Crazy good day today - got a Free Kamaka!

So over the last week, I have been talking to one of the Admin. Assistants at work. I told her I play the Uke and she laughed and I bought one when I lived in Hawaii 40 years ago. I asked what it was and she said it started with a K. I said "Kamaka" and she said "yes". Wow, that is what I am looking for. She said she has had it in her closet for 40 years now. Same strings, only played the first day she bought it and never again by anyone. I told her I had to see and she brought it to work today.....Very cool but the best part.....She said "you can have it"!

Holy Sxxt!!! She just gave it to me. She said she bought it around 1968. Has gold label and original string. Wow, it is flippin awesome. It is in great shape and no splits, cracks, or anything but some closet dings. If anyone can top that, please try. This goes along with the rest of my week where I thought to myself, hey, bad economy, people at work getting laid off, I work for a going out of business State....great time to demand a raise. Damn, I am getting a raise and maybe a big one. I guess I should buy some lottery tickets today.

I will gone for about 5 days and wont have internet but I am excited to see if anyone can beat my week~! I will get some photos maybe when I get back but it so dxmn hard to post them on here. Wahoo...great day/week.

That is awesome! Keep that uke well hydrated! Get a humidifier for it or something if you live in a dry climate.

Hell, yeah. I love stories like these!

Aloha,
Congrats on the score, guess I know what you'll be doing on your free time now.....HMMMMMM
I'm sooo jealous, can't say that anything happened that good in my life!!!! I guess you owe your
friend big time eh!!!! Maybe write a song, and play it to her would be good for starters.....
I can't wait to see your score....Take Care and enjoy......MM Stan.
P.S. Thanks for sharing the nice story with us!!!

How great is this, I am glad that Kamaka is now with you!

RyanMFT said:

How great is this, I am glad that Kamaka is now with you!

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Yeah, it wasn't doing anybody any good in that closet for the past forty years.

Congrats! Make Sam Kamaka proud and play your heart out!

Well thanks everyone for the congrat's. I am pretty lucky and I am down to 14 ukes now so that free's up some time for me to play the Kamaka. I will tell you, it "sounds" so Hawaiian. Not like any of my others. I think I will get her a dinner out for her and her husband. I will play the heck out of it but despite the suggestions for me to write a song for her, no one wants that. I just play all the time, that don't mean anyone wants to hear it!

Makes all my "good days" look pretty lame in comparison

Congrats.

You are right, I will NOT complain about today.

Please excuse my coarse language, but you lucky basterd!

Nice work Mouthy1, I can't top that but will be trying my hardest to. I have come across a few old surfboards like that but no such luck with a uke, couldn't imagine there are too many floating around this part of the world but you never know.

I just had to do this . . . .

Wow, that story is the stuff dreams are made of. No kidding, I've had dreams about finding some mint vintage uke just sitting in a closet somewhere.

Ahem, pictures????

Mouthy1 said:

Well thanks everyone for the congrat's. I am pretty lucky and I am down to 14 ukes now so that free's up some time for me to play the Kamaka.

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you really have been royally blessed by your friend's kindness & we are all very happy for you! i just love stories like this! maybe it's common among the mandolin crowd or the taylor guitar afficionados, but i have never heard of it.

i only hear about stuff like that on here. as a matter of fact, my first uke arrived in just the same manner--as a gift out of the blue from a stranger on here!

but along with what mmstan said might i recommend that you "owe your friend big time." there are lots of ways to pay them back, but i recommend that you pay it forward instead.

maybe select 2 or 3 of your ukuleles and do the following:

- keep your ear out for someone on these boards & just donate one to them
- put one in the uu marketplace for the sole purpose of (& tell ppl in the marketplace) donating the proceeds to your friend's favorite church group or charity
- donate one to a local charity or church group that you know will be having some kind of fundraiser or event; maybe they can use it as a prize or raffle it off or whatever
- get a group together in your area of local ukers (or just go solo) to a children's hospital; take the "to donate uke" and your fave uke. play some tunes, then gift that donate uke to some kid who really loved the uke during your visit

okay those aren't all the ideas, but maybe something to get you thinkin'.

and yeah, let's see some pics!

thanks for sharing your awesome story!

:shaka:

Hey, that's a great day. I guess I can try an give another great day example....about 15 years ago my wife and I won a trip to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The radio station pulled our name out of a huge oil barrel and we only entered once. In addition we got a chance to see Tori Amos when she was first starting out, really cool. So cool things really do happen! Your Kamaka score is great, I keep asking every antique store I go into to see if they have any 'ukuleles just in case I come across that one shop!

Keep it protected and enjoy, I have two Kamaka Tenors and love them both. I call them Pete and Repeat.

Aloha-

Ukulele46

One of my graduate school classmates recently friended me on Facebook, and she told me her husband found a Martin soprano from the '70s for $22. Stuff like that NEVER happens to me.

Free Kamaka? Fifteen ukes? I officially hate you. (just kidding) Congratulations on a great story! Of course, it will forever remain just a story until we see pix....

Mouthy1 said:

Well thanks everyone for the congrat's. I am pretty lucky and I am down to 14 ukes now so that free's up some time for me to play the Kamaka. I will tell you, it "sounds" so Hawaiian. Not like any of my others. I think I will get her a dinner out for her and her husband. I will play the heck out of it but despite the suggestions for me to write a song for her, no one wants that. I just play all the time, that don't mean anyone wants to hear it!

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Yeah, getting a dinner for her and her husband (or taking them out) would be a nice gesture. Oh, and hope she doesn't get curious and google "Kamaka".

RevWill said:

One of my graduate school classmates recently friended me on Facebook, and she told me her husband found a Martin soprano from the '70s for $22. Stuff like that NEVER happens to me.

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D'oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!