Want to buy: Makala Dolphin

strumsilly

strumsilly

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Want to buy a Makala dolphin, preferably blue or blue burst, for a friend's kid. I've seen them on ebay and amazon, but I want one that is set up properly. I bought mine from MGM awhile ago. anyone know who sells set up ones now. I've heard the quality has declined, so a used one would be ok.
 
Give Mim a call or PM, she stocks them and does a great set up.
 
I've heard they are hard to get these days. I don't know if it is too much demand, QC problems or something else. I know that there is a low profit margin on ukes like these, maybe they are putting their resources elsewhere.
Try UkeRepublic, he might have a line on some.
 
The only ones I know who sell them and do set ups are Mim & UkeRepublic.
 
I wonder if the Dolphins good repuatation could cause it's demise. It's a cheap uke that has become known more or less, as "the best cheap uke". With higher expectations could come higher returns from disappointed customers expecting something of better quality, this could lower or erase the already low profit margin on ukes like this, thus making it unprofitable to continue them, especially if they are having problems with the supplier. Just speculation, but I know they must have to order loads of them to make any decent money.
 
I know someone could buy them and set them up and mark them up as sold with setup and make more money on the setup than on the uke!
 
Makala Dolphins are generally pretty good anyway, out of the box...
 
strumsilly said:
Want to buy a Makala dolphin, preferably blue or blue burst, for a friend's kid. I've seen them on ebay and amazon, but I want one that is set up properly. I bought mine from MGM awhile ago. anyone know who sells set up ones now. I've heard the quality has declined, so a used one would be ok.
Click to expand...
what part of florida are you in? Are you close to pensecola?
 
I got mine from from Kent knorr at NC ukulele academy. He had all kinds.
 
"I've heard the quality has declined"
I got one from Sam Ash thru Amazon last week. Barely got out of the box before I knew it was going back. I realize there's NO set-up from Ash, but this was B A A D. All the fret ends were of different length & sharp. Had a deep scratch on fretboard. Maybe I was expecting too much for $35 !!! It would be worth a little extra to get one that has been properly set up.
 
pahu said:
"I've heard the quality has declined"
I got one from Sam Ash thru Amazon last week. Barely got out of the box before I knew it was going back. I realize there's NO set-up from Ash, but this was B A A D. All the fret ends were of different length & sharp. Had a deep scratch on fretboard. Maybe I was expecting too much for $35 !!! It would be worth a little extra to get one that has been properly set up.
Click to expand...

That is alarming. I didn't have that problem last October-November when I was buying them (from many sources) for Xmas gifts. I ended up with 10 dolphins, and most of them were fine out of the box, and only 3 had to have a slight intonation adjustment. No fret problems, no gashes or scratches. They seem to sell out completely everywhere at Christmastime, and it took quite a while for stores to get new stock after the holidays. Sounds like a supplier problem. Some local brick and mortar stores might have a few in stock, so call around.
–Lori
 
I know this is an older thread but I'm finding that the Makala Dolphins were need more set up than before. The action at the nut used to just need minor adjusting out of the box and now it's just about unplayable. We also had problems with the first fret A string note buzzing on one batch. The new solid colors seem to be better but we still set them up to make them sound and play the best they can.
 
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