Lessons learned but at last I have my new uke

I've spent a few weeks trying to buy a new ukulele with some poor experiences and not much luck along the way until now.
I did my best to heed the advice to buy a uke with a set up but as there are no major uke stockists in my area I had to forego the advice to try before you buy.
I experienced 2 main types of supplier. Those who do set ups and those who don't. Often those that did set ups didn't have the items I was interested in and those that didn't do set ups assured me that all their ukes were inspected and any that weren't up to standard were returned to the supplier so I could rest assured that I'd get a nice uke. Some even told me it wasn't necessary to do a set up on any uke.
I chose to buy from one who had a great range but no set ups.
The result of this was some very good verbal service and attention by phone but poor products. 1 uke that had a ding, 1 uke that was warped! Yes warped! And both were so high at the nut that after a few minutes of playing my fingers tips were hurting.
No quibbles about return and refund. My only option now was to get "hands on"
I finally decided I'd have to drive at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours to visit a supplier who did a proper set up and I chose to go to Courtney And Walker due to the friendly and helpful advice Paul Walker gave me over the phone with no pressure to buy.
I spent 4 hrs with Paul who had both my choices in stock and he also suggested I have a look at a couple of others with the proviso that I could always walk away if I didn't like any of them.
I'll cut this long story short. I tried out 4 immaculately set up ukes both plugged and unplugged at my leisure and made a choice. I saw my uke set up and all the work done on it. The height at the nut was lowered as was the height at the saddle. The frets were all leveled and profiled and the intonation was adjusted and tuned to be spot on. The electrics were checked and all of Paul's other regular checks and adjustments were made and once I tried it he fine tuned the set up to my taste.
I had a fantastic day. I learned a lot from Paul as he answered my numerous questions about set up, strings, tuning, intonation, caring for my uke and many more. And when I asked about old intruments he even passed me a vintage Gibson soprano that had belonged to his father to have a strum on
I now have my new uke and I can really call it "mine" as it was set up just the way I liked it.
Perfect result. Highly recommended.
I'm in no way associated with Courtney and Walker other than a very satisfied customer and new owner of a Kala KA STGE-C

http://www.courtneyandwalker.co.uk/acatalog/ukuleles_accessories.html

And that's why most of us here stress again and again that setup is everything! Very happy for you, and as the lion says, hopefully others will benefit from your story.

(See, we're really not shilling for our "homies" at HMS, Mim, Uke Republic, Mainland, etc. when we say that choosing a vendor is far more important than choosing the manufacturer! )

John

Congratulations on getting it right! It took me more than one try too!

I've had similar experiences myself buying in the UK. The most well set-up ukes I have bought have come from the States. I've recently taught myself to set-up ukes myself. It was a pain buying the equipment etc, but it's nice to be able to get it just right.

In short, I completely agree with the benefit of going with a dealer who do set ups. That attention to detail at C & W sounds very impressive and I definitely commend them for it.

Could we get a link to their website added to the Uke suppliers sticky thread ?

I had the same excellent service from Paul Walker also, whom I spoke with on the phone for some time regarding Kala Tenor ukes and hard cases - very impressed with his knowledge and the great support and setup of my uke which I ended up buying from them

Darryl

I've yet to buy a Uke in England, but it's nice to know there's somewhere to get HMS-style service over here.

The Big Kahuna said:

Could we get a link to their website added to the Uke suppliers sticky thread ?

Click to expand...

Here you go

http://www.courtneyandwalker.co.uk/acatalog/ukuleles_accessories.html

I forgot to mention how much all this set up, advice and personal service costs. ZERO! Not an extra penny because it's all part of his great service.