"The Oldest Surviving Maker of Ukuleles"

besley

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This year Martin is advertising that they are "The Oldest Surviving Maker of Ukuleles" in their ads. But since Kamaka is also celebrating 100 years of making ukuleles, isn't Martin's claim sort of disingenuous, or at least misleading? I thought that the Kamaka family were the original producers, in that gram-pa Kamaka learned from and worked for the original Portuguese ukulele builders before striking out on his own.
 
Martin (article from 1998):
http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/History/Martin/MartinUkes/martinukes.html

Kamaka:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamaka_Ukulele

Assuming both of those are accurate, maybe Martin does indeed have reason to make that claim.

Edit: It does state that Kamaka was making ukes earlier than the date they became a company under their current name I guess?.....So I guess it depends on how you look at it.
"Samuel Kaialiilii Kamaka, who had been already making koa ukuleles since the beginning of the century."
 
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They may be or may not be the oldest surviving maker but I will never buy another Martin ukulele or guitar. I bought a T1K last April online and recently found out that it needs a neck reset. Martin does not consider this a manufacturing defect (which it clearly is) and so won't authorize repair. So I'm stuck with a worthless and unplayable uke. I have spent over $8K on Martin instruments over the last five years and they have lost a customer for life. Go to the BBB for Nazareth, PA and read another horror story about Martin's crap work, crap customer support and only refunding a customer when they've complained to BBB.

Someday, I'll own a Kamaka - in the meantime, I've got my amazing Pono (and a Martin concert that is actually nice).
 
I feel for you uku0729, In a flurry of work bonuses around 2012 I bought number of the USA production sopranos, various problems with fit and finish led to them all being returned to the vendor even the one I kept had a huge glue-line at he butt. Not what you expect from a company who charge a massive premium for the name on the headstock. I sold it eventually for a Kiwaya KTS-5 which was sold to purchase a KTS-7 which was a stupid idea, I should have kept the KTS-5 and bought the KTS-7 ;)
 
They may be or may not be the oldest surviving maker but I will never buy another Martin ukulele or guitar. I bought a T1K last April online and recently found out that it needs a neck reset. Martin does not consider this a manufacturing defect (which it clearly is) and so won't authorize repair. So I'm stuck with a worthless and unplayable uke. I have spent over $8K on Martin instruments over the last five years and they have lost a customer for life. Go to the BBB for Nazareth, PA and read another horror story about Martin's crap work, crap customer support and only refunding a customer when they've complained to BBB.
.

I don't want to derail this thread but who told you that the Martin ukulele needs a neck reset? My guess is that they have NO idea what they are talking about.

Its a COMMON practice in ukulele manufacture to set the neck parallel to the soundboard. This is NOT a fault. Its just ukulele practice. Its common for guitars to be built with the neck set at an angle down from the soundboard. If a guitar tech/luthier takes a look at your ukulele without any angle on the neck they will incorrectly claim that this is a fault.

Its not a fault. Its just evidence that they don't know what they are talking about.

Anthony
 
Would you like to sell that worthless and unplayable uke ?
 
They may be or may not be the oldest surviving maker but I will never buy another Martin ukulele or guitar. I bought a T1K last April online and recently found out that it needs a neck reset. Martin does not consider this a manufacturing defect (which it clearly is) and so won't authorize repair. So I'm stuck with a worthless and unplayable uke. I have spent over $8K on Martin instruments over the last five years and they have lost a customer for life. Go to the BBB for Nazareth, PA and read another horror story about Martin's crap work, crap customer support and only refunding a customer when they've complained to BBB.

Someday, I'll own a Kamaka - in the meantime, I've got my amazing Pono (and a Martin concert that is actually nice).


I don't know... I'd say 184 years in business, over 2,000,000 instruments sold and only one complaint to the BBB is a pretty good record.


Scooter
 
I don't want to derail this thread but who told you that the Martin ukulele needs a neck reset? My guess is that they have NO idea what they are talking about.

Its a COMMON practice in ukulele manufacture to set the neck parallel to the soundboard. This is NOT a fault. Its just ukulele practice. Its common for guitars to be built with the neck set at an angle down from the soundboard. If a guitar tech/luthier takes a look at your ukulele without any angle on the neck they will incorrectly claim that this is a fault.

Its not a fault. Its just evidence that they don't know what they are talking about.

Anthony

The people who told me this were two employees at an authorized Martin repair center in SF (SF Guitarworks). They said it was unusual but it was an obvious manufacturing defect. They told me upfront that Martin no longer covers neck resets under their warranty but that they would lobby hard for me in this case. It obviously didn't work. I've been thinking of filing a BBB complaint but I'm really not up for it. The repair shop said they could shave the bridge and saddle down to a "nub" and that it would be playable but it would cost me $100. When they told Martin that, Martin said "We don't cover setups after 30 days". So Martin considers a neck reset a "setup" issue. When I picked up the uke, the tech took a picture of the neck angle which is attached.T1K_bridge.JPG The accompanying letter said action is .130" and .130", almost no saddle left. The saddle height is about 4mm at the 12th fret with almost about half a mm left on the saddle (so it could go down to about 3.5)
 
I don't know... I'd say 184 years in business, over 2,000,000 instruments sold and only one complaint to the BBB is a pretty good record.


Scooter

As long as you didn't get the shaft, right? I said in my original post, I've spent over 8K on Martin guitars and all the others were ok. Unfortunately, before this problem, I didn't know how to check for a neck reset and, it being a Martin, would not have bothered to do that with a new uke. Lesson learned. And one BBB complaint does not mean only one problem.
 
Those employees are probably guitar geeks who don't understand Martin ukuleles.

Yes, its NORMAL to have very low saddles on ukuleles if you want a low action. Ukuleles traditionally have a moderately high action suitable for HARD strumming.

I cant judge anything from the picture you posted. Is the neck parallel with the top? If it is, then this is normal. Not a fault. If you want a low action then you will have a very low saddle. Again, this is normal for a ukulele.

Now we could debate endlessly whether this SHOULD be normal or not. Yet for the moment, it is normal.

Anthony
 
For some reason, I didn't even see it to begin with in the picture up there (maybe focusing on just the saddle)..but there is a straight edge ruler across the fretboard extending down to the bridge that shows the angle.
Just mentioning that in case anyone else missed it, for whatever reason.
 
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For some reason, I didn't even see it to begin with in the picture up there (maybe focusing on just the saddle)..but there is a straight edge ruler across the fretboard extending down to the bridge that shows the angle.
Just mentioning that in case anyone else missed it, for whatever reason.

If I put a straight edge along the neck of my Wise tenor or my Mele 8 string tenor they look very similar. The straight edge lines up on the bridge, not the saddle.

More information is needed. The straight edge is likely running over the top of the nut. Also its good for there to be a fraction of relief in the neck so the neck will start at the body being parallel to the body and rise slightly to the nut. When you put a straight edge over the entire neck it will go lower at the bridge end.

Its a common ukulele construction technique to fit the neck parallel to the top. In the guitar world, this IS considered a fault but its not a fault in the world of ukuleles. You will find a LOT of high end ukuleles that are built this way. Lower end ukuleles often have an angle set in their neck.

Anthony
 
One thing to keep in mind. Martin uke production comes and goes, following the wave of ukulele popularity, whereas Kamaka has been in continuous production for 100 years. Kamaka also has a solid Hawaiian history, which for my money counts for a lot.
 
Martin is a guitar company that also makes ukuleles. Nothing wrong with that but Kamaka is an ukulele company. The different primary focus is what makes the difference to me.
 
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