukuleles for humidifier requirements, which implies the KA-C is not one of them. The tuning machines are not named or pictured in the specifications, so whether they are open-gear or sealed die-cast remains unconfirmed from Kala.
Size and measurements
Concert is the middle of Kala's three common sizes, and the numbers in the product description are: scale length 14.875 inches, overall length 24.125 inches, body length 11.125 inches, 18 frets, upper bout 6 inches, lower bout 8.25 inches, waist 4.875 inches, body depth 2.75 inches, fingerboard width 1.37 inches at the nut and 1.74 inches at the neck joint. Against the KA-15S soprano's 13.625-inch scale and 12 frets, the concert gains about 1.25 inches of string length and half an octave more reach up the neck.
A second measurement block lower on the same page gives slightly different figures: 14.8125-inch scale, 23.9375 inches overall, 11.0625-inch body, 4.9375-inch waist, 1.4375 inches at the nut and 1.75 at the joint. The differences are small, under a sixteenth of an inch in most cases, but the nut width gap of roughly 0.07 inches is the one a player would feel. Kala's warranty page also notes all models are subject to specification changes without notice, so treat these as nominal. The Shopify record lists a 1134-gram shipping weight, about 2.5 pounds boxed.
What you get and what you will add
Kala's page for the KA-C lists the instrument and its factory strap button and nothing further. The only packaging note is that the model fits all Kala concert-size bags and cases, which is the company's way of pointing you to its accessories section. A realistic starter budget is the $99 instrument, a clip-on tuner, and a padded concert bag, and for an order under $150 Kala charges a flat $20 to ship an instrument within the lower 48 states; orders at $150 or more ship free, so adding a bag can push the total past that line.
The Aquila Super Nylgut strings ship on the instrument and are a common factory choice at this price; they are bright and take several days of retuning to settle, which is normal for nylon-family strings and is not a fault. Returns run 30 days from delivery for new, unused items in original packaging, with return shipping paid by the buyer unless the item arrived not as described. Kala notes that instruments with custom strap-button installs may incur a restocking fee of up to 20 percent, so leave the second button off until you are sure you are keeping it.
Warranty terms
Kala warrants the KA-C for one year to whoever bought it new, and the instrument must have been bought from an authorized Kala dealer with the sales receipt kept for any claim. American-made Kala models get two years, but the KA-C is not one of those. The coverage is non-transferable, any modification voids it, and Kala reserves the right to decide on inspection whether a claim is valid. Unsolicited returns to Kala or its dealers are refused, so a claim starts with an email to support, not a shipment.
The exclusion list is long and mostly about wear: strings, frets, nut, saddle, finish, tuners damaged by improper tuning, and any case or bag hardware. Damage from heat, dryness, humidity or salt air is excluded, and instruments purchased outside the US or Canada, or taken outside those countries after purchase, are not covered at all. Blem instruments stamped with a 2 on the back of the headstock carry no coverage. Read as a whole, the terms protect against a build fault showing up in the first year and little else.
When to skip it
Skip the KA-C if the player is a young child. A concert body at 24.125 inches overall and 8.25 inches across the lower bout is manageable for most adults, but a six-year-old will do better on the 21-inch KA-15S soprano for $30 less, and the soprano's 12 frets are more than a beginner uses in the first year anyway. The same applies to buyers who specifically want the plinky, short-sustain sound associated with the soprano; the concert is warmer and louder, which is a matter of taste, not quality.
Also pass if you need a pickup for playing through an amplifier, since the KA-C has no electronics and Kala sells separate acoustic-electric models for that. And if the two measurement blocks on Kala's page bother you, or you need to know the tuner type before ordering, contact Kala's support address first; the site does not resolve either question. For a first adult ukulele where the plan is to learn chords and sing along, no one of those gaps change the recommendation.
How we put this together
Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.
- Kala Brand Music Co.: Satin Mahogany Concert Ukulele (KA-C) (opens in a new tab)
- Kala Brand Music Co.: KA-C product JSON (opens in a new tab)
- Kala Brand Music Co.: Warranty (opens in a new tab)
- Kala Brand Music Co.: Shipping & Returns (opens in a new tab)
- Kala Brand Music Co.: KA-15S Satin Mahogany Soprano Ukulele (opens in a new tab)
