specifications of uke not the same

anybody get a uke that does not match the specs on internet website from the internet store and the ukulele makers...bridge is different ..different tuners black not chrome??no binding on fretboard?? this is all different from specs on website..why is this???my uke looks a little cheesy with these things...i know it is going to sound great but does not look like uke i ordered??? this is one of the larger uke builders in hawaii???i guess my fault for ordering on line???

Maybe you could post some photos of your ukulele and a link to the specifications so folks can see how the specs differ from the ukulele you bought. Have you tried contacting the seller to ask him or her why you got an ukulele different from the one described on the website?

thanks for the reply..i did send the internet store on maui and the uke maker on oahu.emails today no answeres yet..this is a big name ukulele maker...what specs say...rosewood bow tie tenor bridge(i got a regular tie bridge with the company name on it..it looks cheap,just my take on it...says rosewood binding on edge of fretboard..(i see no rosewood binding) and all pictures show chrome tuners(mine has black turners..they look cheesy to me...my take only..) any way this uke is going to sound great i think??..i live in northern calif ..so i dont want to deal with sending back..etc...

From your description of the changes I think I know the uke. I am pretty sure the website is old and is in the process of being redone. The company is often changing designs/features of their instruments. There have been several threads about changes that companies make to their instruments. If I bought it from a website I would expect to know what I was getting from the seller. Good luck with whatever you do but I think you have a fine instrument.

I'll have to agree the dealer website has not been updated and I also remember the post about the black tuners . . . personally didn't it.

It doesn't seem much harder to update a website than to update an ukulele. I hope I never deal with that company.

hey thanks for all your guys feedback...i actually thought that the uke i have is the old design and the website is new??ha ha,... anyway this is a highly regarded ukulele company but if i had a choice i do not like their name on the bridge and black tuners kind of ugly...the wood is perfect and i am pretty sure it will sound great when it opens up.... my nice ukes are a kanilea..a peter lieberman tenor maui music..and i just ordered a rick tuner all koa body..i got to talk to him directly..and he knows exactly what i need....mostly his ideas but he knows what he is talking about...real nice and smart guy..he loves ukulele...

The Oahu ukulele manufacturer changed its bridge from the bow tie bridge to the bridge with its name some time ago, and it changed the tuners to black a little more recently. It sounds like you got a newer ukulele than the one pictured on the Maui seller's website. You might check to see whether the seller's website states that the ukulele pictured is the one you will receive, because if it does say that, then you're entitled to the ukulele pictured. However, most retailers use stock photos and then forget (or just choose not) to update the photos when the manufacturer makes a design change to the ukulele. Three retailers I can think of that DO use photos of the ACTUAL uke for sale are Gryphon Stringed Instuments in Palo Alto, Hawaii Music Supply in Oahu, and Mim's Ukes on eBay, but they all say so on their websites. I usually assume that the uke pictured for sale is NOT the uke actually being sold, so if I were buying from a retailer that doesn't specifically state that the uke pictured is the actual uke for sale, I'd request a photo of the actual uke I'd be buying before buying it.

I believe people should get what they want, but you may come to like the uke you got once you get over the surprise of it looking different than you expected it would. If not, CALL the seller (phone calls are harder to avoid than email) and talk to him about a refund (on the ground that the uke isn't what you expected based on his web site representations) or an exchange, if possible. I suppose you could also contact the manufacturer to see if they have any of their older ukes still in stock. Maybe they'd take the new one back in exchange.

The retailer may have assumed that you wanted the newest uke possible. He may have an older uke from this manufactuer for sale that he'd be willing to trade for the one you were sent.

Nickie said:

It doesn't seem much harder to update a website than to update an ukulele. I hope I never deal with that company.

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I agree that the site should have been updated. That being said, as many can attest to, the customer service at this particular company is second to none and their ukuleles are fantastic. I think that many people would be very happy to have dealings with this company.

If it is the maker I believe it is, the bowtie bridge hasn't been used in over 2 years.

Nickie said:

It doesn't seem much harder to update a website than to update an ukulele. I hope I never deal with that company.

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Many times sites are built by outside contractors and not company employees. I could build a static site by hand, but would be clueless when it comes to setting up shopping carts, databases and the like.

So unless they have someone in-house who knows how to make updates, they would have to pay someone to do it.

I know an organization that paid nearly $30K to have a site built (and it didn't even involve any e-commerce stuff). The design firm retained ownership and no one in the org was allowed to touch the site. Their contract stipulated that any additional work on the site would cost $75/hr. with a one-hr. minimum. You want that typo you made in the body copy you gave us corrected? It's gonna cost you $75!

I guess we all know the company. I actually prefer the new bridge as the old bowtie has some issues with the string slicing the back hole due to the angle of the bridge. They didn't use the new bridge design for tenors until later on in 2011.

I personally prefer the laser etched bridge with the old smoke chrome tuners...You know what? That's what I have!!! LOL

I think the company in question should be named.

I for one have absolutely no idea what company this is (presumably in the US) but I think anyone reading this should have the right to know if they order from this site then what they see might not be what they want.

I can't see why everyone is tip toeing around the name of this site/seller.

