Why are people so interested in vintage ukuleles?

I'm just curious about why people seem to be so interested in vintage ukuleles.. do they sound better? Or is it just a novelty/collectors' thing? I see a lot on ebay and majority of them are cracked and not necessarily aesthetically pleasing but people will bid REALLY high on them. So I'm just wondering if maybe they have a different sound to them that you don't find in modern ukuleles or if there's something really cool about them that I don't understand.

Thanks!

Depending on the ukulele, yes, they can sound better. Some people collect vintage ukes as an investment. Others want them to play. For me, it is a link to the past, but moreso, there are some ukes that are just hard to find and I can understand people's reasons for buying them.

It's not just 'ukuleles, Allie: you get the same thing with mandolins, guitars, fiddles...

It's partly a mojo thing - there's a kind of a feeling of history and soul that soaks into old instruments.

There's also the fact that acoustic instruments seem to mature and the sound gradually changes with playing and as the wood ages.

Another thing is that many of the instruments made today consciously try to reproduce the classic designs of days gone by. So, if that retro stuff is cool obviously the originals must be even cooler than the repros.

Scarcity and hype push up the perceived desirability of instruments, and consequently their prices.

I love old instruments, but for some perverse reason, the instruments I actually own I would rather buy new.

buddhuu said:

It's not just 'ukuleles, Allie: you get the same thing with mandolins, guitars, fiddles...

It's partly a mojo thing - there's a kind of a feeling of history and soul that soaks into old instruments.

Click to expand...

:agree: I came here to say just that

For me, it's the history of it. I collect antiques anyway. not nessisarily expensive antiques, but just anything that appeals to me whether it has a high monitary value or not. With Ukes, and other musical instruments, I love the history it holds. I like to play something that someone else played with their heart and soul maybe 80-100 years ago. I like to think and picture in my mind the original owner with it in their hands, smiling and playing. Who they played for, etc...

Even tho it isn't uke related, but I have a turn of the century player piano that I traced the history back to being in honkey tonks in Texas, and then ended up in one in California. It isn't a very ornate, "pricy" piano, but rather sort of plain looking, and actually pretty tattered looking, BUT still works as it did 100 years ago. I love to play it with it's plinky rinky tink sound and think about all the floosey's, and flapper girls sitting accross the top of it, maybe the old man in a bowler hat bouncing up and down playing rag time on it. I like to imagine the beer, white liqur and all the other drinks that were spilled on it with everyone crowded around it singing drunk lalabys.. Anyway.. It's fun to think of the past, and to have that real link with it..

That said, and this has came up on the forum before, but sometimes people hear it and love the piano, and then ask me why I don't refinish it to make it look better. I considered it several times over the years I have had it, but just can never bring myself to do that to it. I look at that as erasing it's history.. I love it in all it's honky tonk abused glory..

For me, there is something a little magical about a uke that has survived for many more years than I have been on earth. I too like to imagine the history of it being owned and loved by others, having played music that I don't know, and having been made by hands of people who lived in a different time, a different era.

Also, for many vintage instruments, the quality of the build and materials used in the build are excellent, and when one is willing to really search for and find a great vintage uke, the price for such a high quality instrument is actually much lower than what one would have to pay for a similar quality new instrument. All my vintage uke's have come to me at very reasonable prices. I never could have afforded them at full eBay prices.

Finally, I have always liked old, broken, and cast away things. It is joyful for me to bring them back to life, restore, or just to recognize their beauty when others had just seen them as kind of worthless.

RyanMFT said:

Finally, I have always liked old, broken, and cast away things. It is joyful for me to bring them back to life, restore, or just to recognize their beauty when others had just seen them as kind of worthless.

Click to expand...

hear hear.. that is another huge point for me as well..

It's hard to beat those non-symetrical teens Hawaiian all-koa sopranos on the Coolness Scale, even if a lot of them are hammered or don't play in tune...

My grandfather's Kumalae won't stay in tune, but the idea that I can (try to) play the 'ukulele he brought with him to college when he left Honolulu in 1925 is a thrill.

Aloha Allie,
Actually I like vintage and collectable ukuleles if they sound nice most of all, it is my first criteria...In general, all vintage/collectables may not sound good, but there are some really
excellent ones out there....and there's like the extrodinary ones...the top of the line ones like the Martin 5K...everybody's dream uke....if I can get both, I'll be a happy camper..lol
As you compare to the new high end ones now, the new ones with the curent technology may have more substain and resonation and the older ones may have a sweeter tone due to its quality build and
maturing of the wood. I guess it boils down to what you want....As for history, many seem to connect to the glamour of an vintage instrument and to play something that
has been welll played and adored throughout the years....and then some for it's increasing investment value... Many have been passed down through famalies for generations and
have a huge sentimental value as well, as their past generations have played the same instrument....
I guess a proper metephor would be...would you like a brand new shiny car or a rare vintage auto that when everybody sees, their mouth drops....WOW!! Stan..

Jim T. said:

My grandfather's Kumalae won't stay in tune, but the idea that I can (try to) play the 'ukulele he brought with him to college when he left Honolulu in 1925 is a thrill.

Click to expand...

Take it to a uke maker or other luthier. With new strings and a tweak or replacement of the tuning pegs, you may well be able to keep Grampa's uke in tune. That would be even more of a thrill, and I'll bet he'd be proud that you cared enough to tend his uke.

I've never really understood the vintage thing. Same with guitars, clothes, vinyl records... I'd rather have something that looks, plays, and probably sounds better. But then again, I can definitely see me as an older man trying to get my hand on old Mainland ukuleles. Hmm.

