The Addiction of Custom Ukes

katysax

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My first uke was a Koaloha soprano bought at Kapiolani Mall in Honolulu in 1998. Over time I acquired a few more K brand ukes. The custom uke thing blew right over my head. When I found UU, the custom uke aficionados here were speaking a foreign language.

About a year ago a local collector became quite aged, developed dementia, and rapidly sold off his ukes. In the process I bought a few not really knowing what I was buying. Many of his ukes, which I now know were quite valuable, were badly damaged and I passed them up, but among them I bought two Kawikas. One of the Kawikas was casually tossed about with no case but surprisingly undamaged. The other had a case. I also picked up a couple of other lesser known customs.

Wow! Now I know what I have. These are truly amazing ukes. The sound has depth and complexity, sustain, the right amount of volume, clarity. They also have character. Each has a feel and identity of their own. Each of the customs, whether Kawika or others is is some way special. Utlmately I did sell one - a tenor - because I wanted to raise some money to cover this, and because while it was spectacular I really don't care to play tenor much. I have bought a couple of other used customs, had one made for me, and I'm on the list to get one made.

This gets to the point of this post. Now I see why people get UAS over custom ukes and I'm seriously thinking of selling most of my K brand ukes. Each custom has its own story and its own voice. Depending on the builder it may or may not have a level of uniformity or perfection as a K brand uke, but it may also have fit and finish on a higher level. But it is like each one has its own soul.
 
Well said. I totally understand & agree with what you're saying.
 
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Now I see why people get UAS over custom ukes and I'm seriously thinking of selling most of my K brand ukes. Each custom has its own story and its own voice. Depending on the builder it may or may not have a level of uniformity or perfection as a K brand uke, but it may also have fit and finish on a higher level. But it is like each one has its own soul.

Since getting my one, single custom a year and a half ago I've felt this way from time to time - but then I suddenly find myself playing my Kamakas almost as much as my custom. It's cyclical - although the custom is my one constant, the others get played enough that I can justify keeping them around.

But I will say that the custom soprano cured my UAS almost entirely. I was afraid I'd be all "now I need a concert uke from the same builder! no wait, make that two, one low G and one reentrant!" etc. and - nah. Hasn't happened yet.
 
Yes I know what you mean...I have a few...if you ever want to part with that kawika tenor, let me know....:)
 
Stan,

The Kawikas are a concert and a spalted koa pineapple. I don't have a tenor. I did have a tenor Les Reitfors but I sold it to cover the cost of the acquisition of the others. i debate selling the kawika concert. The size, sound and overall feel is not much different form the soprano pineapple and like the pineapple it has only 12 frets. It's spectacular but the pineapple is truly unusual so having both of these seems overkill since the sound and feel is almost identical.

Usually I pass up tenors when I see them for sale. I would have bought a Kawika tenor if he had one and probably would have sold it already.
 
Custom instruments sometimes do not deliver what the buyer had in mind at the time of ordering. Sometimes the tones don't match up with the sonic image that led to the order in the first place. Sometimes a custom will be built at a level of attention to detail that falls short of that from a high quality production instrument.

I own five custom instruments along with another ten or so production instruments. While three of my customs are clearly at the top of the heap, the other two are no better built or tuned than most of my other production instruments

Sometimes customs come with features that might have sounded good at the time, but turn out to be less than desirable in the long run.

I have found that high quality production instruments are often more reliable in fit and finish than some of the customs that are available. It is hard to imagine a "better" instrument for me than my first tenor Pono. That didn't stop me from spending several times what it cost for my second Uke which is a custom. Not that my custom Uke was not worth what I choose to pay for it; it clearly is that valuable to me (with impeccable fit, finish and tone). But, one does not have to buy a custom Uke in order to get outstanding tone and playability. There are just too many high quality production Ukes for anyone to "HAVE" to buy a custom.

Then again, the context of this discussion was framed by the word "addiction".:eek:
 
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Stan,

The Kawikas are a concert and a spalted koa pineapple. I don't have a tenor. I did have a tenor Les Reitfors but I sold it to cover the cost of the acquisition of the others. i debate selling the kawika concert. The size, sound and overall feel is not much different form the soprano pineapple and like the pineapple it has only 12 frets. It's spectacular but the pineapple is truly unusual so having both of these seems overkill since the sound and feel is almost identical.

Usually I pass up tenors when I see them for sale. I would have bought a Kawika tenor if he had one and probably would have sold it already.
Aloha Katy,
You sound like you have a nice collection, send me a pm first when you want to sell any of your babies so I get first dibbs. :) ...happy Strummings....
 
I can relate. I was playing a KoAloha super concert when I bought my DaSilva.
When Mike delivered the ukulele I liked it, but honestly did not understand why it was 2x as expensive as my KoAloha.
After a few months I bonded with the instrument and its voice changed and I fell in love with it.
I also have two Mya-Moe's and a Vento, all great sounding. The KoAloha is still one of my favorites, but the DaSilva is just something special.
 
Aloha Katy,
You sound like you have a nice collection, send me a pm first when you want to sell any of your babies so I get first dibbs. :) ...happy Strummings....

Hey Stan, trying to get a jump on Jon? :)
 
I am the voice of reason. I have one custom. It is beautiful -- both in playability and looks. Since it came to my house 3 years ago I have not been tempted even a little bit. I love it. We are bonding and we are close to becoming "one".
 
Custom instruments sometimes do not deliver what the buyer had in mind at the time of ordering. Sometimes the tones don't match up with the sonic image that led to the order in the first place. Sometimes a custom will be built at a level of attention to detail that falls short of that from a high quality production instrument.

