Martin 5K on ebay may have a mold problem

Skinny Money McGee

Skinny Money McGee

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Anyone thinking about bidding on that Martin 5K that is currently on ebay may want to consider the uke may be full of mold. After questioning him about the pictures, the seller admitted to me in an email that the uke had been sitting in his moldy garage for 26 years.

"It has been sitting in its case in my garage since 1986. Nobody has so much as
moved it. My garage does have mold. But, I think the experts I took it to would have said something had they been concerned. Good luck. gj"

He doesn't mention who these "experts" are that looked at it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170988995923&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123

Seems to me any reputable guitar tech or Luthier would have at least questioned it.
 
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Ebay is full of flakes who don't tell the whole truth or outright lie sbout stuff to make money. I recently gave my first negative feedback to a guy who never mentioned the uke I bought from him had a repaired crack on the back, and he even included the receipt for the repair bill he paid himself!!
 
The soundhole photo looks a little moldy.
 
patrick...keep nudging the price up ten bucks at a time until you smack the reserve lol
 
Patrick Madsen said:
Thanks, It'll be like umm Hawaiian roulette instead of Russian roulette. I wonder if he'd trade for that Favilla Bari I just won.
Click to expand...

Pat, glad you won that. You'll enjoy that instrument. Really nice sound.
 
There's no label on the inside nor serial numbers that I could see so may be a pre '53.
Will be here on Sat. and will do the big clean and setup.
I swore that I would only get one uke when I started playing lol. 18months later and this will number 6 not counting the ones I've bought and sold. Man, I thought my guitar addiction was bad after 55 yrs. of playing but this UAS is just as bad. My wife just shakes her head and said,"Well at least these take up less space."
 
Patrick Madsen said:
Still hasn't reached the reserve price yet. 22 bids.
Click to expand...

There are only 10 active bidders. The seller is dodging the questions about mold and refuses to reveal the "experts at three Los Angeles stringed-instrument selling companies who unanimously declared it flawless"

Interestingly enough if you look at his feedback, out of 19, he has only 1 as a "seller" that turned controversial. "Item condition wasn't as described". Was back when the seller could leave negative feedback.
 
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HeWhoTalksLoudSayinNothin said:
Is it hard to get mold out of wood? I am just asking as I never delt with such a problem before and am curious.
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I don't know. The question has been asked on these forums before and there's been no satisfactory answer that I've seen. I guess you could always treat it with bleach, then spray a coating of varnish over it, but that would really damage the value of the instrument.
 
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Well...I had to go look at it. I'd say...yeah...that's mold. Could be something as simple as common mildew or much worse. Doesn't look like the dreaded "black mold" though unless somebody has already had a go at cleaning it up and what we see is what's left from that. "Unmolested" black mold is powdery - that's part of what makes it so dangerous.

As for the seller's claim that three different experts have declared it flawless...I'd like to know what kind of "experts" declare an instrument flawless when it isn't even strung up to tension. Two of the strings aren't even attached. Without the top, neck, etc. being under full tension I don't think that there is any way to know that there isn't a problem that renders it unplayable.

I can't believe that anyone is foolish enough to bid almost nine grand on this especially given the seller's history, or lack thereof. Oh well, if somebody gets taken to the cleaners it's pretty much their own fault because they've had to ignore plenty of red flags to get there...

John
 
I have a moldy kamaka tenor 2007...it looks brand new except it has mold inside ...with all my efforts with bleach, it still comes back...any buyers...he he
 
Disclosure: I was one of the experts. I told him that it's a flawless example of fungal black mold, is what I actually said. I told him that some sucker will probably buy it, though.

Oh, wait...his experts were in California. I'm not. I'm thinking of another uke for which I gave expert feedback, I guess. Must have been Stan's bready Kamaka. lol
 
The seller finally emailed me back and said the three "experts that declared this flawless" were:
Guitar Center - Hollywood (enough said)
Norman's Guitars in Tarzana (I emailed Norman and asked him about it. no reply yet)
McGabes in LA (he said the uke expert wasn't there)

So in other words, only 1 worth noting has actually inspected it. And depending on his reply, he may not have either.
 
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I bought my Martin bari from the vintage expert at McCabes; was her own personal bari. It's a good thing she wasn't there as I'm sure he wouldn't have liked what she would have said. She sounded pretty meticulous and took her job and reputation seriously.
 
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