There are several reasons I can think of: I like old things in general, especially hand-made, somewhat anachronistic things (such as the rather large pipe collection you can see behind me in my Youtube videos, although not all of those are old). Vintage ukuleles are perfect for that. Also, some of them sound better and are made better (or at least DIFFERENTLY made) from ukuleles today. Some people believe acoustic instruments improve with age. If they're well-cared for, they improve in LOOKS as well as sound. I've rarely seen a new instrument with a nice patina. Not just ukuleles, either. I've played new Fender Jazz basses, and they're nice, but none of the new ones have the same well-loved look and cool "vibe" that my '77 Jazz Bass has.
Another big part of it for me is their rarity. There are only a finite number of old Martin ukuleles, for example. They may have sold a LOT of them, but there were only so many to begin with, and that number decreases every year (I hate to think how many are buried in land-fills). No matter what I might think of my new Mainland or my Kalas, they will most likely NEVER EVER have the same appeal as an 80 or 90 year old Martin, or Gibson, or vintage Hawaiian-made ukulele. And neither will the ukuleles currently made by Martin (in my opinion), even the very high-end reissued Style 3s and 5s.
Don't get me wrong, I like new ukuleles too! But I'm planning to keep looking for good deals on vintage ukes while I can. Why do concert violinists all want a 17th century Italian violin?

Hmm- interesting question, one which I have pondered a LOT. In the last few weeks (about six) I seem to have acquired quite a few Ukuleles, coupla really nice ones, mostly to keep me from playing the heck out of my 70 yr old Martin. I gotta say, and I am not sure what it is- bone saddle and nut, age of the wood, history of all the hands that plucked out 5'2" on it...the thing sounds AMAZING (esp. now that I have it sorted).
Truth be told, my other collection...obsession, is the accordion. I lucked into a hand made Sonola in the nineties for a song, and it is the only one I play, even though there are 20 others laying around. That whole hand crafted thing definitely has it's target audience as well.
Chris- pipes? Got those too- would love to see what you are holding. Also have a thing for hand carved burl I suppose.

mm stan said:

In general, all vintage/collectables may not sound good, but there are some really
excellent ones out there........if I can get both, I'll be a happy camper...

Click to expand...

I was in the market for an old Kamaka Pineapple recently, but have run into quite a few that didn't play in tune...
Poorly located frets are damn near impossible to fix...

But I recently saw this one, and pulled the trigger merely because Elderly--who I totally trust--said it possessed "excellent sound and playability"....

Man, they were not kidding...

This thing sounds fabulous, and plays in tune all the way up the neck...

I did also buy another Pineapple (for 200 bucks no less) that doesn't play in tune, has a trashed soundhole, and the bridge is a full 1/2" (I'm not kidding) too far to the treble side....

It's still beautiful, and has the iconic pineapple decal....
But it ain't a player, and may never be one...
We'll see...

Oh Ho! YOU bought that! I just got one circa 30s-40s, gosh it's sweet but needs frets reset to play above 2nd fret with no buzz. THEN the bridge just popped off! But I figure by the time it visits the luthier and gets sorted out I will still be at a fair price.

The thing about vintage vs new to me is vintage if it has been loved and played comes preloaded with all kinds of mojo, WANTS to be played again, and has history AND a story to tell. New ukes never have that feel for me, except for my custom pineapple that Brad Donaldson made, he has an awesome energy and that uke came full of mojo and all around good vibes. It speaks to everyone who picks it up, whether they play it or not. It gets comments to how good it feels just to hold it, and also as to how lovely it is. It has wow factor with very little bling, it just has great energy.

I get a kick out of my new ukes, but it's the older ones that whisper oh yeah, here we go, cool! when they come out of their cases.

Aloha Bruce,
What a score on the pineapples, the first one looks awesome...a deluxe model, so it's almost garantee's to sound good....
The second one, for $200.00 is definetly a wall hanger and a good conversation starter for sure ....I'd grab both of those in a second....
Have fun and enjoy!!! and thanks for sharing!!!! I'd better check out elderly more often now, there seems to be some gems there.
MM Stan....

I have a friend who loves to at least take a look at every vintage instrument he passes by. I, personally, am not a fan of vintage instruments. Other people see history, connections to the past, classics, rare, etc. I just see someone else's old beat up instrument. I'd like to have an old one someday, but I want it to be one that I had when it was new and got all of it's seasoning from me.

Vintage?! I'M vintage, so why not a vintage uke? Actually, I will one day own a vintage Martin & at least one vintage Kamaka pineapple - just haven't had the $$ & the opportunity at the same time. Like so many others, I love the fact that a vintage uke has provided years of enjoyment to its previous owners & like me, has many years left to continue to do so.

I have now purchased two "vintage" ukes - a "no name" one of no apparent value other than its age - except it came with a complete set of ukulele lessons from the "Hawaiian Institute of Music" dated 1919 that are a really wonderful example of the popularity of this instrument during its early 1900's heyday. I'll be cleaning up the uke this weekend & stringing it w/Aquila's to see how it sounds.

The other I haven't received yet, but it is a Kamaka-Keiki made in the mid-60's that at least in all of the photos looks to be in pretty good shape. I know this one isn't the "Kamaka-to-beat-all-Kamaka's", but it does date to the time of my own musical "awakening" - I was a teen-ager in the turbulent '60's; my brother went to 'Nam & I was left to start learning guitar & listen to all of the anti-war angst coming from my musical hero's. Who of my generation can not hear Dylan, Baez, Country Joe & the Fish, or CCR & not be at least a little nostalgic? So, my Kamaka-Keiki will be a bit of a tangible connection to that time in my life & the many others who have owned this little instrument.

It's all about the mojo.