I've officially lost control, now. I'm a noob, but UAS is real.

As a lifelong guitar player, I've managed to amass only four (ok, ten) guitars over that entire time. However, after picking up a cheap ukulele that my daughter bought eight months ago, I find that I've already bought five.

Yes, I've bought five ukuleles in eight months.

At this rate, in two years I'll be in my housecoat, out on the street, pushing my shopping cart full of ukuleles, mumbling "just one more...".
When I bought a Collings UT1 a month ago and started fingerpicking that thing, the sound made something tear loose in my mind. I knew I'd lost it all an hour ago when I found myself paying eBay for a sad little 50's Martin Style 1 with a missing string and a back gouge that looks like it was acquired in a barfight. I'll keep you up to speed on my efforts to restore it. The adventure (illness) begins. Greg

Welcome.. the list below is not complete and is less than a year old..

Welcome Chevy...

Good, you were smart enough to get your vintage martin soprano early in the early stages. Bad...you have UAS, there fore you will now spend time trying to better what you already have...and that will be difficult to do with out spending quite a bit more money. I personally think old Martin sopranos are a good value for your uke dollar. But have fun trying...! Everyone here will help!

Compared to me, your back in the pack. I played guitar for almost 50 years, in that time I had 5, two 6 string acoustics, a 12 string acoustic, an archtop jazz and a Fender Telecaster. A little over 5 years ago I retired and started playing ukulele, in the first year I went through 16 when I decided to keep only the ones I liked the most, which was 4, since then I'm up to 9. That year end I also started playing bass uke, which really took me in. In the last 4 years I'm up to 24 basses, all under 24" scale. I haven't touched my guitars since, on permanent loan to my nephew.

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9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 8 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 33)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video

Chevytothelevy said:

As a lifelong guitar player, I've managed to amass only four (ok, ten) guitars over that entire time. However, after picking up a cheap ukulele that my daughter bought eight months ago, I find that I've already bought five.

Yes, I've bought five ukuleles in eight months.

At this rate, in two years I'll be in my housecoat, out on the street, pushing my shopping cart full of ukuleles, mumbling "just one more...".
When I bought a Collings UT1 a month ago and started fingerpicking that thing, the sound made something tear loose in my mind. I knew I'd lost it all an hour ago when I found myself paying eBay for a sad little 50's Martin Style 1 with a missing string and a back gouge that looks like it was acquired in a barfight. I'll keep you up to speed on my efforts to restore it. The adventure (illness) begins. Greg

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You are doing fine! 5 Ukes in 8 months is very very normal. I got 7 Ukes in 3 months and I think I’m well below the UAS. Keep it up! There’s always room for 1 more.

Just try to keep it below 20, (that's getting excessive & being more a collector), but then again, they're nice to look at too!

(I managed to stop at 17...... I found the ones that I had been looking for all along........ tenor scale/concert body.)

Welcome Greg.......to the ukulele asylum, it's a sickness I tell you a sickness.

The darn things are like puppies, you just want to take them all home with you. Enjoy the ride.

Welcome to the UAS...oops, I mean, the UU forum.

Wow. Only 5 in 8 months, that's no problem.

Doc_J said:

Wow. Only 5 in 8 months, that's no problem.

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indeed... that merits a slightly raised eyebrow at most. I'm at 13 coming in during the same period with only one going out ....and I'm waiting now for another to come in the mail

I'm at the point where I'll be selling some of my guitars to pay for the ukes.

Swamp Yankee said:

indeed... that merits a slightly raised eyebrow at most. I'm at 13 coming in during the same period with only one going out ....and I'm waiting now for another to come in the mail

I'm at the point where I'll be selling some of my guitars to pay for the ukes.

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Yeah I've got one coming in the mail too--and I found myself looking at ANOTHER one this morning. And all I get on this site is a bunch of enablers. I'm gonna fit right in.

