As so many who commented on my thread awhile back mentioned, it has been completely worth the wait to get my wonderful new ukulele.
The first thread mentioned that I was struggling with the wait time when I ordered my uke from HMS. They do a nice job with the setup, and when it came in it looked very nice and sounded great... except it had a small flaw :-( I corresponded with Chris and Andrew at HMS, sending them a photo of what I noticed.
Their response was timely and professional. They did not have this model around, but were expecting a new shipment in early March. Andrew offered to let me play my current one (the flaw is not structural, and the instrument sounded very nice) while I awaited the replacement. Very kind of him. I offered to take a different model without the cutaway or the slot head, instead, but ultimately decided to wait for the cutaway and slot head in the new shipment.
I thoroughly enjoyed the time with the loaner, and my playing has improved to approach mediocre doing some chord melody stuff, as well as a little strumming and singing. Fun, fun, fun!
Of course, impatient me was ready pretty soon for the replacement - and it arrived yesterday! Beautiful in every way, and the setup was even better than the first one that they shipped me - or, I guess I should say it survived the shipping better. I think it is a little more balanced, and slightly warmer than the loaner - but they are both fantastic. The top on the loaner was absolutely beautiful, the replacement still very nice. Back and sides go to the replacement - gorgeous! Of course, the loaner was also nice, so I am really just being a picky snob.
Anyway, to the pics! I will attempt some sound clips in the next few days, if all goes as planned. Apologies for the crappy iphone pics, I will try to get good camera versions at some point soon. Gotta play for now, though!
ps - thanks to all who post here about different topics - it has been fun to learn a little about this cool instrument, and I look forward to many years of fun and learning!
The first thread mentioned that I was struggling with the wait time when I ordered my uke from HMS. They do a nice job with the setup, and when it came in it looked very nice and sounded great... except it had a small flaw :-( I corresponded with Chris and Andrew at HMS, sending them a photo of what I noticed.
Their response was timely and professional. They did not have this model around, but were expecting a new shipment in early March. Andrew offered to let me play my current one (the flaw is not structural, and the instrument sounded very nice) while I awaited the replacement. Very kind of him. I offered to take a different model without the cutaway or the slot head, instead, but ultimately decided to wait for the cutaway and slot head in the new shipment.
I thoroughly enjoyed the time with the loaner, and my playing has improved to approach mediocre doing some chord melody stuff, as well as a little strumming and singing. Fun, fun, fun!
Of course, impatient me was ready pretty soon for the replacement - and it arrived yesterday! Beautiful in every way, and the setup was even better than the first one that they shipped me - or, I guess I should say it survived the shipping better. I think it is a little more balanced, and slightly warmer than the loaner - but they are both fantastic. The top on the loaner was absolutely beautiful, the replacement still very nice. Back and sides go to the replacement - gorgeous! Of course, the loaner was also nice, so I am really just being a picky snob.
Anyway, to the pics! I will attempt some sound clips in the next few days, if all goes as planned. Apologies for the crappy iphone pics, I will try to get good camera versions at some point soon. Gotta play for now, though!
ps - thanks to all who post here about different topics - it has been fun to learn a little about this cool instrument, and I look forward to many years of fun and learning!