As I shared before, this year I did not want to commit to taking tons of photos and "reporting". Nonetheless, I was tasked with some missions by folks.
First, however, for those not familiar, NAMM is not the place to really check out tone. It's a constant cacophony. Second, the shows for music industry merchants. So you don't find custom luthiers, etc. for ukuleles. While there are plenty of super high end guitars as such, not so for ukes. Plenty of nice stuff, but more production-oriented.
Below are some of what I found interesting:
1. Romero Creations new "The Replica" tenors look nice. They are a production tribute to Pepe's custom stuff and retail for about $1K. There is an all-mango, an all hog and a spruce-top. I cannot recall for sure but I think the body was mahogany. They feel very resonant. I liked the neck profile a lot. And, they have a normal headstock. I really do not like the headstock on the other Romero Creation models. I understand why they did it on the Tiny Tenor but I find it, ah, not so pleasing aesthetically.
2. I checked out the Seagull Electric (both the steel and nylon string). The steel string has a VERY narrow neck width (1 3/16" - yes, that's correct). The nylon stinged, pictured below, was more traditional width (probably 1 3/8"). I could not tell how they sound unplugged as a band was performing in the room where they were displayed. As expected with Seagull, nicely finished. $399 street price.
3. Blackbird is now doing unidirectional weave on the uke bodies (and the top if special ordered). Prices going up in February, so get your orders in.
4. The Kanile'a 2018 Platinum looked nice. They've further improved their TRU bracing, added a bevel for comfort, used some gorgeous koa and provided other nice appointments. A very nice instrument.
5. The Takumi booth in always on of my favorite ones to visit as they have really nice stuff (Takumi, Loprinzi, Kiwaya and usually several other select Japanese luthiers). The Takumi continue to impress me a lot and I'm surprised they aren't more widely appreciated. I bought a Honduran mahogany concert last year and this year was eyeing the 3K concert version. Really beautifully done. For those who like SUPER thin necks, I think LoPrinzi is as thin as they come. They, too, seem like super values.
Here is a link to all the pics. There's some guitar stuff in there, too (a $19K Santa Cruz guitar with ancient spruce top, gulp!) and some gorgeous Larrivee guitars with wonderful inlay.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmbHusct
Tomorrow if I get a chance I'll provide links to the videos I took of some of the musical performances.