ukuleleden
Well-known member
I didn't have a Tenor on my radar, but the uncontrollable desire of ukulele upgrading has taken hold yet again. The Kala KA-ASLAC that recently replaced my Córdoba 25CK has now itself been replaced with a new Martin T1K. My local Martin dealer had 3 new-in-the-box Martin T1K's to select from. I can't say I was excited about any of their factory setups out of their boxes. All 3 had actions set higher than I normally prefer, but still were all quite nice sounding and very playable out of their boxes aside from a few fret ends being a bit sharp and could use some dressing.
So ultimately, all things being practically equal it came down to appearances. Therefore, I chose the one that had the nicest looking Koa which even had a bit of figuring in it that the others didn't have, and seemingly not too often seen on the 1 series Martin Ukes.
Now that I have it home, I am going to let the wood acclimate in the proper humidity levels and see where everything settles since all three T1k's the dealer had were sitting in their sealed factory boxes in the back storage room, which of course was not likely getting the proper humidity.
Once the T1K is exposed to the proper humidity level over the next few days, since this dealer offers a free setup with each new instrument purchase in the first year of ownership I'll bring it back to them to have the saddle shaved and the frets dressed as needed sometime next week.
So ultimately, all things being practically equal it came down to appearances. Therefore, I chose the one that had the nicest looking Koa which even had a bit of figuring in it that the others didn't have, and seemingly not too often seen on the 1 series Martin Ukes.
Now that I have it home, I am going to let the wood acclimate in the proper humidity levels and see where everything settles since all three T1k's the dealer had were sitting in their sealed factory boxes in the back storage room, which of course was not likely getting the proper humidity.
Once the T1K is exposed to the proper humidity level over the next few days, since this dealer offers a free setup with each new instrument purchase in the first year of ownership I'll bring it back to them to have the saddle shaved and the frets dressed as needed sometime next week.