SamAsh and Kala Ukes

Well that's interesting.
The one located near me also carries Fleas and Flukes.
When in Long Island for a wedding in October, a visit to a local Sam Ash was my first sighting of the Ibanez ukuleles.
I guess they're smartening up!
 
The Sam Ash in Atlanta didn't have any Kalas or Lanikais in my store last week. When I spoke with one of the salesmen, while playing with the Oscar Schmidt OU2E, he said the uke sales were way up compared to their guitar sales. When I asked why, he said he thought it was the YouTube videos. I agreed with that and found it interesting.

There is an old independent store in Marietta, Georgia called Ken Stanton that I have bought various band instruments and guitars for my kids from over the years that carried almost no (if any) ukes. In fact I called them before Thanksgiving and they said they didn't have any ukes, but just this week added the new Kala floor display with a nice selection of entry level Kalas (no solid wood models), but they did have soprano, concert, tenor models in the KA-T/KA-TG line. They also had quite a few of the Dolphin models in various colors at a great price of $34.95. They are so new at Kalas that they are not even on the dealers list on Kala's site yet. The display is a nice free-standing island that sits in the middle of the store and holds maybe Kala 20 ukes. Its nicely decorated with the water color woody station wagon and other catchy Kala themes. Perhaps the Kala distributors are making a bigger push to get them into more retail outlets. Prices were pretty much internet-low prices across the board (KA-TG for $109, for example), but the salesmen didn't know much about them, and setups there are something you probably have to do yourself. At least one of the salesmen now knows [g] that with the right string, you can tune a tenor to a high or low G, and the the one he has is set up as a high G.

UkeRepublic also carries Kalas with setups here, of course.
 
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JBoy Shine asked me what they have... at the Sam Ash in Columbus, Ohio the list is this: Martin S-0, Ibanez, Cordoba, Flukes, Fleas, Oscar Schmidts lower-priced series, Fender, and now Kala.

They are upgrading with the Kala line.
 
JBoy Shine asked me what they have... at the Sam Ash in Columbus, Ohio the list is this: Martin S-0, Ibanez, Cordoba, Flukes, Fleas, Oscar Schmidts lower-priced series, Fender, and now Kala.

They are upgrading with the Kala line.

It must be some sort of disease that ought to be studied.

Here in Los Angeles (Canoga Park area), my local Sam Ash now carries this same uke grouping. 'Bout fell over when I saw the Fender in there. I brought mine in to show off early this year and no one knew Fender even made the things. Not seen any Kala yet.
 
At least one of the salesmen now knows that with the right string, you can tune a tenor to a high or low G, and the the one he has is set up as a high G.

You taught him but are you sure he'll retain it?
 
I was in my local Sam ash this morning. Yep, Kala abounds. They (Sam Ash) are apparently catching the ukulele wave as there is a large selection now available in the store. I have no idea how much/little the sales people know about the instruments.
 
When I was checking out a Cordoba and some Lanikais at the local GC the salesman said I'd be surprised how many people play and buy their ukes. I feigned suprise, knowing that the uprising has already begun.
 
I was just browsing about on Amazon. They now have the Makala dolphin bridge, which they did not have before. So, when I clicked to inspect, their seller for this item is Sam Ash.
 
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