After reading all the good feedback in the New Uke suggestion post, and serching the internet, I think I am going to wait and save my pennies and go with a Pono MGT. I noticed that the Ponos come with a humidifier. I live in South Florida. Most of the year humidity is not an issue. The house does have AC though. How important is the humidifier?
Why is Pono the only company I have seen that sends one with the Uke?
After reading all the good feedback in the New Uke suggestion post, and serching the internet, I think I am going to wait and save my pennies and go with a Pono MGT. I noticed that the Ponos come with a humidifier. I live in South Florida. Most of the year humidity is not an issue. The house does have AC though. How important is the humidifier?
Why is Pono the only company I have seen that sends one with the Uke?
This one has been hashed over plenty of times. In my mind, probably not as much as some people would have you believe. But I got a new Mainland. I bought an Oasis humidifier and I stick it in the uke and put the uke in the case most of the time when I'm not playing it. I got to thinking, what is to gain by not doing it? Anyway, I don't get all anal retentive about it. The uke sets out at times. But at the very least, I put it to bed each night in the case, with the Oasis. Like I said, what's to gain by not doing so? As to you question about why Pono sends one with the uke, I guess so that you can use it.
This one has been hashed over plenty of times. In my mind, probably not as much as some people would have you believe. But I got a new Mainland. I bought an Oasis humidifier and I stick it in the uke and put the uke in the case most of the time when I'm not playing it. I got to thinking, what is to gain by not doing it? Anyway, I don't get all anal retentive about it. The uke sets out at times. But at the very least, I put it to bed each night in the case, with the Oasis. Like I said, what's to gain by not doing so? As to you question about why Pono sends one with the uke, I guess so that you can use it.
I agree with everything Rliink said. HMS sends ukes out with humidifiers because they care about you and your long term happiness with the instrument.
Go buy a couple hygometers, they measure humidity levels. I got 6 digital ones from Home Depot on sale for $10.00 each, they all measure the same. Put them around the house and if the humidity level gets below 40% put the uke in it's case with the humidifer as Rliink said above. There have been solid wood stringed instruments around for hundreds of years,no big deal really.
It's not pono that sends the humidifier, it's HMS. If you buy a pono somewhere else, it's unlikely the seller will include it because it's lost profit. But HMS does it because it's like.. insurance. The cost of the humidifier is pretty low compared to the problems that can occur.. and frankly HMS cares that you're going to be happy with your uke. Those guys are really good with customer satisfaction.
It may not matter much in South Florida, if at all. (And I'm pretty sure they don't worry about it in Hawaii.) Here in Ohio, it's pretty dry in the winter with heating, etc. I humidify my bedroom in the winter so my nostrils don't dry up in my sleep. At the same time of year I humidify my ukes. I find it pretty easy to deal wit,h but others think it's a pain. In the spring/summer/early fall, I don't humidify. Even with AC on, it's plenty humid in my house. If your humidity indoors goes below 40%, stick the humidifier in the case.
I like to have my ukes out for easy access (they hang on a wall), so I use a whole-room humidifier. I keep the relative humidity in the 40-50% range. Plus, it's helpful to the humans who reside with the ukes. ;-) When I travel, I will leave my instrument in the case with a humidifier in the sound hole since hotels often have rather dry air.
One thing that I might add to the discussion, I never paid too much attention to the humidity. I would happen to catch during the weather forecast, and it was always above 50%. According to the weather channel, average relative humidity for May is 66%. So I've always known that low humidity was not going to be an issue in Iowa, at least until we crank up the furnace. But lately I've been paying more attention, and there were two days last week that were in the mid twenties for relative humidity. Today, it is in the low seventies. Interesting what one thinks they know.
One thing that I might add to the discussion, I never paid too much attention to the humidity. I would happen to catch during the weather forecast, and it was always above 50%. According to the weather channel, average relative humidity for May is 66%. So I've always known that low humidity was not going to be an issue in Iowa, at least until we crank up the furnace. But lately I've been paying more attention, and there were two days last week that were in the mid twenties for relative humidity. Today, it is in the low seventies. Interesting what one thinks they know.
Thanks to all. The Pono I am looking is a real investment for me. I would hate to do something dumb to mes it up and then kick my self later. I have done that too many times.
