dawhealer
Well-known member
Okay, so I started learning guitar when I got my first real guitar for my birthday in 1959. I think I was born into a love affair with stringed and fretted instruments. Had the plastic toy guitars/ukuleles, and even a plastic fiddle (with frets!) that could actually be played with a bow (geez my parents were patient folks) from the time I could walk up until '59. In '57 I literally started lobbying my parents for a "real" instrument until they caved and bought me a Sears Silvertone guitar in '59.
After that I only had one uke and that was a Silvertone with a plastic fretboard. I wasn't impressed with it and tossed it. Didn't take ukes seriously until just a few months ago.
I already had my father-in-law's Silvertone soprano (better than the Silvertone I had earlier; real fretboard and real frets) and did some upgrading on it. Then I got a Lanakai concert size uke. Then my wife got interested in learning to play. She liked the concert size better than the soprano. I also like the concert size better. Dilemma.
So I started looking on Craig's list and found a guy selling a Mitchell MU-100 with a nice gig bag. After doing a little research I realized that this uke can be a mixed bag, but the thing that intrigued me was the ad. It had been up for over a month. Not surprising, considering. The seller wanted to sell the uke or trade it. But here's the stipulation of the trade: "The only material I would be potentially interested in trading is hand gun equipment or guns."
Now, in the last fifty-two years I've bought and sold a lot of guitars, but never had a deal come up like that.
Soooo, I just happened to have a .357 Magnum revolver that had been gathering dust for the last 20-some-odd years. I was once an MP in what now seems like a former life and had amassed quite an arsenal which I never really needed and now feel the need to unload. Not exactly beating a sword into a plowshare, but I figured, "What the heck?"
So I'm one weapon down and one uke up and the richer for it. The Mitchell isn't a bad uke for an all laminate. It sounds surprisingly good for a laminate. Intonation is accurate. The fret ends were sharp but it only took me a little while to dress them. I'm not a luthier, but a friend who passed on a few years ago and who was taught me a lot about doing my own setups and adjustments. There was an entirely unnecessary shim under the saddle which I removed when I replaced the strings.
Not many places other than Texas will you find someone who wants to trade a uke for a gun. "Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me/Other times I can barely see/Lately it occurs to me/What a long strange trip it's been."
Woo hoo! I'm having a blast. Wish I'd discovered "real" ukuleles fifty years ago, but better late than never.
After that I only had one uke and that was a Silvertone with a plastic fretboard. I wasn't impressed with it and tossed it. Didn't take ukes seriously until just a few months ago.
I already had my father-in-law's Silvertone soprano (better than the Silvertone I had earlier; real fretboard and real frets) and did some upgrading on it. Then I got a Lanakai concert size uke. Then my wife got interested in learning to play. She liked the concert size better than the soprano. I also like the concert size better. Dilemma.
So I started looking on Craig's list and found a guy selling a Mitchell MU-100 with a nice gig bag. After doing a little research I realized that this uke can be a mixed bag, but the thing that intrigued me was the ad. It had been up for over a month. Not surprising, considering. The seller wanted to sell the uke or trade it. But here's the stipulation of the trade: "The only material I would be potentially interested in trading is hand gun equipment or guns."
Now, in the last fifty-two years I've bought and sold a lot of guitars, but never had a deal come up like that.
Soooo, I just happened to have a .357 Magnum revolver that had been gathering dust for the last 20-some-odd years. I was once an MP in what now seems like a former life and had amassed quite an arsenal which I never really needed and now feel the need to unload. Not exactly beating a sword into a plowshare, but I figured, "What the heck?"
So I'm one weapon down and one uke up and the richer for it. The Mitchell isn't a bad uke for an all laminate. It sounds surprisingly good for a laminate. Intonation is accurate. The fret ends were sharp but it only took me a little while to dress them. I'm not a luthier, but a friend who passed on a few years ago and who was taught me a lot about doing my own setups and adjustments. There was an entirely unnecessary shim under the saddle which I removed when I replaced the strings.
Not many places other than Texas will you find someone who wants to trade a uke for a gun. "Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me/Other times I can barely see/Lately it occurs to me/What a long strange trip it's been."
Woo hoo! I'm having a blast. Wish I'd discovered "real" ukuleles fifty years ago, but better late than never.