New Guy with New Used Uke

Raymond

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Joined
Jan 29, 2010
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Location
St. Louis, MO USA
Greetings. I've been lurking around these parts and learning what I can. I've never played a ukulele but got the idea recently to try it after listing to Joe Purdy's Julie Blue CD a few hundred times. Knowing what I know about guitars, I was hoping to avoid a mass produced laminate but the prices for solid wood, as you all know, can be surprising. Then I came upon this on ebay (it arrived today):

TangiKoaTenor1.jpg


TangiKoaTenor2.jpg


TangiKoaTenor3.jpg


TangiKoaTenor10.jpg


It's a Tangi tenor ukulele. All solid flamed koa, 7 years old with hardly a mark on it. It has a few surface cracks that I'm not sure go through the wood. I'll have that checked out tomorrow when I buy some new strings. I'm sure you all know about Tangi and his circumstances. His ukuleles seem to get high marks but they're not discussed as much as some others. I think I did pretty good for a hand made in Honolulu uke but I'd like some input. Is there anything anyone can tell me about this instrument? Was $100 a great price, a reasonable price or did I get robbed?
 
Welcome, Raymond! I don't know anything about that uke, but $100 for a solid koa sounds like a good deal to me!!!
 
Can't go wrong, you got a Tanji for a $100. Being a local builder in the 808 is very competitive and you do hear of his instruments from time to time. Looks like a single piece top and back considering a lot of them are bookmatched. Other than that, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
 
I don't know if you quite hit the jackpot, but you sure got a great deal! Tangis are great - I had a manini for a little while and I was very impressed with the build. Not so impressed with my awkward fingers which didn't like playing such a tiny instrument - but the uke itself was great! And single piece top and back is just another big plus. BE VERY HAPPY!
 
Thanks for the positive comments. I was originally looking for a concert uke because I'm used to guitar and even then I prefer a slightly wider neck for my fat little fingers. I knew a soprano wasn't going to be easy to play but this tenor should do just fine. I heard from Tangi last night. He thought this could have been a $500 ukulele new 7 years ago. I sent him some pics to confirm.

Ray
 
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