Hello,
Sorry to those that read this review before, I was like a Kid in a Candy Store all excited and I really didn't take the time to look the Uke over and really make sure things were good, so I apologize to you that read this, because I really over looked mistakes I later found.
I want to make this very clear from the beginning, so people do not misunderstand me or the purpose of this review, which is not to tear anyone, or any company down, but to only share the facts with my experience of two C1K purchases, one week a part from each other.
I purchased two Martin C1K online from SamAsh, they seem to be a very nice company that really goes out of their way to help you and offers deals, so this is the reason I picked them.
It would be great, for the benefit of the other members that have never owned a C1K, that if anyone has recently made a purchase to please share your experience. I truly hope that I have just had the bad misfortune that others will not experience, that this is just a rare occasion, and others are getting nice instruments for their money.
Below are the points I have noticed between my two Ukes.
1. Martin has a good Koa wood supplier I found out about, but at times isn't working with the wood good, doing good finish work, sometimes rougher feeling bodies, and sometimes bad lacquer finishes with little to no sheen in the wood. My dark wood Uke had no sheen to the wood, and the texture was rougher to the feel, really dry looking. My lighter colored Uke had a nice satin feel and nice sheen to the body, this is exactly the way it should be, not like my dark Uke, no sheen, dry and rough textured.
2.The weight of the Ukes is not consistent, the darker Koa Uke is heavier, with more weight along the neck and head.
3. Both Ukes frets were not properly dressed, frets are sharp on both sides of the necks, not fun to play on either neck.
4. Small cosmetic flaw, one Uke had Sipo placed as the headstock Plate instead of Koa. Koa is what Martin lists as the wood to be used for the headstock.
5. Fretboard on one Uke was a bad cut of wood, the very spotted look that Sipo can have, instead of a nice cut with nice grains as it should of been, that was also very dry, and without any nice finish to it. I've seen better looking fretboards on $100 Chinese made Ukes.
6. Not saying this is a good or bad thing, I just didn't find the necks on the C1K comfortable. The C1K were actually the first Ukes I've ever played that had a thin radius to them. All the Ukes I've ever played had a thicker more comfortable radius to the hand. Maybe this is common among Martin, I'm not sure, since this is the first time I've tried the C1K.
I have seen a lot of Ukes made by Ohana and Kala at half the price of the C1K finished better.
We all understand mistakes are made, but are these types of mistakes acceptable, and it makes me wonder, maybe Martin needs to be held to a higher standard, because when I get two Ukes in a row with problems, which is suppose to be superior quality, I'm sorry, I'm not seeing this Martin quality. I don't expect to see these types of mistakes from Martin at this price, I expect to see this on lower priced Chinese made Ukes, By the way superior quality is what Martin says on their website about these Ukes, these are not my words.
The pictures below...
The first two pictures are the darker wood, it's not bad wood, but it was not finished good, so there is no sheen to the body and the wood is very dry and rough feeling to the touch.
The last two are of course the lighter wood, it was finished better, with a more satin finish, the wood was smoothed out better and a nicer sheen finish. When you look at these pictures the lighter areas of the wood you notice are appearing this way in the pictures, because this is the sheen of the nicer finish and how it brings out the wood. The front side of the picture doesn't really show the sheen as much as you can see it in person, but it is a big difference over the darker Uke. On the backside there is a lot of sheen to the Koa, a nice look of Koa I would expect to see on all these Ukes from Martin, which is nothing like the first Uke.
But with the lighter colored Uke, there is something here, that maybe many people will over look and not consider, and that is the inconsistent wood on the top and bottom. Notice the top how straight grain and plain, more of what I've seen is the typical Martin Ukulele look of wood, and the back is more curly. The point is, most Ukes you see, if the top is straight, the back is too, both like book matched, especially in this price range of an Uke. This is the first time in a price range of an Uke like this, that the styles of wood from top to bottom were very inconsistent, that I've seen.
These pictures are not about the contrast between Koa, when you compare five different Ukes as an example, because depending on the Koa stock, they might all end up very different from one another, which is neither bad or good, if properly worked with wood, it's only going to amount to a Tonal difference. This review is really about the quality of wood, sometimes good sometimes not so good, and the matching of wood to the Uke, sometimes not matched, as I pointed out with the lighter Uke, having a big difference in top and bottom wood, and also how the wood was worked with. In the darker wood, whoever had the job of the finish work, did a poor job, not making the wood smoother and giving it a better lacquer finish. I'm not sure how others will feel about the look of the back on the darker wood, again it's not bad Koa wood, it's just that it was not finished properly, so it looks really poor.
Read the comments below, then scroll down the forum to the #4th reply for more images.
1. First image nice grains, second image, spotted looking wood, which can be found in Sipo. I'm not sure why anyone would pick this spotted look of grains for a fretboard look if you can have nicer grains like the first image. Also the spotted grained fretboard was a lot dryer in texture, which didn't feel good to play on. The spotted grain fretboard also looks really cheap.
