Any interest in a vintage uke section on the forum?

I realize full well that most folks here, and in general as well, play newer model ukes. That having been said, there are more than a few uke owners who appreciate vintage ukes as well, owning both new and old instruments in their stables. On the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum, the vintage section is one of the more popular sections on the forum, frequented both by owners of vintage guitars as well as those just wanting to learn something about the history of vintage guitars.

Does anyone think there is enough interest in having such a vintage section here, where those with particular knowledge of vintage ukes can offer their expertise to those interested in learning something about the history of vintage ukes and/or pursuing this side of uke collecting, and owners of vintage instruments can offer history, photos, sound/video clips, and other pertinent information about their particular instruments.


If not, I certainly understand - just thought I'd throw it out there.

I think it's a great idea.

Sure...They should charge extra for these members so they could feel special and help with the maintenance

A vintage uke section is a wonderful idea!

nongdam said:

Sure...They should charge extra for these members so they could feel special and help with the maintenance

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Well played.

I think a vintage section is a good idea. I've tried to get the bug (think Favilla, Kamaka, Gibson -- and a bunch of plastics) but nothing's stuck yet. Would love to hear some reasons/see some pics to help keep me on the quest.

It may be more of a LL thing, but I particularly would like to see some vintage restorations, a la Jake at Antebellum.

That's such a good idea I wonder why is hasn't been thought of before.

It's a good idea.

What would you all suggest to UU as a cutoff date for a vintage uke?

coolkayaker1 said:

It's a good idea.

What would you all suggest to UU as a cutoff date for a vintage uke?

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You can only comment if the uke in question is older than you are

connor013 said:

Well played.

I think a vintage section is a good idea. I've tried to get the bug (think Favilla, Kamaka, Gibson -- and a bunch of plastics) but nothing's stuck yet. Would love to hear some reasons/see some pics to help keep me on the quest.

It may be more of a LL thing, but I particularly would like to see some vintage restorations, a la Jake at Antebellum.

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You can see some pics of a Hollywood concert ukulele I restored. They are in an album on my page on this forum.

Excellent idea. I would love to learn more about vintage ukes and having a section on the forum dedicated to them would be awesome.

absolutely a great idea

Sounds good to me!

I'd love it. Eyeguy is a genius.

Great idea. I've only got two old ukes, (1920's BU and a 1960s?? Baritone), but I love reading about and talking about old ukes. I would suggest that "Vintage" for these purposes should be "before the third uke wave" without a firm cutoff date. So late 1980's Kamaka's and such would still qualify, but your 2005 whatever would not. People should 1) Use their judgement, 2) Not get into snarky arguments like: "That's NOT vintage!" "Yes it IS!".

That is a good idea, as long as everyone posts lots of pics! While were at it can we do a "new uke day" section as well? I think wed have plenty of threads to fill it

As to someone's question about what constitutes "vintage" in the uke world, there is obviously no official source for this information. In the guitar world, there is a continuing and considerable difference of opinion regarding a working definition of vintage, but most probably consider 1970 a rough cut off date, for a number of reasons which I won't go into, but nothing is etched in stone here. In the ukulele world, things may be more open, and, given the difficulty of precisely dating some of the cool but unmarked ukes that are discovered in flea markets, EBAY, yard sales and the like, it is simply hard to know sometimes just how old a particular uke is. Therefore, I think we as a forum could decide whatever we want, provided, as Pondoro mentioned above, we are not too anal about it and quick to jump on folks who post something we may think doesn't "technically" qualify. For those genuinely interested in the creation of a vintage section, we could conduct a poll asking folks what they would like to use as a loose forum definition and run with the results, with the clear understanding that this "definition" is not binding and that anyone who would like to post an instrument that has the characteristics of something made in a bygone period, could do so without fear of being rebuked if it turns out to be something made 8 years ago.

Along those lines, hopefully, some of our resident builders like Chuck Moore and Rick Turner and others, who possess a wealth of information about ukulele history as well as exquisite luthiery skills, could serve as resident detectives in helping to identify some of these older ukes based on build characteristics and the like.

Stickys ( see below) providing information about the history of various vintage ukes, where available, could give folks general information allowing some self instruction prior to asking more specific and personal questions about specific vintage ukes from actual owners.

http://www.geocities.com/~ukulele/martin.html


Lastly, the intent for any such section would be pure knowledge acquisition and fun, not an ongoing discussion of how much better vintage ukes are than newer models, and vice versa. Those kinds of opinions, where present, are always better left checked at the door. It's certainly OK to wax poetically about the ethereal qualities of your particular instrument, but just not at the expense of someone else's choice of uke. Just my 2 cents worth, and you know what they say, everyone is the world's greatest authority on their own opinion.

While we're at it, I would love a custom uke section, too. although i suppose that might not be as popular

I would suggest that a VIntage uke be considered as one 50 years or older.

BlackBearUkes said:

I would suggest that a VIntage uke be considered as one 50 years or older.

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This is what I thought was the rule of thumb. I don't think, as has been said, that anything is etched in stone, but dealers in antiques I know use vintage to refer to items 50-99 years old, and antique to refer to items older than 100 years.

In general, people use the word "vintage" to cite a date of production, rather than to specify an age range. What I mean is people will say about a wine, "vintage 1974, " for example. I don't know how it came about that the word is used otherwise. You can think about it to mean an age range, or as a term to distinguish the item in question from a more contemporary version, e.g., vintage Kamaka soprano vs. a contemporary HF-1. It's kind of a messy word now as there is no fixed definition for its use in the way we propose to use it. This is why we should probably not hold anyone's feet to the fire about their use of the word. Alternatively, we could use the term in the way it is to describe wine, "vintage 1950s," or the like.

Great idea! Just hope we don't get too picky about dates. It's great that we're having this discussion already!

A custom uke subforum would be great, too ... even if I never get a qualifying uke. I like to drool.