HOLY COW! Unexpected NUD

WestyShane

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I never thought I would make a NUD post. My orange Mahalo and Martin CK1 were already more ukes than my playing deserves. Then I bought that Kala on Maui a few years back. For sure that was more than enough.

Then my dad called a few months ago. My step-sis, one of three who I hadn't met yet, lives on Oahu and is about to give birth to my step-mom's first grandchild. "We're renting a house for 2 months, if you want to visit you have a free place to stay, car, etc".

Can you believe I almost said no? End of summer is a horrible time for me to take a vacation, work-wise. But, I don't see my dad that much (less than annually), and there are a lot of family issues going on now that I want to support him on. And I just plain miss the guy.

To make a long story a bit shorter, he insisted on buying me a new uke. I protested, "mine are already too many and more than I deserve". He says, "nonsense, pick out something you wouldn't buy for yourself". I explained that I already have all the reasonably priced ukes I could ever ask for so the "one I wouldn't buy myself is a K-brand and they cost $x". Dad says, "so what? You can't put a price on a hobby and you should have the best". Wow.

After some shopping around I fell in love with a Kamaka 100th anniversary long-necked soprano (I felt guilty as heck about that, wasn't about to stick him with the bill for anything more).

The best part was that we visited the Kamaka factory the next day and he TOTALLY fell in love with the craftsmanship and history. I honestly think he's about to buy his wife a 100th anniversary concert uke (as her starter uke!) before their trip is over.

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Here she is. Not the flashiest one on the wall but the sound is ohhh so sweet.

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The headstock is gorgeous. The scrolling "1916 to 2016" part of the logo takes 5 pieces of mother of pearl that are actually made in Maryland. Neat.

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And the quiver. Which I have absolutely no intention of growing.
 
This gets my vote for best NUD post of the year.........and I have a couple NUD posts of my own.

Congratulations on so many accounts, I really loved the whole story. Enjoy that new Kamaka beauty, it is fabulous.
 
Even better than the ukulele, (which is fantastic!), is the story itself. It's all wonderful! Enjoy!
 
Beautiful! Lovely photos too! :shaka:

If only sellers in the Marketplace forum posted such good photos, their ukes would sell a lot more quickly! (But that's none of my business!) :cool:
 
Super story.

You do deserve a fabulous Uke, and now you have it.

If my dad wasn't such a great guy himself, I was going to see if he wanted another son! LOL.

Enjoy.
 
That's really awesome. Congratulations! Your dad clearly found joy in gifting that to you, so don't feel guilty about it (a lot of us have to fight guilt issues, so I completely understand).

Maybe you could work on a song that would mean something to your dad and send him a recording of you playing it. Bring it full circle so to speak. Just a thought.

Enjoy!
 
Congrats! I hope you enjoy it for many years to come! My Kamaka is a special ukulele. I have four total too, but if I had to pick one, that would be it.
 
What a great story. That Uke will probably be the most loved of all you will ever own.
 
Congrats to your new ukulele. A meaningful one!
 
I got goose bumps and tears in my eyes!

Thanks for sharing, Shane. And congrats on a gorgeous uke that you will never be able to put a price on. That lovely instrument just went from $X,XXX to PRICELESS in one fell swoop.
 
Congratulations! What a lovely instrument. May you use it in good health, and enjoy beautiful memories of your family each time you play it. Thanks for sharing.
 
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