I was reading a thread on the beginner's forum about plastic ukes. Someone suggested to the OP that if they wanted a plastic uke the way to go is find a vintage Islander. I have seen this same advice on several threads regarding plastic ukes. I don't have any experience with plastic ukes so I have no reason to doubt that is is good advice, but it leads me to my question. If the vintage Islanders are the best plastic ukes have to offer why don't manufacturers just make new copies of this design using the same materials? It's a plastic uke. It should be possible to make exact copies. Are there patent issues? Are the same materials not available for some reason? Why reinvent the wheel? Thought maybe some people with more experience with plastic ukes or manufacturing might be able to shed some light on this.