Ron Yasuda NUD - Well Sort Of...

I recently bought a Ron Yasuda koa uke off eBay. Here is the link. The seller bought it from a uke store owner and collector's private stock during a Hawaii visit in 2007. For those who are not familiar with Ron Yasuda, he is a hearing impaired gentleman who worked for Kamaka for 20 years and then built some ukes under his own name when retired. It is my understanding that is no longer building.

I inquired before bidding about scale as it looked like a soprano, but seller said it was a concert. It arrived today and while the tone is lovely, I was not in the market for a soprano (am backed up on recent soprano purchases I need to work through). Current owner is really a guitar and mandolin player (hence, not knowing the scale and going off the original invoice he received which indicated concert).

It has an incredibly sweet tone. If I was not limited in ukes, I would keep it, not only because it sounds great but because I think it's interesting and Ron is no longer building.

Seller and I agreed I could mull it over until Friday. Any thoughts?

Put it in the marketplace?

Do you like it, and are you willing to have another soprano? If so, keep it.
Otherwise return the mistakenly listed uke.

@warndt - I would happily let somebody have it for what I paid but unless someone sees this and would like it before Friday, the safest thing for me to do is to unwind. Seller made an honest mistake and agreed to unwind if I want.

@Doc_J - I do like it a lot and were I not limited to 2-3 Ukes, I would keep it. The tone is great. There are some finish issues (most notable is the fretboard is a wee long for the angle of the headstock so there is a small gap) but it's built for play, not bling. I have a few other sopranos coming my way, plus a Baritone, and can only keep 1-2 from all that (sold my Clara, so I have "room" for 1-2 new ones). If I could keep this one for a few weeks to compare to the others coming in (Martin Cherry and LoPrinzi Longneck Koa Soprano), it might make the cut but to do so I would need to accept risk on re-sale.

I offered Seller an option to unwind the sale or keep the sale but at a bit lower cost, explaining I was reasonably confident I could sell it at an upcoming uke festival I'm attending and not lose money, maybe even make a whole $50 for the risk I'm taking. He opted to the keep the sale.

Ukulele Eddie said:

I offered Seller an option to unwind the sale or keep the sale but at a bit lower cost, explaining I was reasonably confident I could sell it at an upcoming uke festival I'm attending and not lose money, maybe even make a whole $50 for the risk I'm taking. He opted to the keep the sale.

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That sounds like a reasonable solution was found. Be careful, you might really grow to like it. Then you would have up your uke limits (2-3 ukes is just too few I'd say 5-10 is more reasonable, 15-20 even more so.).

Doc_J said:

That sounds like a reasonable solution was found. Be careful, you might really grow to like it. Then you would have up your uke limits (2-3 ukes is just too few I'd say 5-10 is more reasonable, 15-20 even more so.).

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Yes, and I'm glad Seller was happy, too, because I never want to upset a man who owns a store called Bullets and Bluegrass (I'm not kidding). They sell automatic weapons and bluegrass instruments.

I'm in 100% agreement on uke limit, but my wife has been so supportive during this period of my underemployment so I need to stick with my agreement. I'm hopeful of eventually getting my way to 5-6 when I'm back to my former income level. I recently bought several with the intent to try each, select a keeper or two, and then flip the others.

Funny thing is, she started playing a bit and we bought her an Ohana SK28 (limited edition Nunes style soprano). I recently acquired a barely used Cordoba 25CK (concert, acacia, one of the early ones made in Portugal), intending it for a friend who was in the market but his fiance got him one for Christmas. My wife has been playing it a bit and noted last night how different it sounds with some songs sound better on the Ohana and others on the Cordoba. She asked about keeping them both, which I think might be the beginning of an understanding. ;-)

So good to hear she's enjoying the playing! Seems like it wasn't all that long ago when she didn't even have 1, borrowed one of yours. Things are looking up.