Bruddah Jerry, a BIG shout out to you for starting this Thread!!!:cheers:
Props out to Andrew Kitakis and the entire HMS/The Ukulele Site crew! They are the BEST ukulele shop in the world hands down!!! Customer service is indeed top notched! Plus the fact that Andrew has the following websites:
https://www.theukulelesite.com https://vimeo.com/theukulelesite/videos https://theukulelereview.com and the youtube site:
https://www.youtube.com/user/HawaiiMusicSupply/videos
I honestly don't know how Andrew does it!!!??? This guy works tirelessly after office and store hours! He is taking pictures of ukes and recording video demos in the wee hours of the night!!! He works from home after hours on the multiple websites among a gazillion of other things! This bruddah must be a ZOMBIE!!! ... or something!!! A Super Hero!!!??? A Hawaiian Superman!!!??? I just don't know how he does it!!!??? But, DAMN!!! Thank you Andrew for being YOU and doing what YOU DO and what YOU PROVIDE for the worldwide ukulele community!!! YOU DA MAN!!! :worship:
I know that everyone watches Andrew's video demos of all the different ukes as well as all of his Podcasts, too! So much information and such a great resource for the entire worldwide ukulele community!!! Andrew purposely records these video demos "Dry" to get the true acoustic sound of each instrument without any added audio enhancement, which is for most of us the deciding factor on making the final decision to purchase a specific uke without the privilege of playing it personally due to the fact that most music stores in the areas that we live in don't have a wide selection of ukes on hand to try ourselves. Andrew's videos bridge that gap. Kudos to you Andrew, and everyone in your staff that are involved with recording and performing in these videos.
I want to remind everyone that HMS/The Ukulele Site is a small shop/small business, even with the opening of the 2nd store at the SALT in Kaka'ako. Please try to understand that they are doing their best to keep up with the demand of supplying and selling a wide variety of ukes at all price points and trying to keep up with their professional setups on every single uke. This is the reason calls go unanswered and days go by without a response to messages that were left on their voicemail. But if you're patient, they will eventually respond. Andrew has been working on adding new staff members as finances permit. If anyone experiences any issues whatsoever, Andrew will take care of it and make everything right, honestly! Customer service is their top priority. Just give them a chance and don't jump to conclusions without trying to resolve a problem with them first before saying negative things on a public forum, without giving them a chance to take care of the issue.
I've been to the Haleiwa store many times, the office and warehouse several times, and the new Kaka'ako store as well. So, I've seen how busy they are first hand. Everyone is super busy trying to keep up with everything from keeping ukes in stock, answering emails and voicemails, keeping up with the websites, setups, shipping, etc. HMS/The Ukulele Site is NOT a Nationwide retail chain store. For the longest time it was just the Haleiwa store only, and now the 2nd store in Kaka'ako that just opened up recently.
So, Mahalo nui loa to Andrew and the HMS/The Ukulele Site crew!!! Everyone is SUPER NICE!!! The ALOHA SPIRIT TRULY EXISTS!!! You all ROCK!!! Just like the Ukulele Underground Forum, Andrew's websites are a must visit every single morning, just like your morning cup of Joe ... gotta have it!!! ... but not just the first thing in the morning. It's as many times per day as possible that your daily schedule allows to see new ukes posted for sale on theukulelesite.com and on Vimeo to see the new video demos of ukes that WILL be coming up for sale, too! Hint ... hint! :shaka: