wickedwahine11
Well-known member
As some of you are aware, back in April I sold my KoAloha Pineapple Sunday to a member here on UU. Although I was aware of some chips on it, and disclosed those, I very rarely played it, so I had no idea that the soundboard had gotten a bit distorted.
When the buyer received it, he notified me that it was canted by 12 degrees. I ended up refunding his money and paid him to ship it to KoAloha rather than back to me.
That was back in April. About two months had passed and I called KoAloha to check on the status of the inspection and whether they would need to repair or replace it. It turns out that they had accidentally misplaced the box and that day Mom KoAloha (Pat Okami) called me back apologizing profusely. Then I got a message from Pops (Alvin) and he said they would be replacing the ukulele because he was not happy with its condition.
Long backstory, I had actually gone through about five Pineapple Sundays looking for the one that I was happy with. Yeah, I know, I'm finicky and hard to please and so on...So I was sad to hear it would not be able to be repaired, but to be honest, I had already sold it, so I was figuring I would just sell the replacement uke.
I had sold the prior one for two reasons: I had always wanted a Kauai made uke and the sale of one ukulele would allow me to purchase it, and I also owed a friend $500, which I could pay back by selling one uke. I chose the PS because I generally only play tenors and low g, and because it was the only manufacturer I had two ukes from. So that way I would still have a Kamaka, KoAloha and Kanilea.
So my friend was very cool and understanding and told me not to rush to repay them and just to repay them when I got and sold the replacement PS. I had long ago bought the Kamoa, and did a bit of scrimping to pay that bill since I didn't have the sale proceeds any more. (Neither here nor there, but anyway...)
So I knew that my Mom had planned a trip to Hawaii for us in August. So about a week ago, I wrote an email to KoAloha asking if there was any chance there might be a PS to pick up, telling them no big deal if there wasn't but since I was in town, I figured it was worth a try.
I heard back from Pops and he told me he had just finished a batch of PS ukes, and he would choose the pick of the litter for me to have. We set up a date for me to come in (this past Thursday) and he also asked if I would join them for lunch that day.
I knew that KoAloha had a practice of eating lunch together as a group, and I felt very honored to accept the invitation.
Somewhere along the way though I began to feel very guilty about selling the replacement PS. I guess because they were being so generous, that I felt like it would be kind of rude to do so. But at the same time, I still owe the $500 and it seems wrong to not repay a debt predicated on the sale.
So I went down there on Thursday hoping that I would not like it, as that would make my decision so much easier. Then I could just relist it and go about my business. I still wanted them to know how much I appreciate their warranty replacement, and how much I love my crown bridge tenor, so I actually took it with me to the factory that day.
When I got there, I was shocked to find out that Pops had decided not to pick one out for me. He wanted me to choose my new uke, as he put it, "One will speak to you." He laid out 11 brand spanking new Pineapple Sundays for me to pick from. None of them had any strings or even tuners on them yet, so I had only aesthetics and wood grain to make my determination.
I find one gorgeous golden blonde honey color uke that stood out to me right away. The front was honey, but the back was almost a tan color. The fretboard was also golden with brown lines running down it and it had especially brilliant abalone fret marker dots.
I immediately picked that one as the one that spoke to me, though I still went through the other 10 to be sure. They then made me another generous offer, because it didn't have tuners yet, I could choose whether to install their new black ones with the KoAloha logo, or I could keep the tuners off my old PS (the dark chrome). I opted for the old tuners for two reasons: 1) it was a way to keep a part of my old PS for sentimental value, and 2) I don't really like the black tuners on the light blonde wood of this uke.
So while I waited for them to install the tuners and strings on the new uke, Mom KoAloha talked story with me. She was such a warm and lovely person, and I really enjoyed our time together. After that Pops said he wanted to get something for me, so he went into the office and returned with his solo CD, as well as his CD for the Tsunami relief and the song sheet for the music. He brought a boombox and put the CD on and then proceeded to sing me the song -- he has such a lovely voice!
We then discussed how I was going to the My KoAloha Story movie showing at the LA Grammy Museum on the 28th. He told me what a great film it was, and he and Mom both urged me to get the word out on the show. Just as a side shout out, the tickets are only $10, and Daniel Ho and Alan Okami are doing a workshop for free before it. If you are a KoAloha fan, a Daniel Ho fan, or even just an ukulele fan in LA, you should try to attend, it sound like it will be a great event.
Once my uke was finished, Brian (who I had also been chatting with) went to pick up lunch for everyone. They refused to accept any money from me for it (I tried a couple of times to pay), and then we had lunch together. It was a really nice opportunity to see the warmth and ohana that the KoAloha crew have for each other. I also enjoyed speaking with Alan during lunch. I had met his brother Paul a couple of times (a true sweetheart) and this was my first chance to meet Alan -- a really funny and smart guy.
After lunch, I told them it was time for me to get out of their hair and get back to Waikiki. I got goodbye hugs from them, and walked out the door with my new Pineapple Sunday.
All in all it was a fantastic experience, and it just proved to me once again how wonderful the KoAloha family are. The Okamis are incredibly kind and generous with their time and spirit, and I cannot thank them enough for replacing my uke, and allowing me to be a big part of the selection of the new one.
I would feel like such a jerk and so guilty for selling it. I sold the first one in part to finance my Kamoa, but also because while I love the PS looks, I prefer playing tenor and low g ukes, so it never got played.
So now I don't know what to do. It is really beautiful, but I probably won't play it that often and I still owe that $500. I could save up to get the $500 another way but it would be much easier to do so from selling this. In addition, I have a custom cabinet to hold my ukes and I'm not sure five will fit. And I don't want to store ukes anywhere else in my house as that is humidity controlled. Plus, if it is just sitting in a case somewhere, that doesn't seem like it will be appreciated.
But the last thing I want to do is be ungrateful after the generosity of time and spirit that the Okamis lavished on me. I know they don't really go on UU, or Flea Market Music, but they would probably know it was mine if sold. For one thing, they all kept remarking on the Ameritage case I had with it. Plus, it is a new bridge style but has the old tuners. And basically, if they ever knew, and if it would hurt them, I would never do it. In that case, it will just be expensive eye candy on my wall and I will find another way to pay my debt.
Plus, I really do like the looks of it. If I ever wanted another PS, I would regret selling this one. It is quite pretty and sounds good. Plus, it has the old tuners I really prefer.
If I end up keeping it, I want to sell my Ameritage case and get a Kamoa super concert case for it -- probably yellow to match the pineapple theme. Since I am in Kauai right now, and Sam is holding a yellow super concert case for me this week, I need to make up my mind now.
P.S. Yes, I travel to Hawaii a lot, but I am not rich. My mom pays for all these trips, so no, I don't have $500 just lying around.
Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge the ohana of the Okamis. My experience is one more reason why I always recommend KoAloha to people in search of a K uke. Don't get me wrong, Kamakas are wonderful, and I love my Kanilea (and really like Joe and Kristen a lot). But when it comes to the best combination of sound, warranty and customer service, KoAloha is tough to beat. IMHO of course.
Without further ado, here is a pic I took with my phone of the new uke. Sorry for the quality but I didn't bring my camera on this trip. Now just to decide whether to sell it or keep it (I've gone from leaning sell, to being equally torn, to now leaning keep). Keeping it is what my soul tells me to do. If so, I'm naming it Makana, or "gift" in Hawaiian for the gift of ohana that the Okamis gave me.
When the buyer received it, he notified me that it was canted by 12 degrees. I ended up refunding his money and paid him to ship it to KoAloha rather than back to me.
That was back in April. About two months had passed and I called KoAloha to check on the status of the inspection and whether they would need to repair or replace it. It turns out that they had accidentally misplaced the box and that day Mom KoAloha (Pat Okami) called me back apologizing profusely. Then I got a message from Pops (Alvin) and he said they would be replacing the ukulele because he was not happy with its condition.
Long backstory, I had actually gone through about five Pineapple Sundays looking for the one that I was happy with. Yeah, I know, I'm finicky and hard to please and so on...So I was sad to hear it would not be able to be repaired, but to be honest, I had already sold it, so I was figuring I would just sell the replacement uke.
I had sold the prior one for two reasons: I had always wanted a Kauai made uke and the sale of one ukulele would allow me to purchase it, and I also owed a friend $500, which I could pay back by selling one uke. I chose the PS because I generally only play tenors and low g, and because it was the only manufacturer I had two ukes from. So that way I would still have a Kamaka, KoAloha and Kanilea.
So my friend was very cool and understanding and told me not to rush to repay them and just to repay them when I got and sold the replacement PS. I had long ago bought the Kamoa, and did a bit of scrimping to pay that bill since I didn't have the sale proceeds any more. (Neither here nor there, but anyway...)
So I knew that my Mom had planned a trip to Hawaii for us in August. So about a week ago, I wrote an email to KoAloha asking if there was any chance there might be a PS to pick up, telling them no big deal if there wasn't but since I was in town, I figured it was worth a try.
I heard back from Pops and he told me he had just finished a batch of PS ukes, and he would choose the pick of the litter for me to have. We set up a date for me to come in (this past Thursday) and he also asked if I would join them for lunch that day.
I knew that KoAloha had a practice of eating lunch together as a group, and I felt very honored to accept the invitation.
Somewhere along the way though I began to feel very guilty about selling the replacement PS. I guess because they were being so generous, that I felt like it would be kind of rude to do so. But at the same time, I still owe the $500 and it seems wrong to not repay a debt predicated on the sale.
So I went down there on Thursday hoping that I would not like it, as that would make my decision so much easier. Then I could just relist it and go about my business. I still wanted them to know how much I appreciate their warranty replacement, and how much I love my crown bridge tenor, so I actually took it with me to the factory that day.
