Hawaiian swing bluegrass in the Philippines

Flatpik

Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2017
Messages
7
Reaction score
6
Hi all -

I moved to Subic Bay Philippines three years ago from Portland Oregon where I played mandolin and guitar in a bluegrass band. I've always loved the ukulele and now I'm on to this big 4 string adventure. Excited to be on this forum.

Even though many wonderful ukuleles are made in Asia (Ohana, Pono, etc.) It's very difficult to buy one here. Rapacious Philippines customs adds hundreds of dollars to the price of anything imported. I'm looking at three or four different tenor ukes and may just have to send one to the US and bring it back with me on my next trip in Sept. Grrrr.

Mabuhay - Mike
 
Welcome to the UU forum, Mike! :)

Oh, us Europeans deal with high import costs too, so I can relate. The $100+ shipping aside, there's another 22-25% of the total (including shipping and insurance) in VAT and import taxes due. That was relatively fine when the US dollar was worth less than the Euro, but now they are almost equal, so importing from the States is doubly punishing.

Do you use a pick with your uke? If so, which thickness do you prefer?
 
I'll learn Hawaiian strums & fingers w/ the uke. Flatpick for bluegrass, Irish, fiddle tunes. Being forced to wait on my purchase has the advantage of giving me more time to research and obsess - haha.

Looking at tenors:
Pono Acacia
Opio Acacia
Romero Tiny Tenor
Big Island Koa
 
Last edited:
Welcome! Are there no luthiers in the Philippines?
 
Welcome to UU, Mike! I used to live in Manila and Subic is a bit of a drive out.

In case you're visiting Manila soon, here's a place you can check out: https://www.facebook.com/happymusicPH/. Looks like a cool place, what with the spontaneous jam sessions, and I've seen some friends posting about it on FB. :)
 
It looks like I posted here 5 years ago, haha. Time flies.

I have need of a good luthier here, haven't found yet, but will look at Happy music link above.
 
Regarding a luthier, I found Ariel Hipolito, Guitar Hospital, 30D Mariveles Street, Barangay Sta. Teresita, 1114 Quezon City, Philippines. He did an outstanding repair on my broken Enya. You can find him on FB.
 
Regarding a luthier, I found Ariel Hipolito, Guitar Hospital, 30D Mariveles Street, Barangay Sta. Teresita, 1114 Quezon City, Philippines. He did an outstanding repair on my broken Enya. You can find him on FB.
That's excellent! I'm so pleased that you found someone to repair your uke.
 
Top Bottom