Click the images to blow them up, make sure the image appears in your browser, so you get the largest size, then you'll see the more spotted look of the fretboard and how bad this appears...
I really find this pinkish/clay look of the Sipo fretboards mixed with a Koa body in bad taste. Of course tone is the most important thing we want, and some might not care about looks, and I understand this. To me an instrument is a piece of art and I appreciate it for it's beauty and craftsmenship, like anyone else, I'm assuming. With these thoughts in mind, it seems as though whoever thought of this look, doesn't quite understand fashion and mixing things together, for a more proper look. To me this Sipo look is not the look I want in a traditional Koa Uke, I also think it adds a cheap look to the Uke, I don't see it enhancing the beauty of the instrument, I find it diminishing the look and quality. Maybe everyone is getting nice looking Sipo necks and fretboards, well even the nice grained one I received, the color just looks so out of place, that the instrument looks really cheap.
Would you seriously wear brown pants, or a dress for the ladies, with a pink top, or shirt? Get my point? Maybe with the right mix of browns and pinks, a good hue/contrast, of course I can see it working that way, but Martin doesn't even show this understanding with hues and contrasts, because that darker Uke looks like choclate with a pink candy fretboard, talk about bad taste. In the pictures below, where you can see part of the necks in both images, it doesn't really show up as pink, as the images in my other reply below, where you can really see the pink of the wood.
I understand companies now have to deal with the Rosewood shortage, and work with other woods, but honestly, this is the best Martin can do, give us a pink/clay color neck and fretboard? Martin truly needs to find a different type of wood to use here, and there are a lot of them out there. With their Koa wood supplier, they should even be able to make the fretboard from Koa and stick with mahogany for the neck, I don't understand why I am seeing a Sipo neck instead of mahogany...
2. Next is the Sipo head plate, notice the spotty look of the wood in the first image? That's Sipo, and the second image is the Koa head plate. Now this is just cosmetics, and maybe some people might like the Sipo look, but Martin lists on their website that it has a Koa head stock, so I would think they could get this right and not make mistakes like this. I personally like the look of the Koa and everyone who knows these woods knows Koa is the winner here in cosmetics. Look at the Koa head stock image, it is a much nicer sheen too, but it's not that noticeable in the picture.
Scroll down to the #4th reply for more images.
I sent both of these Ukes back, I do not recommend anyone buy any of the Mexico Martin Ukes unless you can see them in a store, there is just to much inconsistency with these Ukes, as well as finish issues, improperly finished Ukes.
Sorry to those that read this review before, I was like a Kid in a Candy Store all excited and I really didn't take the time to look the Uke over and really make sure things were good, so I apologize to you that read this, because I really over looked mistakes I later found.
I want to make this very clear from the beginning, so people do not misunderstand me or the purpose of this review, which is not to tear anyone, or any company down, but to only share the facts with my experience of two C1K purchases, one week a part from each other.
I purchased two Martin C1K online from SamAsh, they seem to be a very nice company that really goes out of their way to help you and offers deals, so this is the reason I picked them.
It would be great, for the benefit of the other members that have never owned a C1K, that if anyone has recently made a purchase to please share your experience. I truly hope that I have just had the bad misfortune that others will not experience, that this is just a rare occasion, and others are getting nice instruments for their money.
Below are the points I have noticed between my two Ukes.
1. Martin has a good Koa wood supplier I found out about, but at times isn't working with the wood good, doing good finish work, sometimes rougher feeling bodies, and sometimes bad lacquer finishes with little to no sheen in the wood. My dark wood Uke had no sheen to the wood, and the texture was rougher to the feel, really dry looking. My lighter colored Uke had a nice satin feel and nice sheen to the body, this is exactly the way it should be, not like my dark Uke, no sheen, dry and rough textured.
2.The weight of the Ukes is not consistent, the darker Koa Uke is heavier, with more weight along the neck and head.
3. Both Ukes frets were not properly dressed, frets are sharp on both sides of the necks, not fun to play on either neck.
4. Small cosmetic flaw, one Uke had Sipo placed as the headstock Plate instead of Koa. Koa is what Martin lists as the wood to be used for the headstock.
5. Fretboard on one Uke was a bad cut of wood, the very spotted look that Sipo can have, instead of a nice cut with nice grains as it should of been, that was also very dry, and without any nice finish to it. I've seen better looking fretboards on $100 Chinese made Ukes.
6. Not saying this is a good or bad thing, I just didn't find the necks on the C1K comfortable. The C1K were actually the first Ukes I've ever played that had a thin radius to them. All the Ukes I've ever played had a thicker more comfortable radius to the hand. Maybe this is common among Martin, I'm not sure, since this is the first time I've tried the C1K.
I have seen a lot of Ukes made by Ohana and Kala at half the price of the C1K finished better.
