Hello,
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...
...........[Dionysis,had to cut some of the initial review as my post was too long, but it is up there at the spot #1 if you have time to read it all over again.]
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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.