The oldest surviving maker of ukuleles

... but I would also example how the Thailand-built KoAloha Opio compares very well to any other non-Thailand (Hawaiian) built KoAloha because of how the Thailand factory was established and run by KoAloha.

This has not been my experience. I have had both an Opio and a Hawaiian-built KoAloha, and they were in different leagues. While I didn't have the issues with the Opio that others reported here (sloppy finish, dents, off-set seams, dead notes, etc) in various threads, the overall instrument clearly felt like the budget model that it was. I don't see much wrong with that as it cost half the price, but the level of quality was not comparable at all.

For me, this would be an example that outsourced production lowers the quality and quality control of the product. This is contrasted by the Indonesia-made Pono baritone I had, which was a very fine, flawlessly finished and built instrument. I don't have a Ko'olau to compare it to, but nothing about it said that it was a foreign-built lower-cost version of the "real thing".
 
Martin hasn't outsourced anything. They own and operate their facility in Mexico. They do not "outsource" to a third party, contract manufacturer. Totally different than all the big brands that use contract manufacturers in Asia. I'm not dogging contract manufacturing, that's just totally different than what Martin is doing.
 
Martin hasn't outsourced anything. They own and operate their facility in Mexico. They do not "outsource" to a third party, contract manufacturer. Totally different than all the big brands that use contract manufacturers in Asia. I'm not dogging contract manufacturing, that's just totally different than what Martin is doing.

Thank You for this . I can't understand all these negative Martin posts .:confused:
 
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Thank You for this . I can't understand all these negative Martin posts .:confused:
Not really sure if any of the comments were meant to be neagative. The bottom line is Martin builds instruments at their Mexico factory simply because it's cheaper. No one can dispute this...

With that said I own 2 USA Martin ukuleles and would purchase a T1K in a heartbeat (I truly believe the T1K is one of the best ukulele deals out there!).
 
Let's be realistic here. While "made in Mexico" is not a negative, per se - it is a stretch to say that they are on par with their USA built equivalents. Fender enthusiasts will readily admit that the USA built guitars are preferable to the Mexico built guitars. And that is why people are willing to pay more for them.
 
They still outsourced the production to a country with substantially lower wages. Whether or not that affected quality and quality control is probably a controversial question whose answer can't be generalized. I don't own Martin ukes, so I can't really comment on this particular case, but I used to buy other products (unrelated to musical instruments) where the quality significantly dropped after the production was moved to low cost countries (none of them being actual development countries), so the claim doesn't strike me as hard to believe.

I'm myself an owner of a Martin S1, C1K and a Martin Style 1 Centennial Edition...all three manufactured in Mexico...not a single defect, scratch, or any problem in summary flawless
 
All Martin ukuleles are made in North America. Martin has two North American factories, one in the country of the USA and the other in the country of Mexico, they seem to be about 2,700 miles apart and connected by road. Both countries are on the continent of North America as is Canada. They should make a sticker "Fabricados in North America" or "Made in Norteamerica" or similar and put it on all of their ukuleles.

Agree 100% Bill1!!!
 
Let's be realistic here. While "made in Mexico" is not a negative, per se - it is a stretch to say that they are on par with their USA built equivalents. Fender enthusiasts will readily admit that the USA built guitars are preferable to the Mexico built guitars. And that is why people are willing to pay more for them.

Agree 100% bearbike137!!!
 
Let's be realistic here. While "made in Mexico" is not a negative, per se - it is a stretch to say that they are on par with their USA built equivalents. Fender enthusiasts will readily admit that the USA built guitars are preferable to the Mexico built guitars. And that is why people are willing to pay more for them.

I agree with this 100%. There is something to be had owning a high quality instrument made in the USA. Martin & Fender alike built their reputation around their USA instruments, not those made in other countries.
 
Kamaka has been producing 'ukulele since 1916 and Martin makes no reference to their original prototypes. My guess is that Dick Boak at Martin could answer the question of when they first produced a ukulele. In 1917, the uke was added to their catalog.
 
Kamaka has been producing 'ukulele since 1916 and Martin makes no reference to their original prototypes. My guess is that Dick Boak at Martin could answer the question of when they first produced a ukulele. In 1917, the uke was added to their catalog.

Agree. Catch him before he hangs up his spurs, as is Diane Ponzio, later this year.
 
Where'd the guys from Madeira get the Machetes they brought to Hawaii?

If that shop is still open, they'd win. :)
 
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