Noe Valley Music

Hi,

I live in France and am looking for some help. Next year I'll go to united states for my holydays. I want to take this opportunity to buy a ukulele. My stay is planned in san francisco, I wonder if you know the store : "Noe Valley Music", is it a good store ?

what stores you advise me to buy a tenor ukulele, in san francisco ? (kamaka or kanile'a)

thanks !

Hi Laurent,
Welcome to UU, and I hope you feel welcome in the SF Bay Area when you come here!

I haven't been to Noe Valley Music but I do know it is hard to get a Kamaka tenor anywhere. There are a few places that have ukes in the city (SF) and there are people here who could tell you a little better than I. However, I would call in advance if I were you to find out. If you need a friend in the U.S. to call for you, hit me up I would help out. I live about 40 minutes outside SF.

I know there is a Kamaka dealer in Oakland which is just across the SF/Bay bridge from San Francisco called Best Music Co. However, most stores have a hard time keeping Kamaka's in. I only know of Ukulele Source in San Jose carrying Kanile'a but there may be other places.

Anyway, if you want me to do some calling around for you....I would be happy to do so. PM me before your trip.

laurent93 said:

Hi,

I live in France and am looking for some help. Next year I'll go to united states for my holydays. I want to take this opportunity to buy a ukulele. My stay is planned in san francisco, I wonder if you know the store : "Noe Valley Music", is it a good store ?

what stores you advise me to buy a tenor ukulele, in san francisco ? (kamaka or kanile'a)

thanks !

Click to expand...

Sorry, but not familiar with that music store . . . if they sell Ukuleles, I'm sure someone would have mentioned it in passing. Please check the Ukulele Stores List for music stores in the Bay Area.

I've never been to Noe Valley Music, even though I live in San Francisco! (I may go there soon just to see what it's like.) There are a bunch of other shops in the San Francisco area, though. I bought my first ukulele, a Kala solid mahogany concert, at Music Works in El Cerrito (East Bay), but I'm not sure if they have high end ukuleles there, and the place doesn't have much of a website. You could email the owner at ecmusicworks@yahoo.com.

As someone already mentioned, your best bet in the Bay Area might be Ukulele Source in San Jose, which is approximately 40 miles (64 Km) south of San Francisco. I've never been to that shop but there are people here at UU who rave about it, from its selection of ukuleles to the very nice people who own it. According to its website, it seems to have access to Kanile'as and Ko'alohas, so maybe the owners could special order a Kamaka. You can email the owners of Ukulele Source at ukulelesource@aol.com, or leave a message for them through the Ukulele Source website.

Other places to shop for ukuleles in the Bay Area: In the East Bay is The Fifth String in Berkeley. I was in there once to buy strings. Nice people, but a smaller selection of ukuleles than at Music Works. In Palo Alto, which is about 20 miles (32 Km) south of San Francisco, there's Gryphon Strings, which lists the ukuleles it has in stock on its website. In San Francisco itself, the people at Guitar Solo are very nice (one showed me how to resting an ukulele). The shop has a small selection of lower-priced Kalas in addition to a few more expensive ukuleles listed on its website. I think I may have seen a Kamaka or Ko'Aloha there when I stopped in, but you may want to contact them in advance to see what they have.

Please let me know if I can be of any more help. I live in San Francisco and I could stop into some of these places for you. Besides, I've always wanted to see Ukulele Source.

One crazy option: Flights to Hawaii are usually cheaper and more frequent from San Francisco than they are from other places. You could hop on a direct flight from San Francisco to Honolulu and buy a Kamaka or Kanile'a from one of those manufacturer's factory stores on Oahu. Plus, you'd be in Hawaii....

I hope this helps.

For what it's worth, here are some online customer reviews of ukulele stores in the bay area from www.yelp.com

Noe Valley Music, San Francisco: http://www.yelp.com/biz/noe-valley-music-san-francisco

Music Works, El Cerrito: http://www.yelp.com/biz/music-works-el-cerrito

Gryphon Strings: http://www.yelp.com/biz/gryphon-stringed-instruments-palo-alto#query:gryphon%20strings%2C

Ukulele Source, San Jose: http://www.yelp.com/biz/ukulele-source-san-jose

By the way, your English is much better than my French. I can only remember a few things from my Frech classes in school, phrases like "Ou est la bibliotheque?"

laurent93 said:

Hi,

I live in France and am looking for some help. Next year I'll go to united states for my holydays. I want to take this opportunity to buy a ukulele. My stay is planned in san francisco, I wonder if you know the store : "Noe Valley Music", is it a good store ?

what stores you advise me to buy a tenor ukulele, in san francisco ? (kamaka or kanile'a)

thanks !

Click to expand...

Guitar Solo carries Kamaka (or it used to carry it at one point), but is really marked up (almost $1200, plus 9.5% sales tax... ouch!!!). Great staff, btw... friendly and knowledgeable (but mostly guitars and other instuments).

I've never been to Noe Valley Music, though I live 5 min from there. I'll try to pop in this week to see what's in there.

Why not call Kamaka directly at the factory and order one,, they sell and ship them out...
Kamaka Hawaii, Inc.
550 South Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813-5010
E-Mail: Mail@kamakahawaii.com
Telephone them...808-531-3165
Fax: (808)531-3167
You could order one to you likings too! I hope this helps...Good Luck!!
MM Stan..

Thank you for your responses. it helps me a lot.

I noticed the store in Oakland, I had them send a message but they did not respond.

To store Guitar Solo, I think their prices are more expensive than its competitors.

And Noe Valley for music, I found this shop on the list of vendors on the official website of Kamaka.

I do not really want to bother you, but if one of you lives in San Francisco (I do not want you to do too much away), I am curious regarding the Noe Valley Music shop.

I will not stay very long in SF, and I do not come alone, so I try to find the store closest to SF.

laurent93 said:

I do not really want to bother you, but if one of you lives in San Francisco (I do not want you to do too much away), I am curious regarding the Noe Valley Music shop.

Click to expand...

Laurent93,

I hope to find time to go to Noe Valley Music this coming weekend. I've been curious about this store but I haven't had a chance to go yet. If I'm able to go this weekend, I'll let you know what I think of the store.

Mark

thank you, it's really nice.

Whatever happens I will go in this store, if you give me good advice. However, I doesn't know if I will buy in California because I know that the instrument will cost me about 30% more expensive. This corresponds to the sales tax in California and there is also the French tax which is 19.6%.

thank you, it's really nice.

Whatever happens I will go in this store, if you give me good advice. However, I doesn't know if I will buy in California because I know that the instrument will cost me about 30% more expensive. This corresponds to the sales tax in California and there is also the French tax which is 19.6%.

when you coming through to the bay?

Next year, in august, i think