Makala Dolphin issues?

haolejohn · Jan 17, 2010

First I'd like to say that I am a makala dolphin fan. I have noticed a trend in the new makalas and was wondering if anyone else has noticed this. Three of my students have encountered cracking along the neck or heel where the neck join the body. i took pictures of one of them and have posted them here. These cracks do not appear to effect the sound or anything else. It seems that it might be where the paint broke when the necks were joined to the uke. My dad is a painter and the best way I can describe it is that if someone forgot to place caulk in a joint and the paint was to pull away. It doesn't affect the ukes ability to stay in tune or the sound. It just affects the looks of the uke.
Now before I get slammed I have contacted the dealer that i got these from and I feel like there is no need for him to deal with this issue. I'm not contacting Kala because the flaw isn't affecting the sound or playability of the ukes. For all I know the kids could have dropped the ukuleles and caused this but I'm not sure. They all told me (except for one upon further interrogation) that they didn't drop them but you know how kids are. I'm just curious if anyone else has experienced something similar with their dolphins.

haolejohn · Jan 17, 2010

More pictures of these cracks.

phanzo · Jan 17, 2010

Well that's the last thing I want to hear right now!! I hope mine doesnt do that!!!

Does Mike accept these as returns??

haolejohn · Jan 17, 2010

phanzo said:
Well that's the last thing I want to hear right now!! I hope mine doesnt do that!!!

Does Mike accept these as returns??

He would have if I had wanted to bother him with it. I ended up trading two of my personal ones for two of the students. The third one informed me that she dropped it and i didn't trade her. It has nothing to do with Mike. I'm not sure if it is a defect or if it is just kid wear and tear.

haolejohn · Jan 17, 2010

phanzo said:
Well that's the last thing I want to hear right now!! I hope mine doesnt do that!!!

Does Mike accept these as returns??

dustin out of the fifty that I have bought from him only three have done this. You can see the reputation that these ukes have here so i would not worry about it. I think it is just the paint in those joints is coming loose.

For what it is worth, My orange burst one is perfect

phanzo · Jan 17, 2010

haolejohn said:
dustin out of the fifty that I have bought from him only three have done this. You can see the reputation that these ukes have here so i would not worry about it. I think it is just the paint in those joints is coming loose.

For what it is worth, My orange burst one is perfect

nah I know, I wouldnt bother him with a return either, unless it was really bad. It's all good. It's a called a beater uke for a reason

RevWill · Jan 17, 2010

I haven't seen anything like that yet, and I hope I don't. If I do however several members of our uke ministry are woodworkers and could no doubt fix it right up.

haolejohn · Jan 17, 2010

phanzo said:
nah I know, I wouldnt bother him with a return either, unless it was really bad. It's all good. It's a called a beater uke for a reason

When I got the first one like this he offered to send it back to Kala but I opted not to. He was willing to take care of me. i was unwilling to bother him

haolejohn · Jan 17, 2010

RevWill said:
I haven't seen anything like that yet, and I hope I don't. If I do however several members of our uke ministry are woodworkers and could no doubt fix it right up.

a little caulk or whatever the equivalent material for instruments would be all that was needed. It doesn't affect anything about the uke. it just looks bad. That is why I'm not bothering the dealer of Kala with it.

cupcake · Jan 17, 2010

are these the plastic ones?

haolejohn · Jan 17, 2010

cupcake said:
are these the plastic ones?

yes they are. some of the older ones had a tendancy to bubble up.

Sir · Jan 17, 2010

I bought 34 last week (not from MGM I hasten to add) All but one came out of its box in tip top condition.

One neck had broken free from the body (looked like the pics but much worse!)

I absolutely blatted it with super glue! (That particular neck is going nowhere anytime soon!)

for the money I paid, I was willing to do that.

Clamped overnight, you can't even tell the paint has cracked!

haolejohn · Jan 17, 2010

Sir said:
I bought 34 last week (not from MGM I hasten to add) All but one came out of its box in tip top condition.

One neck had broken free from the body (looked like the pics but much worse!)

I absolutely blatted it with super glue! (That particular neck is going nowhere anytime soon!)

for the money I paid, I was willing to do that.

Clamped overnight, you can't even tell the paint has cracked!

I got mine from ukerepublic and have been very happy with his willingness to fix problem (that isn't his to fix) b/c these three ukes were being played for 8 weeks by kids. That isn't a dealer issue. I'm not worried about it because it doesn't affect the playability or sound. Did you get yours for a school group Sir?

phanzo · Jan 17, 2010

haolejohn said:
When I got the first one like this he offered to send it back to Kala but I opted not to. He was willing to take care of me. i was unwilling to bother him

yea, he's pretty much the most awesome dude alive. He'll do whatever he can to help a brother (or sista!) out.

buddhuu · Jan 17, 2010

Maybe it'd be good if one of these did get back to Kala. The plastic ones are a fairly new product (so new that I can't get one in the UK yet) and if they have teething problems with the join between wooden neck and plastic body I expect Kala would like to know what's going wrong so they can fix any problem there might be in production.

I know they're cheap ukes, but I'm sure Kala would want to maintain consistent quality at all levels.

haolejohn · Jan 17, 2010

buddhuu said:
Maybe it'd be good if one of these did get back to Kala. The plastic ones are a fairly new product (so new that I can't get one in the UK yet) and if they have teething problems with the join between wooden neck and plastic body I expect Kala would like to know what's going wrong so they can fix any problem there might be in production.

I know they're cheap ukes, but I'm sure Kala would want to maintain consistent quality at all levels.

That is true and if they want me to send it to them and are willing to pay for shipping i would have no problem. I just figured the amount of money involved with shipping one of these isn't worth it to me. It still sounds great. Since they are new I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this same problem.

I'm not faulting Kala in anyway and no one has accused me of that yet and I am in no way of trying to get a new uke. Just wanted to make that disclaimer before someone tried to make that accusation (former experiences with ukes and warranty issues here)

Sambient · Jan 17, 2010

Speaking of caulk, I want to know if anyone else experienced a collection of what I assumed was caulk on the inside of their uke. I was feeling around on the inside (curious about that whole wood and plastic thing) and the soundboard had some cruddies. They were easily removed, but I was really surprised.

Sir · Jan 17, 2010

haolejohn said:
I got mine from ukerepublic and have been very happy with his willingness to fix problem (that isn't his to fix) b/c these three ukes were being played for 8 weeks by kids. That isn't a dealer issue. I'm not worried about it because it doesn't affect the playability or sound. Did you get yours for a school group Sir?

yeah, mine are are for a school group. Secondary UK (High school)

They've already had quite an impact! (well they're pink for a start!!!!)

haolejohn · Jan 17, 2010

Sir said:
yeah, mine are are for a school group. Secondary UK (High school)

They've already had quite an impact! (well they're pink for a start!!!!)

LOL!! Last week I took the kids outside before starting and the students placed their ukuleles in their seats. I was proud of the students for selecting all these different ukuleles. It made me think about our world and how all of these ukuleles were different but equally as good as each other just like us folks.

haolejohn · Jan 17, 2010

Sambient said:
Speaking of caulk, I want to know if anyone else experienced a collection of what I assumed was caulk on the inside of their uke. I was feeling around on the inside (curious about that whole wood and plastic thing) and the soundboard had some cruddies. They were easily removed, but I was really surprised.

Ihaven't looked or felt on the inside. Remember these are budget ukes thrown together on an assembly line so even though the quality is good it isn't going to be as well as a kamaka, kanilea or koaloha or even a kala for that matter.

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