Then again, the context of this discussion was framed by the word "addiction".:eek:

i completely agree with this. When you get a production uke you can know what you are getting. In fact most of my small builder ukes have what I'll call quirks. The neck in particular seems to be hard to get right. There is a level of crudeness, lack of refinement, in some ways that is hard to explain. You'll find tool marks, unusual angles, and other things you usually won't find in a production uke. The sound might or might not be what you imagine. But the quirks, the mistakes, the oddities are also appealing to me. They are a part of the soul of the instrument. I like my music a little dissonant and a little raw. I find that intriguing in art generally, and a handmade uke is a work of art. Sometimes the skill level and care taken by the luthier is so great that what you get is perfection. I've never seen a Moore Bettah, but I do understand from the Kawikas that I have seen what happens when a luthier achieves perfection. I've also played some custom ukes that were pretty bad. I had a chance to buy a Kanilea that had been made by the builder as a custom before it was a big shop. It was a custom, very blingy. It was also heavy and dead sounding to me. A friend of mine has a Keli'i that was built for him back when the builder was only doing custom, and he doesn't know what to do with it because the sound is dead. I played couple of Leonard Young ukes I thought were truly awful.

Certain builders get a reputation for consistency that makes them more popular, but you can still never know what you will get. As we all know there is variation in production ukes too, but you still have a pretty good idea what you are getting with one.
 
I am the voice of reason. I have one custom. It is beautiful -- both in playability and looks. Since it came to my house 3 years ago I have not been tempted even a little bit. I love it. We are bonding and we are close to becoming "one".

:agree:

I have one custom and it is the last ukulele I will purchase. LOVE it!!

My Kamaka is special because it's my first and purchased for me by my wife while on vacation. My "custom" pineapple tenor is a uke I built in a class. I'm still amazed that I assembled something that sounds so good. My Kala is my classroom uke and not that I don't care about it, but I would be much less heart broken if it were to get damaged or lost.

My custom was made for me, I had a hand in choosing the wood and specified some of the details of the build, and it exceeded my expectations in both fit and finish . . . and I had very high expectations to begin with.

Thanks again Rick. You are an artist and a craftsman at the top of your field.
 
Production ukes tend to be consistent (for better or for worse) because they crank out LOTS of them. A level of perfection and consistency can only be achieved through experience. The last few years have seen a lot of new ukulele builders on the scene. I think an important (perhaps the most important) consideration in buying or evaluating ukes is knowing how much experience the builder has had, how many ukes they've built, etc. Unfortunately there are some newbies that have tainted the custom uke market a bit. They may be a good value but you generally get what you pay for in this world. Lumping all custom built ukuleles in the same category is as unfair as lumping all production ukes, from Chinese made to the Big K companies, together. Whether it's custom or production, every builder should be evaluated on their own individual merits.
 
I believe as with anything, you more or less get good ones and bad ones, in a normal distribution- with a good custom builder you can shift the entire curve in favour of good...

PS. PM sent!
 
Production ukes tend to be consistent (for better or for worse) because they crank out LOTS of them. A level of perfection and consistency can only be achieved through experience. The last few years have seen a lot of new ukulele builders on the scene. I think an important (perhaps the most important) consideration in buying or evaluating ukes is knowing how much experience the builder has had, how many ukes they've built, etc. Unfortunately there are some newbies that have tainted the custom uke market a bit. They may be a good value but you generally get what you pay for in this world. Lumping all custom built ukuleles in the same category is as unfair as lumping all production ukes, from Chinese made to the Big K companies, together. Whether it's custom or production, every builder should be evaluated on their own individual merits.

My thought exactly chuckie...production ukes are built by the thousands, it depends how much quality control and desire the factory has to improve them to be.....as chuckie says, it can go both ways...
 
Lumping all custom built ukuleles in the same category is as unfair as lumping all production ukes, from Chinese made to the Big K companies, together. Whether it's custom or production, every builder should be evaluated on their own individual merits.

Yes, this, absolutely. I've played some customs that looked way better than they sounded, and picked up some customs that made my wallet offer itself freely. Same thing with production ukes.
 
In the book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. I assume the same is true in building ukuleles.
 
I would also like to add that some buyers expect a custom uke to sound like a billion dollars right off the bench. After all, "I paid a lot of money for the certain vintage sound and that is what I expect from day one". Depending on the woods used, size and design, most ukes take time to develop and come into their own. Like a fine wine, it takes time for the best result.
 
In the book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. I assume the same is true in building ukuleles.

Hey Doc,

I believe that is true for those who build very individual, customised ukes.... as it needs a lot of experience to gauge how to alter the build to suit the individual set of wood. Although there are some short cuts- like working with someone experienced to help reduce some of the experimental aspects, I think it's pretty accurate.

However, there are some who hit upon the right formula early on and then it is a case of reproducing this using wood which is specially selected to be as similar as the original. In some ways this is like a production line, except on a smaller, more individualised scale.
 
Hey Doc,

I believe that is true for those who build very individual, customised ukes.... as it needs a lot of experience to gauge how to alter the build to suit the individual set of wood. Although there are some short cuts- like working with someone experienced to help reduce some of the experimental aspects, I think it's pretty accurate.

However, there are some who hit upon the right formula early on and then it is a case of reproducing this using wood which is specially selected to be as similar as the original. In some ways this is like a production line, except on a smaller, more individualised scale.
It's easy peasy Terrance,
Get a Moore Bettah and a Beau Hannam...
 
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