hikaru
Well-known member
NUD - Martin C1K!!! It all begins when I found a new "old" Uke store in Philly...
I've been looking for an upgrade in a solid uke for a while. There is this fancy modern place that I usually go to check the ukes, but it only carries one brand, the Kala. Though I love my Kala long neck soprano a lot, I'm dying to explore more options, especially the K brands (to see what everyone is talking about)!
Before I try to pull the trigger and buy a 2nd hand K brand from Ebay, I googled and googled, and I discovered a new vintage ukulele store in my area! The website seems old, but it shows it carries Imua, Martin, Kala, Kiwaya, and even some Eastman, Kumu and Big Island ones! Yeah!!!
So I went there, tried to strum and pick each and every one of them with my poor beginner skills, and there's the one: the Martin C1K! The solid-koa Mexican-made concert!
It feels really sturdy, well balanced. And the sound! When I strum it for the first time, it was way deeper than I imagined. It sounds much better than the Martin sound samples available here in the forum! I'm not sure the right way to put it, but for me, there was another dimension of the sound that makes you feel it in the vibrations, through the instrument and the air around it. Totally out of my imagination. Please allow me to compare the Martin uke sound to the taste of a Gumbo: it has layers of feelings, and you will never know until you tried it!
Long story short, I found the Martin C1K sound suits me well than any other concerts in the store, then I pulled the trigger and brought it home.
One thing I realized after a whole night of playing is that the Martin is definitely high maintenance! I guess because it has a bigger sound and transfers every single note so clearly, it also amplifies my errors too. Now even the buzz sounds louder! I didn't realize this before with my Kala. Guess I was just going easy with my mistakes... Now the goal is to play the notes and the chords cleaner and better to my new Martin.:music:
I've been looking for an upgrade in a solid uke for a while. There is this fancy modern place that I usually go to check the ukes, but it only carries one brand, the Kala. Though I love my Kala long neck soprano a lot, I'm dying to explore more options, especially the K brands (to see what everyone is talking about)!
Before I try to pull the trigger and buy a 2nd hand K brand from Ebay, I googled and googled, and I discovered a new vintage ukulele store in my area! The website seems old, but it shows it carries Imua, Martin, Kala, Kiwaya, and even some Eastman, Kumu and Big Island ones! Yeah!!!
So I went there, tried to strum and pick each and every one of them with my poor beginner skills, and there's the one: the Martin C1K! The solid-koa Mexican-made concert!
It feels really sturdy, well balanced. And the sound! When I strum it for the first time, it was way deeper than I imagined. It sounds much better than the Martin sound samples available here in the forum! I'm not sure the right way to put it, but for me, there was another dimension of the sound that makes you feel it in the vibrations, through the instrument and the air around it. Totally out of my imagination. Please allow me to compare the Martin uke sound to the taste of a Gumbo: it has layers of feelings, and you will never know until you tried it!
Long story short, I found the Martin C1K sound suits me well than any other concerts in the store, then I pulled the trigger and brought it home.
One thing I realized after a whole night of playing is that the Martin is definitely high maintenance! I guess because it has a bigger sound and transfers every single note so clearly, it also amplifies my errors too. Now even the buzz sounds louder! I didn't realize this before with my Kala. Guess I was just going easy with my mistakes... Now the goal is to play the notes and the chords cleaner and better to my new Martin.:music: