Changing times, changing tastes

DownUpDave

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We ukeaholics tend to buy and sell as the mood strikes us. Whenever I see a thread about selling off ukes and going the minimalist route it appeals to me.......sorta.

The recent purchase of a Kala super soprano got me thinking. I have gone through all the sizes and determined tenors and baritone is where it is at for me, right now. But tastes change as times rolls on. I sold a Loprinzi super soprano a few years ago that I now wish I still had. A friend sold a fabulous super concert because he thought a tenor was better in reentrant. A few months later he has just purchased another super concert for reentrant playing.

Playing ukulele for a long enough time will have a lot of us coming full circle and rediscovering sounds and songs suited to instruments we once had. Just because I am playing certain genre's now doesn't mean that is all I will play in years to come. Andrew of HMS said something that stuck with me " before you sell an instrument remember why you bought it and the reson you have kept it this long"

So no more selling off instruments just for the sake of decluttering or downsizing. If I want to do that I'll give away some old tee shirts and jeans I don't wear anymore.
 
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I'm giving away my original ukes, they are quite low value, but are pretty good players, so I hope to spread the joy.

Things do tend to go in cycles, but I know that normal sopranos are not for me, so they are going.
However, the 'long necks' still have most of that soprano sound, so they are definately staying.

I haven't used my concerts much lately, but they are good for when my hands are stiff, & they are electro acoustics, so they are staying.
My baritones have been sitting idle for a while also, but I will be keeping them, because they have a certain kind of sound that can't be got from any other size uke.

I have just one standard sized tenor, but have some small bodied tenor scaled ukes that are my main players just now, & these I really like. :)
 
Dave
I don't like this post. Please take it down!
I want your Kala .
Yes you read it right. The Kala!
You are my inspiration and my UAS buddy. You can't stop now ! Keep buying pleaseeeeeee..........see you later today . Please have the Kala and Lfdm baritone polished and ready !

( Andrew is a wise man. Very well said but we often made mistake too! My first uke was the pricey concert then I decided tenor is more suitable! The only uke I miss is TT)
 
I have four Ukuleles. Two tenors, one Baritone, and a clear plastic Waterman Soprano. I have sold two tenors, both entry level laminates. I don't regreat selling them, but each of my remaining ukes have a purpose and I see the need for at least a couple more. My Uke acquisition is slow and deliberate by reason of necessity and that's probably not a bad thing. I am lusting after a cedar topped Baritone and a good playing Soprano. Been putting loose change away for several months. Will see what bargains might be available at the Strummin' Man Ukulele Festival in October.
 
I don't really think that Watermans should be included in the count. One, they aren't much more than a novelty uke, and two, Kala gives them away like candy. I've won three so far in raffles, and I've given two of them away to people who didn't learn to play them. Just saying.
 
I don't really think that Watermans should be included in the count. One, they aren't much more than a novelty uke, and two, Kala gives them away like candy. I've won three so far in raffles, and I've given two of them away to people who didn't learn to play them. Just saying.

I agree. I only have it so I can play on the beach or tubing down the river. It's intonation is not great and I don't enjoy playing it. But I will keep it for those rare occasions when it is the best option.
 
I think Six Ukes is sufficient, so I've set myself a Maximum Limit of no more than Twelve, just to make sure I don't have have less than Six.
 
Being that I only play reentrant tenor, I don't have the size isuue, my UAS is about looks. After going through 16 lower end tenors when I first started four years ago, a year later I culled them down to four that played the best and were the most different looking from each other. Since then I'm up to eight, with an Ovation I bought just two nights ago on eBay, each has it's own look.
 
I guess it is very different from person to person how many ukes they like to have.
I don't have that many, only 5, and I still consider getting rid of a few.
But those I would sell are not high quality, so it is not for changing taste - more for upgrading. Having quality lying around for changing tastes or display is interesting. Having extra beginner ukes not as much, though they can be useful.
 
I think it varies from person to person, and depending on the reason. I have no regrets for any of the ukes I've sold, but over the years I've gone from soprano-only to concert-only to struggling to play a too-big uke (Ohta-San) and now soprano-mainly, with a longneck soprano as my low G.

The more we play, the more we learn about what fits us and what doesn't. As noted in the top post, that definition may change over time. For instance, I went a long time not caring about anything but koa ukes and recently mahogany caught my ear for the first time. Not that I'm switching, but I can now appreciate both.

As for the selling off for the sake of downsizing/decluttering, I'm trying to come to terms with that with my two concert ukes right now. I've put them away on a hard to reach shelf and if I'm not motivated to take them down for a year, then they have to go. My previous rule was three months - but this time I think there's potential for regret, so I'm giving it time.
 
My downsizing intentions are that:

1. If it's unplayed or redundant, it's going
2. If it does not fit a niche, i.e., specific alternate tuning or has a pickup for live use, it's going
3. If it was a dispoable uke, used to practice doing setups, or for unorthodox instrument hacking, it's going
4. If I know of someone who might play it often, but has low re-sale value, it's going, and likely to be given for free

I am in the process of looking to move to a much smaller place (an apartment or condo) from living in a moderate-sized standalone home, so space will be at a premium, and I do not think that giving away old clothes is going to matter much, although I am still going to be doing lots of that, and there are several services that will come to your home and pick up boxes or bags of items that you leave on the front step, and they do it for free, and give you a tax credit for the donations.

Similarly with old books, electronics, vinyl records, and also old furniture, everything that is not 'essential' is going to be re-homed, after 45 yrs of accumulating, it's time to purge, and ukes, guitars and other instruments that qualify are all going to be part of the process.

I just need to make time to documents everything in photos, verify an approximate value, and list them for sale, which right now, before getting into it, feels like it's going be like having a second job...but the alternative is just putting everything on the curb for the sanitation dept to pick up and carry to the landfill, which I simply and vehemently refuse to do.

Hopefully some cash will come from this effort, and if need be, once I am moved into the new place (with my elderly and terminally ill mother), I can then see about replacing anything that was let go, but is still needed, but if I do not start to purge now, I will have missed that opportunity to have control over the disposition of these items, and also missed an opportunity to get some cash from properly re-homing them.
 
Hey, Booli, its hard to part with all the items that you will have to re home, I've moved a couple of times after having lived in my old home for over 50 years, & each time I've had to part with things I would have liked to keep, but there just isn't the room for everything. Prioritizing is the only way forward. :)
 
Hey, Booli, its hard to part with all the items that you will have to re home, I've moved a couple of times after having lived in my old home for over 50 years, & each time I've had to part with things I would have liked to keep, but there just isn't the room for everything. Prioritizing is the only way forward. :)

Thanks Keith. A challenging path lies ahead for me, as well as many of us that might be trying to simplify our lives, but tenacity is necessary in order to succeed.
 
I restrung my LFDM tenor uke with Aquila re-entrant C strings this week - first time ever that it did not have a low G string and I love it! My Boat Paddle tenor has a low G so I'm covered.

I think I peaked around 15 ukes in 2013 before downsizing to my two tenors. It was a great journey that I thought was over but Dave is right. Our preferences evolve and its fun to play every size of ukulele. I had one of those Kala long-neck sopranos too and it was great!
 
Lots of good comments and food for thought. I have rehomed instruments for two main reasons, neck dimensions-playability and tone preference. I have owned some high end instruments that just did not fill those requirements.....but they did for someone else. Also less costly ukes that hit all the marks and kept me happy

It is the keepers that I sold in a moment of stupidity that haunt me at night:p. Hopefully I have learned that when a uke really ticks all the boxes I will keep it, even if it gets played infrequently. Because when I do play it the thing puts a smile on my face.
 
Times have changed, the amount of individual luthiers building amazing custom Ukes even at the more expensive cost has changed the whole frontier ok ukulele playing. The demand created by the attention the ukulele has received due to the popularity of Jake has brought a whole new fan base some wanting more than the "typical" factory made uke. The ukulele today is much more than an instrument suited to Tin Pan Alley and Hawaiian music. The mix of genres played together today is a direct result in the advances in building and increase of Ukes that are stylistically very diverse suited to all types of music. I for example play with wound low g and wound c and black nylons on E and A. I play an oversized tenor uke( Baritone body Tenor scale) by Beau Hannam and use it for classic rock, folk, neo-folk, alternative.
The Civil Wars, Snow Patrol, Springsteen, Coldplay, Adele to old folk.
Today $1,000-$3000 for a ukulele is more the beginning point for top tier instruments as compared to when that used to be the highest point of the price point.
So yes times and tastes have certainly changed, they always do!!!
 
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....I've had to part with things I would have liked to keep, but there just isn't the room for everything....

That's one of the things I love about ukes, compared to guitars: they're so tiny, and require so little space. My sops, in cases, easily fit between the overhead floor joists in the basement, where humidity is never an issue.
 
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