My UAS started the moment my friend told me she was saving up for a new cello and expected to pay $25K. I was like, well these little ukes are cheap in comparison. I think a budget is good. Not that I did that. But when I added up the cost of all my ukuleles: It was a bit of a shock. I am selling off a few and TRYING to limit myself to one acquisition per year going forward. Just trying used, humidifying, selling, and shipping will suck money from your bank account. And yes, this site makes it all seem normal.

Welcome Greg!

Welcome and enjoy the ride.

Greg, the only comfort on your issue I can offer is to tell you you are not alone! I've been playing guitar on daily basis for over 35 years. And just three months ago I got a cheap $30 Mahalo ukulele as a birthday gift. Two weeks later I purchased a Mainland Tenor and just a few weeks ago bought... (guess what?) Martin Style1 from early 20's. If fact I just finished restoring it two days ago! Anyway, it's three in three month! Oh, BTW, I failed to mention that the only reason I did not buy a Collings Koa Tenor on Ebay a month ago is because I convinced myself I am not good enough player yet to pay $1.5K for a uke )) Let's start an "unanimous ukulele buyers" help group.

You are in good company, as you can see from the 9 in my signature at this time of writing, largely purchased within the last 6-8 months. This doesn't even include the other ukes I've bought and since sold in the same time period, listed below. That's 16 total bought for me, and highly likely to be 17 or even 18 before the month is over.

Handed over to other ukers are:

• my first uke a Oscar Schimdt solid Koa Concert (this one I bought a couple years ago, but I didn't actually starting learning to play until 8 months ago)
• Kala Elite solid Koa Tenor
• Islander solid Mahogany Tenor
• Yamaha GL-6 Guiatarlele (actually still have it but am donating it to a local school)
• Kala Koa Concert which I returned for massive and multiple manufacturing defects
• Anunue Moon Bird UC200 concert I sold to try to focus more on Baritone playing and then bought one again shortly thereafter beacuse I missed it too much
• Kala Aratani model which sadly never arrived as the postal service managed to lose it

I'm even about to purchase yet another tenor, my rationalization being I want one on hand strung low-g and the other re-entrant (I really HATE changing strings although I've done it quite a bit to bring out the best in an uke!)

In all honestly, I think a lot of my UAS is that as I play more and more and hear other ukes more and more, what appeals to me changes over time. Some of my ukes I know I will keep forever, but some, as lovely as they are don't have the perfect combination of feel and sound for me. One uke I thought I would sell for sure has grown so much on me I just can't let it go...my Pono Mango Baritone. I love the sound and the aestetics of it so much thatI am keeping it despite the fact that it is far harder for me to play than my other Baritone. That giant pono neck is a real challenge for small hands. I can barely manage the Pono tenor, and a playing session always leaves my hands aching, but darn if they aren't such beautiful sounding (and looking) instruments I just can't stop playing them.

Sometimes I start to learn a new song and I think "I bet this would sound even better on a low G tenor" or this tune would sound amazing on a Soprano... although a downside is that I hop around so much between sizes my technique is probably progessing much slower than if I stuck to one uke. I know adding the baritones has slowed things down trying to keep another set of chord names straight for the same fingerings!

I guess what my long ramble means is if it makes you happy and doesnt really leave you bankrupt, homeless, or disowned from your family, go for it! Happiness is ephemeral, grab it when you can, and share it with those around you! Music is joy!

kerneltime said:

Welcome.. the list below is not complete and is less than a year old..

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What would our signatures look like if we also included ‘I want that’.

Lacole said:

What would our signatures look like if we also included ‘I want that’.

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Fortunately/Unfortunately.. UU limits how long our signature can be :-(

Lacole said:

What would our signatures look like if we also included ‘I want that’.

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Unfortunately, since we are limited to 500 characters my want list won't fit. My inventory list barely does, hehehe.

I guess I could shorten it to: WANT: THE ENTIRE INVENTORY AT HMS!!!

After seeing you guys' lists of instruments, I just feel so inadequate with so few instruments in my signature.

I gotta get some more ukuleles.

Oh yeah, just one more......

Greg