Ukulele Comparison: KLŌS Hybrid Tenor Ukulele and Blackbird Clara Concert Ukulele

I had the chance to compare the KLŌS Hybrid Tenor Ukulele with my Blackbird Clara Concert Ukulele.

Quite simply, the Clara shouldn't stand a chance, as it is a smaller scale ukulele with a smaller body. The Blackbird Farallon should be a better comparison, tenor to tenor--but I don't own one.

What I discovered is that the Blackbird Clara is the better sounding ukulele, and it plays equally as well as the KLŌS, which is itself a wonderful ukulele to play.

Blackbird used to make carbon fiber ukuleles, and moved to eKoa (used on the Clara and Farallon). It's pretty clear why that choice was made...it is a material that is superior to Carbon Fiber, perhaps not as strong, but seemingly just as rugged for every day use.

Where the Clara loses is in overall price (starting at $1395), a price that does not include many of the features that come with the stock KLŌS Hybrid Tenor, though the KLŌS Deluxe Hybrid ($1099) adds even more features (including a pickup), all for a price less than an entry level Clara. A similarly equipped Clara to the Deluxe Hybrid would cost at least $1900. And while the KLŌS is made out of Carbon Fiber, it looks more like a traditional ukulele than the Clara (which, at best, resembles a pineapple ukulele).

Is the Clara better than the Hybrid? Yes. I would assume that the Farallon, starting at $1615 is also better than the Hybrid.

But is the Clara $700 to $800 better than the Hybrid? No. Is the Farallon $900 to $1100 better than the Hybrid? Probably not.

Do I like them both? Yes. Would I own both? No, and if you follow this channel, you know why: I prefer the concert scale (or a concert neck). KLŌS has a concert ukulele coming this summer, and that is the KLŌS I would own--though I expect the smaller soundboard of the concert will lose a bit of the overall tone quality of the tenor hybrid...but it will still be good.

What an absolute privilege to be able to compare these models. Many thanks to KLŌS for making this instrument available for review.