We all understand mistakes are made, but are these types of mistakes acceptable, and it makes me wonder, maybe Martin needs to be held to a higher standard, because when I get two Ukes in a row with problems, which is suppose to be superior quality, I'm sorry, I'm not seeing this Martin quality. I don't expect to see these types of mistakes from Martin at this price, I expect to see this on lower priced Chinese made Ukes, By the way superior quality is what Martin says on their website about these Ukes, these are not my words.
The pictures below...
The first two pictures are the darker wood, it's not bad wood, but it was not finished good, so there is no sheen to the body and the wood is very dry and rough feeling to the touch.
The last two are of course the lighter wood, it was finished better, with a more satin finish, the wood was smoothed out better and a nicer sheen finish. When you look at these pictures the lighter areas of the wood you notice are appearing this way in the pictures, because this is the sheen of the nicer finish and how it brings out the wood. The front side of the picture doesn't really show the sheen as much as you can see it in person, but it is a big difference over the darker Uke. On the backside there is a lot of sheen to the Koa, a nice look of Koa I would expect to see on all these Ukes from Martin, which is nothing like the first Uke.
But with the lighter colored Uke, there is something here, that maybe many people will over look and not consider, and that is the inconsistent wood on the top and bottom. Notice the top how straight grain and plain, more of what I've seen is the typical Martin Ukulele look of wood, and the back is more curly. The point is, most Ukes you see, if the top is straight, the back is too, both like book matched, especially in this price range of an Uke. This is the first time in a price range of an Uke like this, that the styles of wood from top to bottom were very inconsistent, that I've seen.
These pictures are not about the contrast between Koa, when you compare five different Ukes as an example, because depending on the Koa stock, they might all end up very different from one another, which is neither bad or good, if properly worked with wood, it's only going to amount to a Tonal difference. This review is really about the quality of wood, sometimes good sometimes not so good, and the matching of wood to the Uke, sometimes not matched, as I pointed out with the lighter Uke, having a big difference in top and bottom wood, and also how the wood was worked with. In the darker wood, whoever had the job of the finish work, did a poor job, not making the wood smoother and giving it a better lacquer finish. I'm not sure how others will feel about the look of the back on the darker wood, again it's not bad Koa wood, it's just that it was not finished properly, so it looks really poor.
Read the comments below, then scroll down the forum to the #4th reply for more images.
1. First image nice grains, second image, spotted looking wood, which can be found in Sipo. I'm not sure why anyone would pick this spotted look of grains for a fretboard look if you can have nicer grains like the first image. Also the spotted grained fretboard was a lot dryer in texture, which didn't feel good to play on. The spotted grain fretboard also looks really cheap.
Click the images to blow them up, make sure the image appears in your browser, so you get the largest size, then you'll see the more spotted look of the fretboard and how bad this appears...
I really find this pinkish/clay look of the Sipo fretboards mixed with a Koa body in bad taste. Of course tone is the most important thing we want, and some might not care about looks, and I understand this. To me an instrument is a piece of art and I appreciate it for it's beauty and craftsmenship, like anyone else, I'm assuming. With these thoughts in mind, it seems as though whoever thought of this look, doesn't quite understand fashion and mixing things together, for a more proper look. To me this Sipo look is not the look I want in a traditional Koa Uke, I also think it adds a cheap look to the Uke, I don't see it enhancing the beauty of the instrument, I find it diminishing the look and quality. Maybe everyone is getting nice looking Sipo necks and fretboards, well even the nice grained one I received, the color just looks so out of place, that the instrument looks really cheap.
Would you seriously wear brown pants, or a dress for the ladies, with a pink top, or shirt? Get my point? Maybe with the right mix of browns and pinks, a good hue/contrast, of course I can see it working that way, but Martin doesn't even show this understanding with hues and contrasts, because that darker Uke looks like choclate with a pink candy fretboard, talk about bad taste. In the pictures below, where you can see part of the necks in both images, it doesn't really show up as pink, as the images in my other reply below, where you can really see the pink of the wood.
I understand companies now have to deal with the Rosewood shortage, and work with other woods, but honestly, this is the best Martin can do, give us a pink/clay color neck and fretboard? Martin truly needs to find a different type of wood to use here, and there are a lot of them out there. With their Koa wood supplier, they should even be able to make the fretboard from Koa and stick with mahogany for the neck, I don't understand why I am seeing a Sipo neck instead of mahogany...
2. Next is the Sipo head plate, notice the spotty look of the wood in the first image? That's Sipo, and the second image is the Koa head plate. Now this is just cosmetics, and maybe some people might like the Sipo look, but Martin lists on their website that it has a Koa head stock, so I would think they could get this right and not make mistakes like this. I personally like the look of the Koa and everyone who knows these woods knows Koa is the winner here in cosmetics. Look at the Koa head stock image, it is a much nicer sheen too, but it's not that noticeable in the picture.
Scroll down to the #4th reply for more images.
I sent both of these Ukes back, I do not recommend anyone buy any of the Mexico Martin Ukes unless you can see them in a store, there is just to much inconsistency with these Ukes, as well as finish issues, improperly finished Ukes.
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