Summer NAMM 2012 Pics

More to come but just a few updates.
Imua ukulele made in Hawaii in association with a great Japanese luthier are sure to be popping up on the horizon.
Moku ukes new series is awesome with solid mahogany, spruce tops and more. Love the binding on the new mahoganys.
Gorgeous instruments from LoPrinzi (maple concert coming back)
Ohana's Nunes style soprano, I love this one! It's solid mahogany and should be out late this year.:drool:
More to see and report

Beautiful! Who has the DaSilva on display?

Anyway, I'll be there on Saturday, and have made the following must-see uke list (in alphabetical order, with booth numbers):

Big Island Ukulele - 1009

C.F. Martin & Co. Inc. - 1200

Cordoba Music Group - 1211

Gold Tone Inc. - 1300

Kala Brand Music Co. - 926

Lanikai Ukulele - 1301

Moku Ukuleles - 1704

Taylor Guitars (and Ukes?) - 105

Hope I'm not missing anything.

Looking forward to seeing all the Mikes, and hopefully meeting Mim, at Summer NAMM. Maybe we can all get together for lunch on Saturday?

Steedy said:

Beautiful! Who has the DaSilva on display?

Anyway, I'll be there on Saturday, and have made the following must-see uke list (in alphabetical order, with booth numbers):

Big Island Ukulele - 1009

C.F. Martin & Co. Inc. - 1200

Cordoba Music Group - 1211

Gold Tone Inc. - 1300

Kala Brand Music Co. - 926

Lanikai Ukulele - 1301

Moku Ukuleles - 1704

Taylor Guitars (and Ukes?) - 105

Hope I'm not missing anything.

Looking forward to seeing all the Mikes, and hopefully meeting Mim, at Summer NAMM. Maybe we can all get together for lunch on Saturday?

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Check out LuLu Ukes and tell us how they are.

ukeeku said:

Check out LuLu Ukes and tell us how they are.

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Ah, Vision Musical Instruments, LLC - booth #437

Thanks for the tip!

Also, almost overlooked Luna Guitars (& Ukes?) - booth #511

I'll add both to my list.

Thanks for sharing!! :drool:

Thanks! And looking forward to more NAMM pics from you.

Looks like Ohana tried to Out-Mainland Mainland!

Had a great time at Summer NAMM 2012 Public Day! Met a lot of nice folks and saw a lot of nice ukes.

Here's some Girl Power (left to right) - Hitomi Kato (President of Takumi Ukulele Co.), Mim (CEO of Mim's Ukes), & Donna LoPrinzi (Master Luthier):



I was tongue-tied in the presence of those awesome ladies!


Here's Mim pointing to the SOLD tag on her new Breedlove uke (why is this woman smiling?):




Mike Mulqueen (Founder, CEO, & Designer of Moku Ukuleles):



The Moku Ukuleles are very nice. Mike has a nice line of quality entry-level ukes, and a great line of solid wood ukuleles, all at affordable prices. I was particularly drawn to a solid spruce/mahogany Concert uke from his Select Series. I can definitely see a Moku ukulele in my future.

Summer NAMM 2012 Public Day continued...


Big Island Concert Koa:




Big Island Spalted Mango Concert:




Lulu Ukuleles, in Concert size:



Someone above asked me to check out the Lulu Ukes. The Vision Instruments booth had Soprano, Concert, & Tenor ukes, in solid mahogany, solid spruce/rosewood, & solid koa. They're very pretty, with a lot of attention to detail. For instance, in addition to the usual rosettes, the sound holes are edged with the same material as the top binding, which kind of ties the whole design together nicely. To me, they seemed like a step up from say, Oscar Schmidt ukuleles. The rep in the booth said they're moving production from China to Connecticut, in the USA. Unfortunately, it was too loud on the convention floor for me to hear how they sounded, so that's still an unknown, but they seem serious about making quality ukes at affordable prices, so I say look for good things from Lulu Ukuleles in the future

Summer NAMM 2012 Public Day continued again...

Finally, here's a couple of photos I swiped from the Uke Republic Facebook page:

Here's me with Mike McQueen from Uke Republic, at the Kala Brand ukulele circle:



Just after this photo was taken, Mike and his lovely wife Donna joined in, and we all three had fun jamming with the other 50 or so people in the room.


