Sprucehouse

pdxuke

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Joined
Dec 3, 2009
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Portland OR, The Rose (and Uke) City
Anybody own one? Locally made here in Oregon. I played one today; it seemed a bit tight but I imagine it opens with time. It was lovely.
 
Where did you find one? I'm in Portland, too. I was looking at Spruce House and Mya-Moe. I couldn't find a Spruce House to play. I went up to White Salmon to meet Gordon and Char at Mya-Moe and after playing some of theirs, ordered one from them.
 
When I went to Artichoke a month or so ago, they didn't have any. Do you remember what model and size? I'm curious to play it, even though I'm no longer in the market.
 
I think Artichoke is in the regular rotation to get his stuff. Sprucehouse is made by just one guy, so volume isn't going to be huge. It kind of bugs me that for a not-insignificant price he uses laminates in back and sides. I recently purchased a new (old stock) Lanikai LK-1S - solid Koa soprano made by Kanile'a for just about $50 more than the most basic Spruce House - I think I got a lot more for my money...
 
Too spendy

I think Artichoke is in the regular rotation to get his stuff. Sprucehouse is made by just one guy, so volume isn't going to be huge. It kind of bugs me that for a not-insignificant price he uses laminates in back and sides. I recently purchased a new (old stock) Lanikai LK-1S - solid Koa soprano made by Kanile'a for just about $50 more than the most basic Spruce House - I think I got a lot more for my money...

Yes, I agree with this. In my opinion, although a nice little uke, it was too spendy (as we say in Oregon) for laminate.

:(
 
sprucehouse ukuleles

hello,

i wanted to respond to some of the posts regarding my instruments. sprucehouse ukuleles is a one-man shop located in eugene, oregon. my most affordable line, the standard series, is made with laminated mahogany (sapele, meranti, khaya or honduras) back and sides with a solid top in either mahogany or cedar. these soprano ukuleles are made as affordable, entry-level-to-intermediate instruments and have proven to be very successful sellers. if one were to judge them purely on price point, one could easily find an asian-made, all solid-wood uke for a little less. however, i believe that my standard series intruments are the least expensive luthier-built, made in the USA ukuleles available today, and they sound as good or better than ukes costing many times more. musicguymic.com agrees, and posted a video of the S-1c MgM that i make exclusively for him:

http://www.youtube.com/user/musicguymic#p/a/u/0/X9jOUQCYo0s

i delivered four S-0 models to artichoke music in portland, on the 17th of december, 2009, and have a couple available at pacific winds music in eugene right now. and music guy mike carries sprucehouse ukes at:

http://stores.ebay.com/Musicguymics-Room

please visit my web site at http://www.sprucehouseukuleles.com to see my entire line of hand-crafted stock model and custom ukuleles, made one at a time, by one man, with care and a love for the instrument.

thanks for your interest, and happy holidays!

-al mcwhorter
sprucehouse ukuleles
 
I have to say that I would rather pay a few bucks more (if that is the case) and get a luthier made instrument. It is made by someone who has an obvious stake in the quality and who cares about his product. If one were to have a problem, it would be very easy to contact Al and get him to fix the problem.

I know each person would have different issues or opinions, but I think the Sprucehouse are good value. I have had a couple of emails with Al and he seems like a good guy to deal with.
 
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