When I got there, I was shocked to find out that Pops had decided not to pick one out for me. He wanted me to choose my new uke, as he put it, "One will speak to you." He laid out 11 brand spanking new Pineapple Sundays for me to pick from. None of them had any strings or even tuners on them yet, so I had only aesthetics and wood grain to make my determination.
I find one gorgeous golden blonde honey color uke that stood out to me right away. The front was honey, but the back was almost a tan color. The fretboard was also golden with brown lines running down it and it had especially brilliant abalone fret marker dots.
I immediately picked that one as the one that spoke to me, though I still went through the other 10 to be sure. They then made me another generous offer, because it didn't have tuners yet, I could choose whether to install their new black ones with the KoAloha logo, or I could keep the tuners off my old PS (the dark chrome). I opted for the old tuners for two reasons: 1) it was a way to keep a part of my old PS for sentimental value, and 2) I don't really like the black tuners on the light blonde wood of this uke.
So while I waited for them to install the tuners and strings on the new uke, Mom KoAloha talked story with me. She was such a warm and lovely person, and I really enjoyed our time together. After that Pops said he wanted to get something for me, so he went into the office and returned with his solo CD, as well as his CD for the Tsunami relief and the song sheet for the music. He brought a boombox and put the CD on and then proceeded to sing me the song -- he has such a lovely voice!
We then discussed how I was going to the My KoAloha Story movie showing at the LA Grammy Museum on the 28th. He told me what a great film it was, and he and Mom both urged me to get the word out on the show. Just as a side shout out, the tickets are only $10, and Daniel Ho and Alan Okami are doing a workshop for free before it. If you are a KoAloha fan, a Daniel Ho fan, or even just an ukulele fan in LA, you should try to attend, it sound like it will be a great event.
Once my uke was finished, Brian (who I had also been chatting with) went to pick up lunch for everyone. They refused to accept any money from me for it (I tried a couple of times to pay), and then we had lunch together. It was a really nice opportunity to see the warmth and ohana that the KoAloha crew have for each other. I also enjoyed speaking with Alan during lunch. I had met his brother Paul a couple of times (a true sweetheart) and this was my first chance to meet Alan -- a really funny and smart guy.
After lunch, I told them it was time for me to get out of their hair and get back to Waikiki. I got goodbye hugs from them, and walked out the door with my new Pineapple Sunday.
All in all it was a fantastic experience, and it just proved to me once again how wonderful the KoAloha family are. The Okamis are incredibly kind and generous with their time and spirit, and I cannot thank them enough for replacing my uke, and allowing me to be a big part of the selection of the new one.
I would feel like such a jerk and so guilty for selling it. I sold the first one in part to finance my Kamoa, but also because while I love the PS looks, I prefer playing tenor and low g ukes, so it never got played.
So now I don't know what to do. It is really beautiful, but I probably won't play it that often and I still owe that $500. I could save up to get the $500 another way but it would be much easier to do so from selling this. In addition, I have a custom cabinet to hold my ukes and I'm not sure five will fit. And I don't want to store ukes anywhere else in my house as that is humidity controlled. Plus, if it is just sitting in a case somewhere, that doesn't seem like it will be appreciated.
But the last thing I want to do is be ungrateful after the generosity of time and spirit that the Okamis lavished on me. I know they don't really go on UU, or Flea Market Music, but they would probably know it was mine if sold. For one thing, they all kept remarking on the Ameritage case I had with it. Plus, it is a new bridge style but has the old tuners. And basically, if they ever knew, and if it would hurt them, I would never do it. In that case, it will just be expensive eye candy on my wall and I will find another way to pay my debt.
Plus, I really do like the looks of it. If I ever wanted another PS, I would regret selling this one. It is quite pretty and sounds good. Plus, it has the old tuners I really prefer.
If I end up keeping it, I want to sell my Ameritage case and get a Kamoa super concert case for it -- probably yellow to match the pineapple theme. Since I am in Kauai right now, and Sam is holding a yellow super concert case for me this week, I need to make up my mind now.
P.S. Yes, I travel to Hawaii a lot, but I am not rich. My mom pays for all these trips, so no, I don't have $500 just lying around.
Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge the ohana of the Okamis. My experience is one more reason why I always recommend KoAloha to people in search of a K uke. Don't get me wrong, Kamakas are wonderful, and I love my Kanilea (and really like Joe and Kristen a lot). But when it comes to the best combination of sound, warranty and customer service, KoAloha is tough to beat. IMHO of course.
Without further ado, here is a pic I took with my phone of the new uke. Sorry for the quality but I didn't bring my camera on this trip. Now just to decide whether to sell it or keep it (I've gone from leaning sell, to being equally torn, to now leaning keep). Keeping it is what my soul tells me to do. If so, I'm naming it Makana, or "gift" in Hawaiian for the gift of ohana that the Okamis gave me.
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That is what my heart tells me. As I told one of my friends since I don't want to sell this, I guess I have to find another method of repaying my debt. Selling blood perhaps? 
