Ovation Applause Uke purchase misadventure :(

The Ovation Soprano uke in Adamas red that I had been waiting for finally arrived.
I quickly unwrapped it to find the beautiful thing inside.
Tuned up the strings and proceeded to play the C chord...

but something doesn't sound right?!
Something is out of tune. So I checked that the strings were correctly gCEA and tried the C chord again. Again, wrong sound.

After some fiddling around, I found that the A string doesn't change notes between the 3rd and 4th fret. When I fret at the 3rd fret, it just makes a 4th fret sound. The nut had been sanded too low.

Ok, so 1 reason to get it replaced with warranty...

Until I plugged it in to find that the pickup was also completely a dud. No uke sound - just feedback. And I had tried Ovation ukes plugged in at stores before, so I know that they work.

Contacted the Australian Ovation importer, and they tell me I can't get warranty through them because I purchased it online through an American dealer!

So I've contacted the seller.
But darn this really sucks.

That is frustrating! I'm frustrated just reading about it. I hope everything gets straightened out.

Sorry to about you issues....I guess he's saying you need to contact the seller or the manufacturer...and it's not his problem, which he may be right...
Some retailers since the get them wholesale are responsible for whatever they sell...unless if it was defective from the factory as in this case...contact
them both and I hope it works out for you.....good Luck mate..MM Stan

Dang! I have made a promise to play one in person at some point so I can see if they are as good as they sound plugged in on the videos- sorry to hear of you miss-adventure (in't that the name of a plane or somethin'?)

I hope you're able to get your problems taken care of.

A lot of times your warrenty works through the dealer. If there is a defect, you contact the dealer, they contact the manufacturer, and it gets swapped out. Worst case scenario, you may have to ship it back to America to return it and get a replacement.

Warranties sometimes have issues when crossing boarders. Since the laws differ from country to country they usually have to be honored in the country where you purchased your uke. I know with camera equipment, if let's say I buy a Canon camera in Japan I have to send it back to Japan to get it repaired under warranty instead of sending it to the local U.S. repair facility.

It sounds like your uke might just need a proper setup and possibly a new nut. It may be advantageous for you to look into having it repaired locally rather than sending it back to the states. All that shipping can get expensive very quickly and you don't get to try it out first to make sure it's set up perfectly for you.

For what it's worth, the A string issue may not necessarily be the nut being too low. Check for a partial lifting of a fret. Place a straight edge - I use a 150mm steel rule on edge - over the frets outboard of the A string and rock it over each of the first few frets. Sight it up with a light behind it as well. It could be that the 4th fret has slightly lifted on the A string side. If so it can be tapped gently down. If it comes back up it may even need a tiny drop of cyanoacrylate glue. Sorry if you already know this stuff by the way.

If that was the only issue, given you've bought from an OS supplier, I'd be inclined to fix it and move on. The added problem with the electronics sounds to me like the uke is a return to vendor jobbie.

I feel for you. It must be so frustrating.

THanks for the support everyone. A little update.
I've contacted the seller and we had a bit of a discussion through ebay messaging.
He's being cooperative, offering several options including a postal service insurance claim (he insists it must got damaged in shipping *shrugs*), full refund (but I have to pay shipping *shrugs*). I asked for another option of getting me a partial refund, so I can use that money to get it repaired.

I like the uke, it's a cute thing. If it's repairable for not too much, I'd love to keep it.
I just hope the electronics repair is a simple matter of re-soldering the piezo bar or something... Will take it to a technician this weekend..

I'm also sorry to hear about this, it is disappointing to have an item arrive with unexpected problems. I have had a few misadventures along those lines myself, luckily on items I was able to repair and still come out ahead on because the price was good or the item hard to find.

I think you are wise to check into repair, it could be less than the shipping. If it's simple and the uke will be fine when repaired, then you have a uke you like and less hassle than returning and losing the shipping. If not, right now you have the advantage with the seller if it was off eBay. From the seller's perspective, you can leave negative feedback or file a dispute with PayPal. A seller would rather you did neither.

I have the black applause soprano and have happily enjoyed it for a couple of years now. sorry to hear about your issues. I have to say my pickup has a little issue being too bright in my opinion so I usually have the tone completely dialed down.

Sorry to hear about that. I've got one and I love it.

That's a bummer, man. I have one of these and like it a lot. My late father's performance instrument was an Adamas II in the same color, so it has sentimental value. Good luck.

I too have an Ovation Applause Soprano, but mine is the acousting only version and its black though I don't think that makes a difference?) I too found the action very low when I first started playing it and with mine i found I had quite bad fret buzz playing G# on the G sting, (this meant I couldn't play "I'm the King of the Swingers" on it because of the E minor 7th chord, but then I can fail to play "I'm the king of the swingers" on any or all of them). I did find that after having it a while, keeping it tuned and and only playing songe that dont fret on that string in that spot, the action settled down and now the buzz only notices if I really go looking for it so its swinging with the best of them now.

Cant comment on the electrics though, as i said mine is the acoustic only version.