I just won a Kamaka, pretty cheap.

White label, with a repaired crack and some strum wear. but I can't really complain too much for just under 200 bucks. Besides the strum wear says it's a player. I bid on a last minute whim with a lowball thinking I'd get sniped. Sometimes it just happens that way. And now there's nothing to do but wait and see what it's like in person.
Could be a gem, could be a dud. Either way it's mine.
And I'll get to join the Kamaka Klub.

White label, with a repaired crack and some strum wear. but I can't really complain too much for just under 200 bucks. Besides the strum wear says it's a player. I bid on a last minute whim with a lowball thinking I'd get sniped. Sometimes it just happens that way. And now there's nothing to do but wait and see what it's like in person.
Could be a gem, could be a dud. Either way it's mine.
And I'll get to join the Kamaka Klub.

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Sounds like a great deal man.Congrats!

Congratulations. And according to a different thread you could always have Kamaka refinish it for $75 if you wanted.

cpatch said:

Congratulations. And according to a different thread you could always have Kamaka refinish it for $75 if you wanted.

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The other thread was a price for a modern Kamaka refinish. This may cost a bit more.

Congrats! I love my Kamaka to death and I am sure you will to.

Congratulations. I saw that auction, but decided to save the money towards something else

I've got too many years invested in vintage guitars. The word "refinish" just sends shivers of horror down my spine. It's the fastest way to knock a third off the value of your vintage guitar. No matter how nice it looks refinned or how awful the shape the original finish was in. You just don't mess with it.

Besides, I believe in battle scars as part of the life of an older instrument. It's an essential piece of its soul.

I'm just crossing my fingers about the structural integrity and playability.

I see nothing that requires a refinish. What you're seeing there is "love wear."

My Glyph has great swathes of it (the underside of the neck for instance).

congrats!!

There's "Love Wear" and then there's Love Wear that borders on abuse. The same folks are offering up a Martin where the previous owner actually strummed a hole in the top. That must be some ukulele to inspire you to go that far with it.

Probably the same player and I got their second favorite uke.

Congrats on the new uke. I've been wondering if the economy is affecting sales of stuff like ukes on Ebay. Seems like there should be some bargains out there. Looks like maybe you got one. Welcome to the Klub...

It arrived as expected today. I gotta say, it's definitely been through some rough handling. I perhaps didn't get it so cheap as much as at an appropriate price for the amount of wear. That said, it doesn't seem beyond hope and definitely has some mojo. Much throatier than I was expecting. It's got something going on and I can't wait to get a bit of restoration done to get it running on all cylinders.



It's definitely been played.



The saddle has been ground to a nub. The A string sounds more like a sitar than a uke. It also looks like the bridge sags a bit. I'll have to get somebody to look at that.



Many years of dirty fingers. My initial impression is that the previous owner kept this in his garage and would play it after he worked on his car. Years worth of dirt ground into the neck.



Turning it into the right light you can see the cracks. Looks like there was a half-assed attempt to stuff some wood fill in there and then some kind of abandoned futzing with the varnish.

It's going to need a bit of restoration, but I think it can be made playable and stable which is all it really needs to be for me. Now if I can only find the right luthier to do the job locally....

Oh boy, that one's a fixxer upper. The beat up Mele that I looked at the other week and decided was only worth about $60 to me looks cherry compared to this one. (ended up not buying the Mele, take that UAS!)

But best of luck getting your new Kamaka up to full shape!