curious uke or maybe not on the bay

greetings, can anyone tell me what this instrument is
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-C-F-Mar...d=350465864668&ps=63&clkid=441690780456450295

TIA, g2

It's a tiple. Tuned like an ukulele but with 10 steel strings. The G and A strings are doubled (2 courses) and the C and E strings are tripled (3 courses). They sound very good, but from what I am told, they are a bear to play.

"in great condition", except for all the top wear and the two long cracks in the back. Which they only show through the sound hole. I love these things but I can't play four strings let alone 10. They are tough to keep in tune and the necks often have issues from the strain of all those steel strings.

You can find videos for the sound on YouTube, and they are something else.

Thanks, I've heard people speak of tipples but being relatively new to ukes, didn't know what they were. cheers mate

I've owned 2 Martin tiple (and 3 other brands). Not everyones cup of tea, but interesting sound. They were great noise makers, competed favorably with the brass before electric guitars became common. The one in this listings seems to have had a good life, not in excellent shape though. Tiples use steel strings and it's common to find one with warped neck or the bridge damaged or coming unglued. Terrific instruments, not for the beginner and not an everyday player, but I really like them. Tiples are like motorcycles, as soon as you sell one you are on the hunt for the next one.

Kind of makes you think the seller is hiding something, really only pictured the top and one side, be curious to see the back , neck,otherside and butt. looks really cool though. I had a 12 string guitar once, and they sound great, but will wear you out.One of the things I like about the uke is they are so [relatively] easy to play, this looks to be not for the faint of finger.

If you're going to get a tiple, this is not the one to get. Tiples are difficult to tune at the best of times. The Martin and Yasuma tiples have the strings wound around horizontal shafts, which means you don't only add or release tension when you tune it, but the string also slides sideways along the shaft and makes tuning exponentially tougher. Just for fun, I've been messing with my Yasuma a lot the last month, but it's hard to keep it in tune long enough to play an entire song. If you ever get a tiple (and I don't recommend it, no matter how much UAS you have), get one where the tuning pegs come in from the back.


If you want to hear one, here's a link to a video I made last month:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hebc0GAW3K4