FrankB
Well-known member
Oh boy..... The Martin T1K I ordered from Elderly arrived today, and looked as homely as it sounded. The headstock was semi-gloss around the logo, but rest of that plate was matte. I don't know if they rub adhesive around for the logo, but that was weird. The Koa looked like something that was anything but Koa. The G and C strings were clear, and the E and A strings more opaque (but not Aquila opaque). Since I had a set of Martin 620 strings on my desk, I looked and they're all clear.
The tone was very much like the C1K, but with a bit more volume. My Kala Asov tenor (solid spruce top/solid ovangkol B&S) beat its pants off in terms of volume, and no string change was going to make the Martin that much louder. I thought it was odd, because the few reviews of the T1K I've seen mentioned how loud it is. The Kala has a deeper and somewhat larger body. The frets were guitar size, and felt like speed bumps compared to my other ukes (including the two C1Ks). That's good and bad I suppose. I do prefer a larger fret, but these were a bit of a surprise. It also had a very slight gap along the neck/body joint. It was wrapped back up and shipped out less than an hour later. I didn't take a pic, but man that Koa looked sickly.
The first C1K we bought is tops. Warm sound, better than expected volume, and looks great. The second is still in question. It doesn't have the warmth of the first, but does have a nice crisp tone. The first's thuddy note is F#, and the second's falls on G. Thuddy notes on open strings bug the heck out of me, and you can hear the open G string bark when playing chords. I'm getting tired of paying for shipping, so the barking G string C1K has one more day to make the cut. What Imreally need to do, is stop fishing for diamonds in the rough via mail order, and go for a Kamaka/Kanile'a. The sound samples I've heard on YouTube seem very nice in concert and tenor sizes, but I'm really interested in a concert ukulele.
Honestly, I just want to play. I do have an ear, however, and thuddy notes are hard for me to overlook. Most responsive instruments have them, I just prefer when they don't fall on an open string.
The Mexican Martins can be good for the money, but order them from a shop that doesn't require mailing them back and forth. I hate to say this, but a place like GC doesn't charge for shipping, and it can be returned on the spot. I'd probably order three, just to make sure there was a winner in the bunch.
P.S. RUD is Returned Uke Day. I guess IRUD would've been more appropriate: Immediately Returned Uke Day.
The tone was very much like the C1K, but with a bit more volume. My Kala Asov tenor (solid spruce top/solid ovangkol B&S) beat its pants off in terms of volume, and no string change was going to make the Martin that much louder. I thought it was odd, because the few reviews of the T1K I've seen mentioned how loud it is. The Kala has a deeper and somewhat larger body. The frets were guitar size, and felt like speed bumps compared to my other ukes (including the two C1Ks). That's good and bad I suppose. I do prefer a larger fret, but these were a bit of a surprise. It also had a very slight gap along the neck/body joint. It was wrapped back up and shipped out less than an hour later. I didn't take a pic, but man that Koa looked sickly.
The first C1K we bought is tops. Warm sound, better than expected volume, and looks great. The second is still in question. It doesn't have the warmth of the first, but does have a nice crisp tone. The first's thuddy note is F#, and the second's falls on G. Thuddy notes on open strings bug the heck out of me, and you can hear the open G string bark when playing chords. I'm getting tired of paying for shipping, so the barking G string C1K has one more day to make the cut. What Imreally need to do, is stop fishing for diamonds in the rough via mail order, and go for a Kamaka/Kanile'a. The sound samples I've heard on YouTube seem very nice in concert and tenor sizes, but I'm really interested in a concert ukulele.
Honestly, I just want to play. I do have an ear, however, and thuddy notes are hard for me to overlook. Most responsive instruments have them, I just prefer when they don't fall on an open string.
The Mexican Martins can be good for the money, but order them from a shop that doesn't require mailing them back and forth. I hate to say this, but a place like GC doesn't charge for shipping, and it can be returned on the spot. I'd probably order three, just to make sure there was a winner in the bunch.
P.S. RUD is Returned Uke Day. I guess IRUD would've been more appropriate: Immediately Returned Uke Day.