Interesting reading everytime I come here, so much so I had to sign up
As this is my very first post in an underground of any kind, lol, I'd like to start with a great big "Thank you!" I've garnered much information lurking here recently, and I've even had the privledge of watching a few of your reviews on Utube, great stuff!
Now even though I'm located in western Canada, I actually have a vested interest in these Chinese ukes it seems, Kmise and another brand called Neewer to be exact, and both through Amazon.ca(I live in a small town and buy many things from amazon, tea, books, cloths, nuts, music accessories, ect...). The latter of the company's being the only one of the two I've ever delt with but it was only for some bone nuts/saddles/pegs, they were a bargain that arrived on time and made me quite happy with Neewer due to the improved sustain and tone, compared to the plastic ones that were on my old Cort steel string acoustic. I should probly mention I have limited experience with stringed instruments, I played a violin as a child but only recently picked up a guitar...
My actual reason for being here though came about just this last month while I was practicing on the very guitar I had just finished shaping the before mentioned bone for, it was an absolutely beautiful fall afternoon, the wife walked over and started talking to me as she often does right when I get focussed on anything that isn't her, lol, however this time it was my own fault... I love her more than anything and with what music means to me, I had been asking her for quite some time if she could pick any instrument in the whole world to play, what would it be? well, God bless her she had found her answer that day, a Ukulele... I've since spent more hours then expected on trying to learn all I can about these pure "happy" sounding members of the guitar family, however, we have one music store in town and they only carry a few beaver creek ukes that didn't really look or sound overly impressive to me so I turned to the internet... I now have our first ukulele arriving in 3days, I assume its a concert, even though it was listed as the "Neewer Yhtc-1 Matte Finished 24-inch Sapele Soprano" and it was a Prime item so if it isn't exactly as advertised or if it is damaged, sounds terrible, you name it, it can be returned free of charge, so no gamble there but it did look pretty good and I really do hope its a keeper but the truth is I could get it to the door within a couple days to get the wife started strumming... The Kmise however is coming from China and I won't see it for atleast 2-4weeks, it wasn't a prime item so if there's any issue I'll have to deal with the seller first but it's delayed arrival will give us time to try out the Neewer and from my experience thus far, I will still be protected by Amazon's customer service if there's a problem with either uke... Kmise isn't as easy to find out about as the more expensive brands but from what I can find on the eBay's(.ca/.com/.uk) as well as the different Amazon's from around the world and the kmise.com site, it all seems pretty consistent, if it says solid top then it is and if it says laminate, again, it is... I'm very curious to see for myself though, I've now looked at countless pics, watched an untold number of utube videos and read endless reviews for more Ukulele's then I ever imagined even existed these last few weeks and I have to admit, I'm very excited to see what comes to the door, as well as confident that if I need any help figuring out how to set them up if its needed, then I will find that help here
Oh, the Kmise I ordered is the thin body laminated zebra wood tenor, i also ordered a set of low G strings for it(might be my first uke after all, lol, if the wife likes the flower patterned Neewer that is)... I think the most difficult part while I wait for it will be to not order one of the solid wood models Kmise makes while I wait to see how this tenor looks and especially sounds... I have to admit the kmise solid okoume flamed concert as well as a few of the solid spruce topped ones have me looking forward to next payday more then usual, lol... Question, once they arrive, should I be posting some pics or maybe some kind of review somewhere specific about them and my experience with these two brands?
Wow, did i ever run on, lol... I must say, I consider myself very fortunate to be able to join this forum and call upon the collective knowledge of you good people, my sincerest gratitude to all involved from the founder to the members, Thank you all