webby
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- Jun 2, 2011
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Ok I was going to sit here and make a heap of you tube videos to help illustrate what i'm going to try and say here, but saying you are going to make uke videos and actually making uke videos are 2 completely different things
It seems the Makala Dolphin is a true cult item, certainly within the entire online uke community there seems to be a real affinity with these little guys, its hard if not impossible to find anyone with a bad word to say about them, and I agree they have many many merits and outshine all the sub $50 ukes competing in the marketplace, but what about a full unbiased opinion, someone who isn't already in love with them giving us their first impressions of one.
Well here goes........I'll do my best.
With an unusually loud and happy knock on the front door, the postman announced the arrival of the new Dolphins, It wasn't the formal and polite "I'm supposed to be here because I work for the post office and I'm wearing a uniform and this may be important!" normal kind of mailman knock, but more alike a leprechaun tapping his guiness tankard against the bar in time to the celtic band kind of knock. Rat A Tat Tat the postman had a huge smile and I think the reaction he got when the door opened made his day too, there was a burst of laughter all round and the Dolphins made a loud ,happy, high energy entry into the house.
Here is where the unbiased review falls apart, these babies took center stage from the first moment they arrived, as soon as the boxes were on the table, all other activity in the house stopped, and when the bubble wrap was torn aside, everyone aged between 3 and 93 went "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!, in one big collective gush, new born infants were never fawned over so instantly, even they need a few minutes to wash all the blood and goo off, but these little guys were shiny happy people right out of the cardboard womb.
We all instantly fell in love with them, no one at this point has even plucked a string, but we have all got one thing in common, we love music, we love instruments and we can all tell s** from shinola, and we have recently been exposed to a whole range of pretty terrible pieces of junk masquerading as ukuleles, so it was just totally obvious the difference in quality straight away, They just beamed up at us and my wife (with a rosiness of a new mother in her cheeks that I haven't seen for many a year) said, "They really want to be played eh?" ?, and it was true, call me an old romantic, but you could sense that there was thousands of hours of potential joy and happiness all crammed into this shiny box, and it wanted to start bursting into life, to begin its musical journey immediately.
Ok I'm being a bit over dramatic, but I have bought a lot of instruments over the last 40 or so years and these ones came with their own energy and personality right out of the box that's for sure, call me a old Hippy, I don't care.
So after we had finished all the "ooh aahh" ing and choosing booties for them (owch, that was an ear smack from the wife), we got down to the more serious job of analysing them with a critical eye, a razor sharp scientific mind, and the discernment of a master luth..."awwwwwww, look at the bridge", "isn't that just the coolest design ever", "I want the blue one", "here let me have a loo...","OWWWWCH", "dad, I want the green one and she said....""""STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!""""", all of you just stop, and shut up for a second here, good god, they are just a couple of 30 dollar ukes, it's like the house has been catapulted into an episode of the amazing race, and the one who gets to hold the ukulele for longest wins immunity or something, hell, I dunno, but it would be nice IF I COULD ACTUALLY GET TO HAVE A PROPER LOOK AT ONE".
Ok where were we, oh yes, the unbiased review, ok, time to get serious, are you all still with me ?
, because I've got heaps to say about them, and you may even get a video or two out of me yet.
So if you are really interested, I'll make a coffee, and get this review underway properly, I just wanted to set the scene......
It seems the Makala Dolphin is a true cult item, certainly within the entire online uke community there seems to be a real affinity with these little guys, its hard if not impossible to find anyone with a bad word to say about them, and I agree they have many many merits and outshine all the sub $50 ukes competing in the marketplace, but what about a full unbiased opinion, someone who isn't already in love with them giving us their first impressions of one.
Well here goes........I'll do my best.
With an unusually loud and happy knock on the front door, the postman announced the arrival of the new Dolphins, It wasn't the formal and polite "I'm supposed to be here because I work for the post office and I'm wearing a uniform and this may be important!" normal kind of mailman knock, but more alike a leprechaun tapping his guiness tankard against the bar in time to the celtic band kind of knock. Rat A Tat Tat the postman had a huge smile and I think the reaction he got when the door opened made his day too, there was a burst of laughter all round and the Dolphins made a loud ,happy, high energy entry into the house.
Here is where the unbiased review falls apart, these babies took center stage from the first moment they arrived, as soon as the boxes were on the table, all other activity in the house stopped, and when the bubble wrap was torn aside, everyone aged between 3 and 93 went "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!, in one big collective gush, new born infants were never fawned over so instantly, even they need a few minutes to wash all the blood and goo off, but these little guys were shiny happy people right out of the cardboard womb.
We all instantly fell in love with them, no one at this point has even plucked a string, but we have all got one thing in common, we love music, we love instruments and we can all tell s** from shinola, and we have recently been exposed to a whole range of pretty terrible pieces of junk masquerading as ukuleles, so it was just totally obvious the difference in quality straight away, They just beamed up at us and my wife (with a rosiness of a new mother in her cheeks that I haven't seen for many a year) said, "They really want to be played eh?" ?, and it was true, call me an old romantic, but you could sense that there was thousands of hours of potential joy and happiness all crammed into this shiny box, and it wanted to start bursting into life, to begin its musical journey immediately.
Ok I'm being a bit over dramatic, but I have bought a lot of instruments over the last 40 or so years and these ones came with their own energy and personality right out of the box that's for sure, call me a old Hippy, I don't care.
So after we had finished all the "ooh aahh" ing and choosing booties for them (owch, that was an ear smack from the wife), we got down to the more serious job of analysing them with a critical eye, a razor sharp scientific mind, and the discernment of a master luth..."awwwwwww, look at the bridge", "isn't that just the coolest design ever", "I want the blue one", "here let me have a loo...","OWWWWCH", "dad, I want the green one and she said....""""STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!""""", all of you just stop, and shut up for a second here, good god, they are just a couple of 30 dollar ukes, it's like the house has been catapulted into an episode of the amazing race, and the one who gets to hold the ukulele for longest wins immunity or something, hell, I dunno, but it would be nice IF I COULD ACTUALLY GET TO HAVE A PROPER LOOK AT ONE".
Ok where were we, oh yes, the unbiased review, ok, time to get serious, are you all still with me ?
, because I've got heaps to say about them, and you may even get a video or two out of me yet.
So if you are really interested, I'll make a coffee, and get this review underway properly, I just wanted to set the scene......