DaveY
Well-known member
Is anyone else frustrated — and maybe a little baffled — by the lack of brick-and-mortar stores selling quality (and quantity/variety of) ukuleles? Sound samples and written descriptions and phone conversations don’t come close to the experience of trying out an instrument. (I mean, it’s at least 94% subjective.)
Supposedly ukuleles have become relatively popular in recent years, but still it’s the same brands (Kala, Lanikai, and other mostly inexpensive ones) in most stores. (I’m not knocking those brands; I just want more variety.) I’m not just looking for higher-priced ukes, either.
Why are there so many more guitars to try out — or are the guitars also the same brands, repeated among stores? (And I’m sure there still are many more guitar players than ukulele players.)
Do certain uke makers require an investment (number of ukes purchased) by the store that the store feels it can’t justify?
Is it also that too many stores see ukuleles as toys, and it’s easier to just put anything out there because, you know, it doesn’t really matter?
Are they afraid that the “fad” will end suddenly, like the ’29 crash, leaving them destitute, sitting on a street corner with a sign reading “will strum for food”?
There, I’ve vented. But . . . what do you think?
Supposedly ukuleles have become relatively popular in recent years, but still it’s the same brands (Kala, Lanikai, and other mostly inexpensive ones) in most stores. (I’m not knocking those brands; I just want more variety.) I’m not just looking for higher-priced ukes, either.
Why are there so many more guitars to try out — or are the guitars also the same brands, repeated among stores? (And I’m sure there still are many more guitar players than ukulele players.)
Do certain uke makers require an investment (number of ukes purchased) by the store that the store feels it can’t justify?
Is it also that too many stores see ukuleles as toys, and it’s easier to just put anything out there because, you know, it doesn’t really matter?
Are they afraid that the “fad” will end suddenly, like the ’29 crash, leaving them destitute, sitting on a street corner with a sign reading “will strum for food”?
There, I’ve vented. But . . . what do you think?