My personal opinion to the person who made the original post, if I ordered a uke that looked very different to what I was expecting I'd ask for a return or refund. You shouldn't accept what you've been given if you are not happy and if the unnamed site are decent enough then they'll replace/refund like you've requested.

Keep in mind that there are two companies -- the manufacturer, who the OP said was on Oahu, and the retailer, who the OP said was on Maui -- involved here. It's clear, that the OP did not buy the ukulele directly from the manufacturer, but it is not clear whether the ukulele the OP saw online was on the manufacturer's website or the retailer's website.

The manufacturer's site seems to have old photos. The tenor pictured has a bow tie bridge and chrome tuners, and the basic concert and sopranos pictured have square bridges that I think may have preceded the bow tie bridge. It seems odd that the manufacturer would tout a design change on its website ["Check out our new bridge design! It is still made of solid Hawaiian koa and our name is now laser engraved on it. The new bridge is also designed for lace tying rather than using knots. They will only be available on our soprano and concert scale models." - November 16, 2010 post] without changing the photos. (I believe the manufacturer later made the new bridge design available on tenors and discontinued the bow tie design altogether.)

However, I think it actually matters more what ukulele is pictured at the point-of-purchase website, especially if that's the photo the OP saw when he was buying his ukulele. A retailer's web page for an ukulele basically says "we are selling this ukulele" or, if it identifies the photo as being a stock photo, perhaps "we are selling an ukulele very similar to this." This is why some retailers expressly state on their websites "this is a stock photo. Appearance of the actual ukulele purchased may vary." (With ukuleles, this tends to be a bigger issue for wood grain than for bridges or tuner machine buttons.) If the OP wanted to be aggressive with the retailer about this, he could call or write the retailer to say "this isn't the ukulele I thought I was buying. The one shown on your site had a bow tie bridge and chrome tuners, and the web page said there was binding on the fretboard" and try to get the retailer to either refund his money or find him an ukulele that looks liket he one pictured on the retailer's website. The moral of the story, I think, is for a buyer to determine what the retailer is saying when it posts a photo of an ukulele for sale and, as I mentioned earlier, to ask the retailer to email a photo of the actual ukulele for sale.

Pretty sure I know which dealer you're talking about, and if that's the case, they're legit and very pleasant to deal with. Looks like an oversight on their part rather than a deliberate attempt to bait and switch, though; they used the same (outdated) description from the manufacturer's website and a stock photo. A lot of things like this are subject to change without notice, but if it's not the ukulele you thought you were getting, the seller or manufacturer will make it right somehow.

Before you get too far ahead of yourself, maybe you should look again at the fretboard. I'll bet it is bound. When done as well as they do them, a rosewood fretboard with rosewood binding will look like a single piece of wood. Look at the side of the fretboard. if you don't see the ends of the frets, it is bound. I have one from the same maker all Koa fretboard, bound with Koa. It's invisible.

The tuning machines can easily (and pretty inexpensively) be replaced.

I wish mine had the new bridge. I'm sorry you don't like it. I think the bowtie bridge is Ghastly.

I understand your frustration, as aesthetics are not as important as sound, but not immaterial either. That being said, I actually much prefer the bridge you got over the old one and as steverpetergal pointed out, you can always swap tuners.

If you still don't like it (beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all), I would try to get the seller to swap it for the one you wanted. Barring that, you could always sell or trade this one in order to buy one you prefer. There are lots of bowtie bridges out there with chrome tuners, you just might find someone interested in trading with you because they prefer this style. I once swapped out an expensive uke with another UU member for the exact same model in a trade because we preferred each other's over our own. You might get lucky, good luck whatever you decide.

Koaloha really should update their website to reflect their current offerings, if they currently do not. Either way it sounds like the OP received the latest model. I personally think the black tuners look awesome, and the Koaloha embossed bridge is neither here nor there for me. My Koaloha has friction tuners and the unadorned version of the bridge. The binding is almost invisible its so well done.

allanr said:

Koaloha really should update their website to reflect their current offerings, if they currently do not. Either way it sounds like the OP received the latest model. I personally think the black tuners look awesome, and the Koaloha embossed bridge is neither here nor there for me. My Koaloha has friction tuners and the unadorned version of the bridge. The binding is almost invisible its so well done.

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Thank you for naming them finally Lol. They changed a couple things on their ukes recently though, like the tuners, fret markers, and the bridge. I'm pretty sure there's always something on a website that immediately screams at you that it is not updated (Old posts, inactivity, copyright, etc.) If not, well yeah.

Ryan<3Ukes said:

Thank you for naming them finally Lol. They changed a couple things on their ukes recently though, like the tuners, fret markers, and the bridge. I'm pretty sure there's always something on a website that immediately screams at you that it is not updated (Old posts, inactivity, copyright, etc.) If not, well yeah.

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Yeah, I do not know why they don't update their site; last update was a year ago. As we KoAloha fans know, they are always tweaking something. The have changed their bridge design over 6 times in 2 years. I think they are finally standardizing across models with this newest design.

What many of us love about them is one thing that is also a pain- they innovate by changing something. If you think it is cool, buy it quickly because the design WILL change. WW started a cool thread about the changes in the Pineapple Sunday a few years back and it was interesting to see the evolution. You can almost date Pineapple Sundays by looking at them because of the design changes.