Well, it is new to me anyway.
First of all I have to thank Ralf (aka TheOnlyUkeThatMatters), for posting a thread in the Marketplace a while back about a MB that was for sale on craigslist in Porland, OR. The seller would not ship so I asked Ralf if he would act as a liasson between the seller and I. He graciously agreed.
The seller had no pictures of the ukulele for me and didn't have any way to take any. Yikes! He told me he bought it new in 2007 from Hilo guitars on a whim with the idea that he would take up the ukulele. He said that it still had the original strings on it, as if that were some kind of a great selling point. Original equipment! He simply was taken by the beauty of this particular ukulele. Not a bad starter uke, eh? Anyway this MB had sat unplayed in his closet for the past couple of years. Ralf was not going to be able to meet up with the seller for another six days to inspect the MB for me and I knew that it would not last that long so I, gulp, bought it sight unseen from a seller that I didn't know, who lived 3000 miles away, and I was going to rely on another person that I didn't know to inspect it for me. Needles to say, I didn't sleep very well that night, nor the next 5.
I contacted Chuck who emailed me three photos that he had archived of #714. Wow! The seller didn't even tell me that it was a cutaway! Chuck agreed to take the uke back and give it a full tune up/updating which included a new bone saddle, string change(Savarez with a polished Low G) MiSi pickup and a good polishing. Many Mahalos, Chuck, for your great work and service.
When I finally got it, three weeks after I paid for it, it looked brand new. It was obvious that this uke had barely been played. It has opened up in the time that I have had it as I have been playing it exclusively.
Now for the specs. It has beautiful dark curly Koa with a sapwood skunk stripe down the center, and Cocobolo accents. Abalone, BWB purfling and rosette with a solid Koa neck and Gotoh closed geared tuners. Hopefully I can get these pics loaded onto this thread so you all can see it!
First of all I have to thank Ralf (aka TheOnlyUkeThatMatters), for posting a thread in the Marketplace a while back about a MB that was for sale on craigslist in Porland, OR. The seller would not ship so I asked Ralf if he would act as a liasson between the seller and I. He graciously agreed.
The seller had no pictures of the ukulele for me and didn't have any way to take any. Yikes! He told me he bought it new in 2007 from Hilo guitars on a whim with the idea that he would take up the ukulele. He said that it still had the original strings on it, as if that were some kind of a great selling point. Original equipment! He simply was taken by the beauty of this particular ukulele. Not a bad starter uke, eh? Anyway this MB had sat unplayed in his closet for the past couple of years. Ralf was not going to be able to meet up with the seller for another six days to inspect the MB for me and I knew that it would not last that long so I, gulp, bought it sight unseen from a seller that I didn't know, who lived 3000 miles away, and I was going to rely on another person that I didn't know to inspect it for me. Needles to say, I didn't sleep very well that night, nor the next 5.
I contacted Chuck who emailed me three photos that he had archived of #714. Wow! The seller didn't even tell me that it was a cutaway! Chuck agreed to take the uke back and give it a full tune up/updating which included a new bone saddle, string change(Savarez with a polished Low G) MiSi pickup and a good polishing. Many Mahalos, Chuck, for your great work and service.
When I finally got it, three weeks after I paid for it, it looked brand new. It was obvious that this uke had barely been played. It has opened up in the time that I have had it as I have been playing it exclusively.
Now for the specs. It has beautiful dark curly Koa with a sapwood skunk stripe down the center, and Cocobolo accents. Abalone, BWB purfling and rosette with a solid Koa neck and Gotoh closed geared tuners. Hopefully I can get these pics loaded onto this thread so you all can see it!
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