Cordoba "damaged in shipping" ukes?

OldePhart

OldePhart

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Okay, there's this outfit on eBay that always has a Cordoba Ck25 "u-fix," damaged-in-shipping uke for sale - and they're different every several days so they are apparently selling them. This has been going on for several months, at least.

Few of them look like the kind of damage you see from shipping. Most have the bridge pulled off, and sometimes missing. They also almost always have a variety of other knicks, scrapes, gouges, etc.

Now, my question is this, how does one "store" end up with so many "damaged in shipment" ukes - always of the same make and model? I just don't see how this can be, unless they bought a shipment of ukes that had been shipped via cement truck and are unloading them one at a time...

On the other hand, I don't see any fraud scenario that makes any sense - the ukes typically sell so cheaply that it certainly wouldn't pay someone to counterfeit Cordoba ukes and sell them as damaged to avoid being found out by Cordoba's customer service (my first thought when I noticed this trend).

Any body have any ideas?

John
 
OldePhart said:
Okay, there's this outfit on eBay that always has a Cordoba Ck25 "u-fix," damaged-in-shipping uke for sale - and they're different every several days so they are apparently selling them. This has been going on for several months, at least.

Few of them look like the kind of damage you see from shipping. Most have the bridge pulled off, and sometimes missing. They also almost always have a variety of other knicks, scrapes, gouges, etc.

Now, my question is this, how does one "store" end up with so many "damaged in shipment" ukes - always of the same make and model? I just don't see how this can be, unless they bought a shipment of ukes that had been shipped via cement truck and are unloading them one at a time...

On the other hand, I don't see any fraud scenario that makes any sense - the ukes typically sell so cheaply that it certainly wouldn't pay someone to counterfeit Cordoba ukes and sell them as damaged to avoid being found out by Cordoba's customer service (my first thought when I noticed this trend).

Any body have any ideas?

John
Click to expand...

Just an idea: I'll bet, like a collection agency, this company buys the damaged and returned goods for pennies on the dollar and then moves them on ebay.
 
pdxuke said:
Just an idea: I'll bet, like a collection agency, this company buys the damaged and returned goods for pennies on the dollar and then moves them on ebay.
Click to expand...

You're probably right - the thing that has me puzzled is the large number of the same make and model - and few, if any, other ukes. Also, the nature of the damage seems peculiar. Maybe they bought a boxcar full of ukes from a train derailment or something. LOL

John
 
It might be ukes from Musician's friend / Guitar Center / Music 123 because I think it is in Kansas City which is where they have a warehouse.
 
Was it "soundscheap music"? or something like that? I bought one about 3 months ago. It was all scratched and had some dings but was otherwise playable. Right after I got it I upgraded to a KoAloha. Now it just gathers dust. Kind of a brick with strings if you ask me.
 
pdxuke said:
I'll bet it was a bad factory run, but it sounds better to say "damaged in shipping..." Or maybe it was a fork lift accident!
Click to expand...
Could be...but it's been going on for a long time, at least a year. Bridges pulling off seems to be a common problem with the Cordoba's. I was in our local shop today and they had started selling Cordoba's in the last couple of months. The owner said he's already had two different models with the problem.
 
rem50 said:
Was it "soundscheap music"? or something like that? I bought one about 3 months ago. It was all scratched and had some dings but was otherwise playable. Right after I got it I upgraded to a KoAloha. Now it just gathers dust. Kind of a brick with strings if you ask me.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the one. I couldn't think of the name 'til you mentioned it.

So, the uke wasn't that great, huh? Kind of wondered why they had to unload them so cheap. Most of them look pretty easy to repair if you don't mind a few "beauty spots." If only I could find a "damaged in shipping" KoAloha or Kamaka that needed a bit of TLC for $79! LOL

John
 
Before I bought my first uke, I was looking at the Cordoba CK-25 at Guitar Center. They had two of them - different headstock, different serial number location, different bridge, saddle, and nut - but the tag in the instruments both said CK-25.

And while the Koa was beautiful, they sounded totally different, both had some pretty major intonation problems, and the sales rep (who never called me back) didn't really know what he was talking about, and wasn't willing to check why there were two dissimilar instruments with the same model number.

On the other hand, the Cordoba TM-20 I have sounds and plays great, doesn't have any apparent blemishes, and just rings.

-Kurt
 
ksiegel said:
Before I bought my first uke, I was looking at the Cordoba CK-25 at Guitar Center. They had two of them - different headstock, different serial number location, different bridge, saddle, and nut - but the tag in the instruments both said CK-25.

And while the Koa was beautiful, they sounded totally different, both had some pretty major intonation problems, and the sales rep (who never called me back) didn't really know what he was talking about, and wasn't willing to check why there were two dissimilar instruments with the same model number.
-Kurt
Click to expand...
I've had similar experience with the Cordoba's, some sound OK but none have been anything to get excited about. But the thing that really bugs the H**L out of me is their touting them as "Solid Koa" when they are not. They are made of an Acacia, but not Acacia Koa! That alone is enough to turn me off.
 
Maybe they don't know how to pack? I bought a damaged Cordoba koa electric/acoustic cutaway tenor least year from Guitar Center for $100. The electronics were fine and it played well plugged in. I knew it had a crack in the back, but I figured I could fix that easily. After I had it for a few days, I found that there was a very long crack all the way down both sides and another long one on the top. How it got that way, I don't know but I took it back. The guy at GC told me UPS ruins a ton of ukes in shipping.
 
SweetWaterBlue said:
Maybe they don't know how to pack? I bought a damaged Cordoba koa electric/acoustic cutaway tenor least year from Guitar Center for $100. The electronics were fine and it played well plugged in. I knew it had a crack in the back, but I figured I could fix that easily. After I had it for a few days, I found that there was a very long crack all the way down both sides and another long one on the top. How it got that way, I don't know but I took it back. The guy at GC told me UPS ruins a ton of ukes in shipping.
Click to expand...
I would imagine that the packing may have something to do with it, but probably in combination with manufacturing quality control problems. There are a lot of ukes being shipped and I haven't heard of other manfacturers having as many problems.
 
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