Why do you keep? Why do you sell? An offshoot of UAS

[Poul Hansen]

I sold my Martin tipple T15 as it was impossible to intonate. I loved the sound of it, but hated it just a few frets up.
So I advertised it with a good margin and it sold.
I've just bought a Taropatch in the hope it sounds a little like a Tipple.

I gave away my first ukulele, that was bought as a tester for 15 dollars.

I gave away 2-3 ukuleles that were just bought as bargains at fleamarkets or other.

I bought a Martin H-SO but it sounds terrible. But it's a Martin. I might try some new strings.

I bought a little soprano made by a welknown Danish luthier. It was a cute ukulele and a challenge to restore. I've never played it, it has no strings.

Two were bought on an auction site for 1 & 3 dollars. Nobody bid on Chinese ukuleles but they are really well built, but I can probably not sell them anyway.

I keep a ukulele tuned as a balalayka, as I never could take some chords with the thumb on the first and he pinky on the fifth fret, so I sold the balalyka.

It is generally difficult to sell ukuleles as there are not many connoisseurs of ukuleles and most people only want to pay 30-60$ as it's still considered a toy and they are so cheap, even in the stores.

 

[EDW]

I like the idea above of instruments being sad. Interesting way to consider keeping them used. It is great for them to get played. It makes sense to me to have instruments with certain purpose- certain tunings, travel, teaching, outdoor, etc and try to avoid redundancy and having a bunch that are virtually the same. It is my way to make some sense and avoid lots of impulse buying, not that I am not tempted! I do also understand that some love collecting and that is great if it gives you happiness.

 

[joneo]

So far, I have only sold one from my collection; a little solid body peanut Eleuke that I purchased for quiet nighttime playing and practicing while traveling. The only reason that I sold it was to purchase their new and improved version of the same ukulele, with a slotted headstock and better bridge/saddle placement which has resulted in improved intonation of the instrument.

 

[eternal tinkerer]

The bottom line is that I keep what I play and sell what I don't. I guess that means that my collection of ukes (and anything else material for the matter) is dynamic, but so be it. Most of my instruments are purchased new and some are bought lightly used. I likely will keep buying and selling as the small collection of instruments reflect my preferences at the given moment; though I do notice that the process has slowed down dramatically as I my tastes have matured over time.