And you'll be right, I have no willpower at all.
But I do have two new additions to my instrument collection
I'm still a newbie when it comes to uke, but since I play guitar and mandolin, I know how it goes and I knew I would want to move up from my first uke sooner rather than later.
So when I saw two Kamakas - a soprano and a pineapple - advertised, I knew I wanted one. Based on discussions here, I felt the pineapple might suit me better, but to be honest I prefer the figure 8 bodyshape, and anyway, I wasn't going to buy both, but you can see what's coming...
I must say a big thanks to John Croft, aka the Ukulele Man, who kindly drove up from Shropshire to meet up and give me the opportunity to try both, and was a pleasure to deal with. He had described these as "plain, but great sounding" - I said great, that's exactly what I want!
John said he thinks these are both from around 1980 or thereabouts. They are both in really good condition; the soprano has some finish checking and the tuners are a bit stiff, and it could do with a bit of a clean up, but no issues as far as I can see.
My initial impressions are that I love the tone of both; the soprano seems brighter and the pineapple louder and warmer, perhaps better for singing along with. The koa on the pineapple is prettier, but both are very nice. The more I look, the more I find little differences, for example the fretboard on the pineapple is very thin, like on an old Neapolitan mandolin, whereas the soprano is much thicker. The heel shape is different, and there is a slight difference in the neck profile. The body of the soprano is slightly deeper.
I'm curious about the date, history etc so if anyone has any comments I'm keen to learn, so please feel free to offer any information.
I'm looking forward to having some fun with these babies, and they will certainly give me plenty of motivation to practice and improve my uke skills!!!
Meanwhile, I'll post a couple more pics...
But I do have two new additions to my instrument collection
I'm still a newbie when it comes to uke, but since I play guitar and mandolin, I know how it goes and I knew I would want to move up from my first uke sooner rather than later.
So when I saw two Kamakas - a soprano and a pineapple - advertised, I knew I wanted one. Based on discussions here, I felt the pineapple might suit me better, but to be honest I prefer the figure 8 bodyshape, and anyway, I wasn't going to buy both, but you can see what's coming...
I must say a big thanks to John Croft, aka the Ukulele Man, who kindly drove up from Shropshire to meet up and give me the opportunity to try both, and was a pleasure to deal with. He had described these as "plain, but great sounding" - I said great, that's exactly what I want!
John said he thinks these are both from around 1980 or thereabouts. They are both in really good condition; the soprano has some finish checking and the tuners are a bit stiff, and it could do with a bit of a clean up, but no issues as far as I can see.
My initial impressions are that I love the tone of both; the soprano seems brighter and the pineapple louder and warmer, perhaps better for singing along with. The koa on the pineapple is prettier, but both are very nice. The more I look, the more I find little differences, for example the fretboard on the pineapple is very thin, like on an old Neapolitan mandolin, whereas the soprano is much thicker. The heel shape is different, and there is a slight difference in the neck profile. The body of the soprano is slightly deeper.
I'm curious about the date, history etc so if anyone has any comments I'm keen to learn, so please feel free to offer any information.
I'm looking forward to having some fun with these babies, and they will certainly give me plenty of motivation to practice and improve my uke skills!!!
Meanwhile, I'll post a couple more pics...
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