north shore ukulele stores?

whatevsalex

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im going to north shore hawaii in a few weeks and want to buy a new uke.. and i was wondering if anyone knows of any stores/shops i should check out...

thanks
 
Your closest store would be in Wahiawa. Its call Hawaiian Music Supply. The store is run by the sons of John Kitakis who is owner of Ko'olau Ukulele. The have a huge wall of ukes for you to look at and try out.
 
Are you planning to spend your entire time on the North Shore? Oahu has a number of stores/shops as well as makers like Kanile'a, Kamaka, GString, KoAloha, & Tangi to name a few. There is also Ana Ole Ukuleles, Keli'i, Pahu Kani and Wai'olu but these are pretty much custom ukes. Dan's Guitars and Easy Music Center also have a good selection to choose from. Personally, I try to stay away from the tourist stores in Waikiki, etc. I just go local . . .
 
Your closest store would be in Wahiawa. Its call Hawaiian Music Supply. The store is run by the sons of John Kitakis who is owner of Ko'olau Ukulele. The have a huge wall of ukes for you to look at and try out.

Okay cool. sounds good.. i'll definitely have to check that one out.

thanks dino!
 
Are you planning to spend your entire time on the North Shore? Oahu has a number of stores/shops as well as makers like Kanile'a, Kamaka, GString, KoAloha, & Tangi to name a few. There is also Ana Ole Ukuleles, Keli'i, Pahu Kani and Wai'olu but these are pretty much custom ukes. Dan's Guitars and Easy Music Center also have a good selection to choose from. Personally, I try to stay away from the tourist stores in Waikiki, etc. I just go local . . .

yeah, its for a wedding so im going to be there for less than a week (unfortunately), so im not going to be able to go around too much. it would be nice to get a custom uke, but theyre a little much... my spending range is up to around $350.


also i heard that there are a bunch at the swap meets... do you or anyone know how they are? quality and price wise?

thanks for the info. :)
 
yeah, its for a wedding so im going to be there for less than a week (unfortunately), so im not going to be able to go around too much. it would be nice to get a custom uke, but theyre a little much... my spending range is up to around $350.


also i heard that there are a bunch at the swap meets... do you or anyone know how they are? quality and price wise?

thanks for the info. :)

Hawaiian wedding. Sweet. Anyway, yeah, a week is not much time here. Actually, the name of the shop is Hawaii Music Supply. My bad. With a bank roll of up to $350, you definately be able to find something nice. Swap meet has some good deals. You might also try Tangi....www.tangiukuleles.com. He has some cosmetically challenged ukes that have a great value (the challenged part might be extra glue spilled on the inside, or some kind of visual defect in the wood after finishing, but these things dont affect the playablility. Since you have set a price limit, you just have to decide what size you are looking for (soprano, concert, tenor, baritone) then go with what kind of wood you want. I recently picked up a Kala Concert ukulele for my 11yo son. It was koa-laminate body with a solid cedar spruce top...comes with tuner, book and case for around $240. If you want one of those, you can get them from "musicguymic" on ebay.....he lives on the island in Kaneohe.
 
The swap meet at Aloha stadium has 2-3 vendors. They carry Kala and Lanikai as well as some of the name brand ukes. I think Ed Bacani has a space on the weekends. But I gotta agree with Dino, check out MGM for a wider selection of instruments in your budget.
 
Hawaiian wedding. Sweet. Anyway, yeah, a week is not much time here. Actually, the name of the shop is Hawaii Music Supply. My bad. With a bank roll of up to $350, you definately be able to find something nice. Swap meet has some good deals. You might also try Tangi....www.tangiukuleles.com. He has some cosmetically challenged ukes that have a great value (the challenged part might be extra glue spilled on the inside, or some kind of visual defect in the wood after finishing, but these things dont affect the playablility. Since you have set a price limit, you just have to decide what size you are looking for (soprano, concert, tenor, baritone) then go with what kind of wood you want. I recently picked up a Kala Concert ukulele for my 11yo son. It was koa-laminate body with a solid cedar spruce top...comes with tuner, book and case for around $240. If you want one of those, you can get them from "musicguymic" on ebay.....he lives on the island in Kaneohe.


well im definitely getting a tenor... and prefer wood that looks and sounds good (koa, and i like the way curly mango looks). right now all i have is a soprano lanikai LU-21 which was my "starter uke" which is a little short on frets (only has 12).

thanks once again.
 
The swap meet at Aloha stadium has 2-3 vendors. They carry Kala and Lanikai as well as some of the name brand ukes. I think Ed Bacani has a space on the weekends. But I gotta agree with Dino, check out MGM for a wider selection of instruments in your budget.


yeah. i was planning on checking out the aloha stadium swap meet. MGM has some nice stuff but the thing is i dont have an ebay account or paypal or anything in that nature, plus i would much rather pay for something and immediately have it in my hands.. know what i mean? its just can be kind of a hassle dealing with shipping and all that jazz.

thanks!
 
Yea, I know what you mean - and just offering some alternatives. One thing you can do is give Mike a call inquiring about ukes as well as payment options. Might be able to work something out. Just an afterthought.
 
Yea, I know what you mean - and just offering some alternatives. One thing you can do is give Mike a call inquiring about ukes as well as payment options. Might be able to work something out. Just an afterthought.

thats true... im going to wait until after the trip to get anything online, but thanks for the tip.
 
"north shore ukulele shops" follow up

thanks to Dino and Kanaka916 for your help... heres how it ended up

i got it at hawaii music supply
tenor Pono
striped mahogany
acoustic electric
semi hard case
about $425

once again, thanks guys



-alex
 

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Hey Alex,
A Pono....good choice. I have a koa pono I picked up from MGM a long time ago and would never think of selling mine. Its a great instrument.

I have one question though.....what is up with the headstock? It kind of look like a dull black paint over the glossy finish....or is that an optical illusion?

Either way, congratulations on finding your instrument. Btw...how did the wedding pefromance go?

Dino
 
Alex, great choice for da price not to mention a beautiful instrument. A friend recently picked up an 8 string Pono for a really good price because of a small blemish which I had to have pointed out. Enjoy playing it brah!
 
Hey Alex,
A Pono....good choice. I have a koa pono I picked up from MGM a long time ago and would never think of selling mine. Its a great instrument.

I have one question though.....what is up with the headstock? It kind of look like a dull black paint over the glossy finish....or is that an optical illusion?

Either way, congratulations on finding your instrument. Btw...how did the wedding pefromance go?

Dino


i dont know.. but heres a few more pictures of the headstock (a little better quality and different angles)

thanks. it went well, nothing too crazy or fancy :)
 

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Nice. Those closeups of the Ko'olau Gold strings make me wonder if they glow in UV/Blacklight. =P
 
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