This is Stephanie in the Ohana booth:



I loved her for being such a sweetheart, but I hated her for showing me all the new Ohana prototypes and then telling me I couldn't buy any of them yet.

Oh well, my first NAMM was a blast. Can't wait 'til next year!

Steedy, you're a legend. These pics and chit chat are awesome. Thanks mate
:cheers:

That Nunes replica from Ohana looks pretty cool something I wouldn't mind playing

Ooooo Steedy great pics! I stole a few for my facebook! And your analysis was right on1 I am so glad I got to meet you!

Thanks to you both, Mike and Steedy, for all of the pictures and news! I love seeing all those 'ukuleles, and it's great to see some of the people who get them into our hands!

It was a load of fun fo sho! Great seeing all who could make it and being able to jam with Steedy!
Heres mo pics https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151109813472150.500601.255643082149&type=1
I'll probably have some more pics up of some one of a kinds that Ohana let me have along with some other surprises

Mim said:

Ooooo Steedy great pics! I stole a few for my facebook! And your analysis was right on. I am so glad I got to meet you!

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It was great to meet you and your hubby also! Thanks for taking some time to talk ukes with me, when you obviously had a lot going on.

And thanks to Mike for giving me some strumming tips during the uke circle.

LuLu Ukukleles

I've never officially reviewed a product before, so please bare with me as I attempt to be as articulate and descriptive as I can be!
I was at the NAMM show on July 14th and was able to check out the LuLu Ukes. They were actually nice enough to allow me to go in a remote corner to play their concert Mahogany and Koa tenors. Both instruments were all solid (top, back and sides). I agree with "Steedy" that the attention to detail was really great, but the sound actually impressed me the most. OKay.....I'll back up!

The detail work was super cool. Well above that of most anything I saw at the show or have seen in all my travels. (For sure in this price range!)
The headstock matches the back, the heel has a nicely contoured cap that also mimicks the back. The bindings were done really nicely and the tonehole has an inlay (somehow attached to the inner most area) of Rosewood. Super handsome and a very cool (extra mile) detail....really ties the whole thing together for me!

The mahogany instrument used what appeared to be a good quality mahogany with pretty grain. The headstock has a super nice edge that also keyed me in to the fact that these were not your "run of the mill, cheap ukuleles!" They use Grover open geared tuners, a Graphtech nut and compensating saddle, D'addario "Nyltech" strings and comes with an absolutely beautiful hard case complete with hygrometer and planet waves small instrument humidifer. (very cool)

Finding a quiet spot on the show floor was difficult, but the sales rep "product specialist" was super friendly and for a nobody (me) went way beyond the neccessary. We found a quiet hallway nearby and I spent the next 15 minutes comparing the Mahogany and Koa tenor models.
I must say that I was super impressed. The sound was terrific....seemingly exploding from the instrument (especially the Mahogany) Super even and easy to play.....difficult to put down. I went back and offered to buy it later in the day, but was told they were waiting for a bunch of containers to arrive and couldn't part with them.

In a nutshell....(in my humble opinion) For under $500 retail the LuLu Mahogany tenor rivals that of almost any tenor I've ever played. (And I own and/or have played them all. The Koa model was very nice too, but had the D'addario Titanium strings on it (not my preference) and I think they may have thinned-out what otherwise was a great playing / looking instrument too!

Steedy said:

Ah, Vision Musical Instruments, LLC - booth #437

Thanks for the tip!

Also, almost overlooked Luna Guitars (& Ukes?) - booth #511

I'll add both to my list.

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Thanks for the pics and the observations...they're great...

Lil_uker said:

In a nutshell....(in my humble opinion) For under $500 retail the LuLu Mahogany tenor rivals that of almost any tenor I've ever played. (And I own and/or have played them all. The Koa model was very nice too, but had the D'addario Titanium strings on it (not my preference) and I think they may have thinned-out what otherwise was a great playing / looking instrument too!

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Hi Lil_uker, welcome to UU!

Thanks for a nice write-up on the Lulu Ukes.

Great Pics!! Thank for Sharing.