GreyPoupon
Well-known member
Disclaimer: This thread will only make sense to people who live far away from places with stores that actually carry a wide range of ukuleles. So if you are from Hawaii the below will not be appealing to you at all, but it might fill you with a strange mix of pity and schedenfraude.
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As we all know one of the best / worst parts of playing ukulele is that the instrument is cheap enough that one can really start to indulge in purchasing many different types of ukes. The differences are not always mind blowing, but it's simply a lot of fun to explore a new instrument.
But I personally do not like having more than 2 or 3 ukues around the house. So what I find is I buy and resell fairly quickly. I've come to appreciate the price difference between my original purchase and sell amount really amounts to a rental cost for the instrument.
I recently sold my beloved kiwaya at a $150 loss, but after I had it for a year. Which means I paid around $12 a month rent for that instrument. I sold it because a Dias custom stole my heart and the kiwaya was just collecting dust. For me even though I loved the kiwaya I felt it was a crime against art itself to let such an awesome instrument sit unplayed.
And I've sold several other perfectly fine instruments simply because if they are not being used I want them out of my house.
So, here's the question: Are there others like me? And, if so, why doesn't someone start a ukulele rental service with option to buy? I am dying to try out a KoAloha pineapple - and suspect I would even buy one - but I am really not ready to commit to a full blown purchase without getting to hold one in my hands. Wouldn't it be cool if someone would rent me one for $50 a month, with the option of buying? If after one month I don't like it, with a rental service I can return it at a low cost of $50.
Could you imagine a service where there was a directory of hundreds of ukes that one could rent? Maybe you'd be required to give a large deposit. Maybe you'd have to establish yourself as a trusted client before they would let you rent a higher end uke. Maybe the rental prices would need to be proportionate to the value of the uke. ($1 a month for a dolphin, $100 a month for a unique custom build.)
Anyways, my main point is that I suspect, based on my own behavior, that there is a potential business model in renting out ukes as opposed to just selling them...
Am I onto something, or is the potential for client abuse and ukulele damage too great?
And if the business model won't satisfy this need - how about a ukulele collective - where a group of people buy ukuleles together and then rotate the instruments? I would love to join with twelve other people who like high end instruments. We each pay $100 a month - $1,200 a year. And for a year we each get one really high end instrument for a month and then rotate.
At the end of the year we could find a creative process (with a large luck component) to settle who gets to keep what instrument. The end might hurt a bit, but we would all end up really educated about the range of ukuleles.
Thoughts?
________
As we all know one of the best / worst parts of playing ukulele is that the instrument is cheap enough that one can really start to indulge in purchasing many different types of ukes. The differences are not always mind blowing, but it's simply a lot of fun to explore a new instrument.
But I personally do not like having more than 2 or 3 ukues around the house. So what I find is I buy and resell fairly quickly. I've come to appreciate the price difference between my original purchase and sell amount really amounts to a rental cost for the instrument.
I recently sold my beloved kiwaya at a $150 loss, but after I had it for a year. Which means I paid around $12 a month rent for that instrument. I sold it because a Dias custom stole my heart and the kiwaya was just collecting dust. For me even though I loved the kiwaya I felt it was a crime against art itself to let such an awesome instrument sit unplayed.
And I've sold several other perfectly fine instruments simply because if they are not being used I want them out of my house.
So, here's the question: Are there others like me? And, if so, why doesn't someone start a ukulele rental service with option to buy? I am dying to try out a KoAloha pineapple - and suspect I would even buy one - but I am really not ready to commit to a full blown purchase without getting to hold one in my hands. Wouldn't it be cool if someone would rent me one for $50 a month, with the option of buying? If after one month I don't like it, with a rental service I can return it at a low cost of $50.
Could you imagine a service where there was a directory of hundreds of ukes that one could rent? Maybe you'd be required to give a large deposit. Maybe you'd have to establish yourself as a trusted client before they would let you rent a higher end uke. Maybe the rental prices would need to be proportionate to the value of the uke. ($1 a month for a dolphin, $100 a month for a unique custom build.)
Anyways, my main point is that I suspect, based on my own behavior, that there is a potential business model in renting out ukes as opposed to just selling them...
Am I onto something, or is the potential for client abuse and ukulele damage too great?
And if the business model won't satisfy this need - how about a ukulele collective - where a group of people buy ukuleles together and then rotate the instruments? I would love to join with twelve other people who like high end instruments. We each pay $100 a month - $1,200 a year. And for a year we each get one really high end instrument for a month and then rotate.
At the end of the year we could find a creative process (with a large luck component) to settle who gets to keep what instrument. The end might hurt a bit, but we would all end up really educated about the range of ukuleles.
Thoughts?