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.
Why reinvent the wheel?
- Thread starter CJay
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Takumi Japan has made a uke using the Islander design. They sell it for something like $135 which is a lot for a plastic uke - they used to sell for even more.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Maccaferri-...994?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a4b24d332
This is a link to one of them on ebay. They sell them under the name Amuse.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Maccaferri-...994?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a4b24d332
This is a link to one of them on ebay. They sell them under the name Amuse.
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Wow. I'm really surprised that the cost to manufacture one would be so high. I thought the original intent of the design was to make a good instrument at a price that would be more affordable than traditional methods and materials. Does it really require a $175 retail price to make a good copy?
As I understand it the Outdoor uke is not a copy of the Islander, the reviews I have seen have been mixed at best, as well as also having a fairly high retail price for a plastic uke. Again this makes me ask. Why not make an exact copy?
Why make a Oil based Plastic uke at all? We should know better now and either use bio-plastics or organic fibres?
spookelele
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http://www.kalabrand.com/Models/Makala/Waterman/WatermanDetailsPage.html
There's the kala one that's coming. It's alot more affordable. The local store has them on pre-order for $39 for the basic ones.
There's the kala one that's coming. It's alot more affordable. The local store has them on pre-order for $39 for the basic ones.
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I am looking forward to hearing about these. It may be an Islander copy. If it isn't why not?
That could be said about any ukulele, right? But there are hundreds of different kinds. We all like different things. I like the bugs gear (?) plastic Ukes. I totally dislike the outdoor Uke. Others will disagree.
Captain Simian
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I'm under the impression that Mim played them at NAMM, like them, and ordered a bunch. I will more than likely get one.
Captain Simian
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spookelele
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You go first
It's free shipping, and no tax outside WI. This one is a drop ship, but really if you need a "setup" on this, you'd probably be out of luck anyway, being all plastic.http://www.interstatemusic.com/9639...gs-w-Gig-Bag-Included-Tomato-Red-MKSWBRD.aspx
Order one and let us know.
I am interested too, mostly for backpacking in the summer.
It does make me wonder why nobody did this for the start of this boom cycle instead of 10 years in.
Dearman
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There is still the cost of assembly and while each run in an injection mold is cheap, the mold was not. They usually determine how many they can sell in a year and how many years the investors expect before breaking even. That determines how much they add to each sale to pay for the mold. I'm sure they also have to pay for marketing, salesmen, scrap parts, warranty claims and local inventory taxes. On top of that the retailer probably marks up 50% for his/her profit after his/her carrying costs. All that on top of less than $10 worth of plastic.
True about the start costs but they had to have a price point in mind when they started. At some point you have to ask yourself how many people would buy a decent quality plastic uke for $60-100 and how many would buy one at $20. I don't understand why if there is not a big enough market at $20 they took the risk on selling to 1/3 to 1/5 of the people. (other than they have to leave wiggle room to sell to wholesalers but they seem to be selling them mostly direct to customers)
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Anyway there do appear to be copies of the islander both the Japan version and I think the Woodi from looking at the bridges.
The advantage to me seems to be not buying brittle 50 year old plastic, from a company that could possibly give you a replacement part. (But the islanders are going for around $20 sold as vintage)
I will throw up a couple of comparison videos here is the first one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW5S0l1dWjo (good demo of the Woodi )
Woodi compared to OutDoor Ukuele:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAb0HnX8sWQ
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theabsurdman
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The Achilles heel for plastic ukes, in my experience, is the neck which is usually insufficiently stiff to stand up to the tension of the strings and over time ends up bowed, resulting in an unplayably high action.
I appreciate everyone who has responded to this thread. However I still don't understand why if the if the vintage Islanders are the be all end all of plastic ukes someone hasn't made an exact copy using the a same design and materials at a decent price.
Rllink
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Because everybody knows that cheap ukuleles are crap. No one is going to take a "cheap" plastic ukulele seriously.
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wayfarer75
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I'm sticking with my Kala KA-S as my beater. I'm not playing in the shower any time soon, LOL.
spookelele
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I think your assumption may be incorrect. I don't think anyone thinks they were the be all or end all. Vintage isn't always about best. It's history, and a way to reconnect with a different time. Maccaferri was a pioneer and built the first plastic ukes, and they were not bad. That does not mean there isn't room to improve. The newer ones are polycarb, where the originals were apparently something called styron. Ever heard of it? me neither. Probably plastics just got better.
hoosierhiver
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Because you can't make any profit off of it unless you are selling many thousands of them. It's not worth it for anybody but a huge mega-corporation. Otherwise you are tying up all your capitol for months so you can maybe make $10 a piece on them when and if they sell.
