Is it worth repairing?

poppi_m

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Hi all ,

I'm new to ukuleles as in a few weeks new .

My dad died but left me a ukulele he bought in the early 70s.
I couldn't find out much about it based on demensions , number of frets ,etc. What I could find out it that it's a kanaka "white label " ukulele.

I emailed kamaka with pics and demensions and all they sent back
was that it was a long neck tenor .

It has a slight crack in it that I'd like to get repaired
and maybe learn to play , but I'm concerned about
putting more than the instrument is worth .

I can't find much of anything about vintage kamaka
Long neck tenors good , bad or indifferent . I can't even find a hard case that will fit it .

So any insight would be great . Thank you all in advance .
 
Can you post the pics here? Or to a hosting site like Photobucket and link here? That would help the experts here determine a rough estimate of value. If it is in decent shape other than the crack, I think a repair should not be too costly and if that helps you connect to your dad in some way, how do you put a price on that?
 
I think I'm able to add pics
 

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Most any Kamaka, unless totally trashed, is usually worth at least $350.00. I believe the white labels were made in 60s/70s. I have a 50s gold label soprano that had a couple of cracks when I got it, it cost me about $100.00 to get it repaired by mail, and I can help with that guy's contact info if you PM me. As long as no braces are loose inside, the crack repair should be a pretty easy fix. Here's a pic of mine.

View attachment 99657

Nice !

I guess I'm not sure if it's a good thing meaning rare higher value
Because I can't find any info on the long neck tenors if this age or if it's because no one
Cares about them

Tenor sized body , but has 20 frets and is 29 1/4 " overall length
 
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Can you post the pics here? Or to a hosting site like Photobucket and link here? That would help the experts here determine a rough estimate of value. If it is in decent shape other than the crack, I think a repair should not be too costly and if that helps you connect to your dad in some way, how do you put a price on that?

I can keep it as a connection as is , but if it's worth fixing then I might learn to play it as well
 
Seems to be in good shape so $100-200 for a repair and setup (adjust action, file frets if needed, etc.) should get you a much better uke than a new one for that amount. I'd say go for it.
 
Nice! I'd say your Dad left you a very nice gift. Get it fixed, learn to play it. Think of him when you play, and smile!
 
That long neck tenor next to the pineapple doesn't look purposeful bc it only has 12 frets like a standard soprano scale? Really?
 
That long neck tenor next to the pineapple doesn't look purposeful bc it only has 12 frets like a standard soprano scale? Really?
:confused:
Ukecaster said:
Here's a pic of my repaired Kamaka soprano below
Nobody ever claimed the uke next to the pineapple being a tenor....
 
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That's some really pretty koa on that Kamaka, poppi! I agree with the advice here to get it repaired and learn to play. You might be surprised at how addictive playing a ukulele can be. It's a guaranteed mood lifter! You can think of your father whenever you touch the strings.

Being a long-neck tenor, it's going to give you more room on the fretboard, so you might want to look at playing melody/fingerstyle. Regarding a case for it, perhaps a baritone case/gigbag might fit? You could try giving Hawaii Music Supply a call and asking them, since they once sold long-necks according to the link ukecaster posted. They might be able to help you sort out what kind of case to buy.

Good luck on your ukulele journey!
 
A new Kamaka long neck tenor sells for over $1200.00. The older ones from the 70s are considered to have a great tone and are sought after. This is a special instrument that is DEFINITELY worth fixing and keeping.

As Ohio Bell said contact HMS and they can order you a Kamaka case made specifically for that long neck tenor. A member here sam13 has that same model in the 100th anniversary edition Kamaka put out last year. I have played it and it is a wonderful sounding instrument, really fabulous.
 
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A new Kamaka long neck tenor sells for over $1200.00. The older ones from the 70s are considered to have a great tone and are sought after. This is a special instrument that is DEFINITELY worth fixing and keeping.

As Ohio Bell said contact HMS and they can order you a Kamaka case made specifically for that long neck tenor. A member here sam13 has that same model in the 100th anniversary edition Kamaka put out last year. I have played it and it is a wonderful sounding instrument, really fabulous.


That sounds very promising . I found a guy that says he's been a factory authorized repair person for Martin , ovation , Gretch and like 5 other manufactures for more than 25 years . I'm pretty sure I found a good person forbthe repairs .

I have follow up questions so I can go to as informed as possible .

I'm correct in saying that I should be concerned in maintaining as much of the original finish as possible , yes ?

Is there a approximate value of a 70s long neck tenor once repaired ? I've seen a lot of people over sell their service by over stating the end result value of the item.

I'll check out the HMS place for a case too , I sounds like it deserves a hard case if possible
 
If you're asking HMS for a case you might as well ask them about the value whilst you're at it - they're likely to have a reasonable idea.
 
I think I found an Oahu case that seems it might fit from HMS , sobthts good .

The bad is that the guy I talked to didn't really know what to say about a long neck tenor
That wasn't recently made . He kept asking people and they all referenced the current kamaka model
I think they called it an HF3L , but he has to tell them it was a white label one . He then came back with the value for
a normal white label tenor .

Im kinda frustrated is there a ukulele price guide or something ?
 
I emailed Andrew from HMS to see if he had any info . His response was :

Andrew Kitakis replied:
Hi Mike,

Yeah those are so rare I've never even seen one. I heard they were only made and played by Kamaka family members.



Soo it doesn't help with finding a value but it's very interesting .
 
Kamaka family members only? This is indeed intriguing. It would be interesting to know what Kamaka says about this ukulele. Poppi, you should write to them.
 
Kamaka family members only? This is indeed intriguing. It would be interesting to know what Kamaka says about this ukulele. Poppi, you should write to them.

I actually have already . I was having trouble figuring out what size it was based on dimensions and
Number of frets , nothing was matching up. So I called kamaka and they asked me to email them pics and
And a few measurements .

A couple of days later they emailed me back with this :
Hi Mike,

Thank you for the pictures, your ukulele is a Tenor Long neck.

Nice gift from your dad. If you need to purchase strings, please visit our web store.

Aloha, Tekla


I replied to try and get a little additional info but got no response. That's when I started to
See if people in the ukulele community could provide any more info.
 
I'm pretty sure Kamaka does repairs on their own instruments. You might want to ask them about that. Shipping would be a chore though so you should probably plan a trip to Oahu.
 
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