Hi from SF Bay Area!

[Roselynne]

Hello, All!

Total uke newbie here. Relative guitar newbie, too.

I've been mostly lurking. Great group!

I grew up on Oahu, and my Kamaka Gold Label "Nostalgia Special" soprano just arrived today. It's in great condition, and beautiful in its simplicity. Sounds great, too. I hope to sound good before too long, myself.

On to the journey ...

 

[gyosh]

Hello, All!

Total uke newbie here. Relative guitar newbie, too.

I've been mostly lurking. Great group!

I grew up on Oahu, and my Kamaka Gold Label "Nostalgia Special" soprano just arrived today. It's in great condition, and beautiful in its simplicity. Sounds great, too. I hope to sound good before too long, myself.

On to the journey ...

Welcome Roselyn, you landed in a great place here. What part of the Bay Area are you from? There are a good number of us here. I'm from San Jose myself.

Have fun!!

 

[Kanaka916]

A hui hou . . . get plenne guys dat play uke ova dea. Get plenne locals too! E Komo Mai to da Undahgroun!

 

[PhilUSAFRet]

Aloha, glad you joined us. That Kamaka should get you started in the right direction.

 

[vanflynn]

Aloha and welcome to UU. We'd love to see pic of the new arrival!

 

[Mandarb]

Welcome to the UU. Enjoy your Kamaka.

 

[Roselynne]

Thanks, All!

I'm in the Diablo Valley (Pleasant Hill).

Every time I get back from Oahu, I feel all dried out, so after some clumsy strumming (hey, where are the other 2 strings?), the Kamaka is humidifying in its new gig bag.

Gotta run some quick errands, then back to the good stuff.

I'll try to get it together to send a pic.

 

[seeso]

Hey there! Welcome to UU! :shaka:

 

[Ethan]

Welcome to UU and here's to the journey.

 

[RyanMFT]

Aloha Roselynne, I am just up the road in San Ramon....welcome to UU.

 

[erivel]

Welcome from your Contra Costa County neighbor!

 

[Roselynne]

Wow ... a whole lotta uke-in' happening in Contra Costa. Cooool! Are there any clubs meeting nearby?

The uke has its share of dings and scrapes -- but zero cracks or holes or separations. The only gouges are in the back of the headstock, and they're pretty shallow. Tuners look brand-new, and so do the strings.

Except for the black tuners, it looks exactly like the ukes I remember from nineteen-sixty-mumble, so I assume it's one of the later models. (Yup. I remember when these were new.)

It got here clean, and though it was out of tune (...duh...), I could tell someone had tuned it just before it left the Islands. The tension didn't seem to have hurt it any.

My only complaint is with the UPS driver who did not read the label, and who left the uke on my neighbor's porch, instead of mine, without getting the required signature from anybody (but s/he did lie about that bit, so that's something, I guess). When I got the "delivery" confirmation e-mail, I was one unhappy camper. I love a mystery, but REALLY??? But hey, we've got cool neighbors, and all's good now.

Here -- I hope -- are a couple of bad pics:

​

 

[RyanMFT]

Looks good Roselynne. There is a regular Concord uke meeting at a senior center. I have heard about it, but have never been as it is mid-week. Meetup.com has a good group that lists all the uke happenings in the greater bay area.

Many people around here are BIG fans of the Berkeley Ukulele Club. It isn't my thing but you can meet a lot of good people there. Lots of socializing and play a couple songs.

Looks like your Kamaka has black strings on it, which would likely be Kamaka strings or perhaps GHS, neither of which I am a fan of. My Kamaka soprano really woke up with different strings. Hope to see you around!

 

[Roselynne]

Thanks for the info ... I'll look 'em up. Just realized, I haven't added "ukulele" to my Meetup interests yet.

The ukulele is an eBay purchase, sold by the Hilo Bay Trading Co. I have no idea what strings are on it, but yeah, I plan to change 'em out.

Do you know if D'Addario blacks tend to work well with Kamakas?

Funny thing ... the ukulele seemed to "open up" today. Now I think I've learned what "barking" is, though it was a most melodic bark. Guess it's been awhile since someone played it for more than a minute. Of course, what I do can't really be called playing ... yet.

 

[RyanMFT]

Glad your ukulele came to life. I have had that happen with a lot of vintage ukuleles which haven't been played in many years. All of a sudden after a couple days playing, they start to sound much different.

I have used D'Addario blacks and they were fine. I didn't try them on a Kamaka. I actually settled on Aquila strings on my Kamaka soprano. I usually like Martin Flurocarbon strings, but the slots in the nut on my Kamaka were a little big (as Kamaka strings are thick) and when I tried Martin strings, they buzzed. Aquila are a little thicker and they worked fine, and give my Kamaka a little more brightness.

By the way, Kamaka strings are made for them by D'Addario.

 

[Roselynne]

My guitars woke up too. Both are used; one is vintage. But it took them a lot longer, and I could almost hear it as it happened. Maybe it's still happening ...

The Kamaka? Woke up literally overnight. Hit one chord -- it made me jump!

Used/vintage stringed things are addictive.

Still getting new strings, though. I've got a set of D'Addarios. I'd love to try Martins, Worths or Fremonts, but haven't been able to find any in the brick-and-mortar stores I've tried thus far. Aquilas are plentiful, however.

(Hmmmm ... D'Addario makes Kamaka strings? Maybe I'll continue the hunt.)

 

[808boy]

Aloha Roselynne,
Welcome to UU and the forum from a Kalihi transplant to Cali. a long time ago.
Congrats on your Kamaka.

 

[Roselynne]

Aloha, 808boy!

I'm here by way of Pearl City, mostly. But there were lots of folks from Kalihi when I was there.

(Is that the B&D Special in your avatar? Sweet!)