My Experience with The Ukulele Site

To me, the mark of a quality retailer is how problems are resolved. I've purchased several instruments from HMS, all except one were problem free. The transaction that was problematic was resolved to my complete satisfaction. I've always found the staff to be helpful, knowledgeable and courteous.
 
Wukulele said:
Hawaii Music Supply did the WORST thing for my starting to learn 'ukulele.
They let me buy a stunningly beautiful looking & sounding Romero Tiny Tenor... a TT6. Koa. And they made it easy to do so, dammit.
BUT I'm found it in my heart to give them another chance by recently buying an actual 4 string ukulele...
Click to expand...

They do make it easy. You can even finance them. What evil fiends.
 
I am such a fan of HMS. I purchased two ukuleles (and returned one, plus cancelled an order on another). The ukuleles I did purchase through HMS are a Koaloha KTM and a Pono MTD-CR.

I have primarily been helped by Veronica. She's wonderful and has helped ease my anxiety each time. She's called me back, emailed me and held my hand through each purchase. I would definitely order through them again and if I ever visit Hawaii they are my among my first stops. I listen to every podcast and Vimeo recording they post. I hope that Andrew keeps providing the service of the recordings. I give them a great big thumbs up and thanks for their service to the ukulele community.
 
I recently purchased a ko’olau from them. They are the best. Victoria in shipping was terrific to work with. I would highly recommend these guys. And their videos are great as well.
 
I am a huge fan of HMS. I have purchased 6 ukes from them. Most recently my family got together to purchase a Moon Bird Concert for my niece (she loved mine).... I mentioned in my order emails that my niece is a bit geeky like her aunt, and gets flack from other kids for playing the uke. I also shared that she is a huge fan on one of the artists at the store and also of Joel's setup videos. I asked if they would autograph the manufacturer card that hangs on the headstock. They went beyond that and included a really sweet autographed card and a CD of her favorite artists music. That is the kind of great service to the uke community that keeps me going back to them.
 
Here are my two-cents worth regarding the service I received from TUS. Simply put, it was outstanding. All of my interaction was via email, but even though I asked numerous questions the staff always responded quickly (and apologized if they thought they took to long to reply!), and offered valuable guidance in the making of my final decision. When I bogged down in picking the strings I wanted they sent me three audio links so I could compare my options. In the end I ordered a Pono AT (that's an acacia tenor) with Uke Logic high G strings. TUS included their custom set-up with my purchase, but I decided to not add the extra dollars to rush the order. In the end while that resulted in a slightly longer turn-around time it was still acceptable. And the Pono itself is beautifully made with terrific sound. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend The Ukulele Site to anyone who wanted a great instrument coupled with a very good shopping experience. First rate all around!
 
mnb128 said:
Hi fellow uke nuts. I'll try to make this short, but I doubt I'll be successful.

I first got bitten by the uke bug this past Christmas when I took my family to Hawaii and 'Santa' brought my son an uke. It wasn't super cheap, but it's nothing special, a little, laminate soprano.

He loved it for about 10 minutes, then moved on to his toys. I, however, picked it up and had the hardest time putting it down for the rest of our trip. It caught me off guard because I've never been a musician, but for some reason the darn thing kept finding its way into my hands.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I start doing research on ukes. I wanted one of my own, and on these forums specifically, I kept seeing references to some place called HMS. After a bit of research, I realized that HMS was actually TheUkuleleSite, a site that I'd been on several times before just browsing.

So, I read some posts, a lot of posts, did some research, and called them up. A guy named Andrew answered the phone. He was super kind and took a good bit of time with me. He answered a bunch of noob questions, gave some opinions, made a few recommendations, and I ended up ordering a Pono ATD. In hindsight, I probably would've liked the non-deluxe version better, but that was my fault. He didn't recommend the deluxe. I opted for the gloss finish on my own. Turns out this Andrew guy was the owner. Who knew?

The Pono was perfect for what I was looking for. Sure, it wasn't cheap, but it was nowhere near as expensive as he could've tried to talk me into, and it really does sound wonderful for the price.

Fast forward a few more months. I travel a ton for work, and I wanted something that I could travel with without having to worry about humidity, cracking, and all that stuff. By this time UAS has hit me hard, and in addition to the travel need, I was also ready for an upgrade. I'd seen videos, heard sound samples, and read reviews and NUDs of just about every brand under the sun. I decided that the Blackbird Farallon was what I needed for both the upgrade and travel.

I could've ordered it directly from Blackbird, but I didn't for two reasons. 1) I wanted the setup that I knew TUS would provide. 2) I like to support local businesses when I can. (No, TUS isn't local to me, but I hope you get my drift.)

It was a custom order. Details aren't important as I'll post a NUD sometime in the near future. Blackbird gave an 8 week time frame, but Andrew warned me that they'd taken as long as 4 months in the past.
Sure enough, it turned out to be just over 4 months. Would I have had it sooner if I ordered direct from Blackbird? Maybe, but I'd accept the extra wait time again if I had the option. Here's why.

I was a custom order, but when I asked Andrew if he needed a deposit, he told me not to worry about it. Midway through the wait, I asked him to put aside an aNueNue Air Air pickup for me for when the uke came in. Again, I asked if he wanted a deposit of some sort, and again, he told me not to worry about it. Every time I asked him for an update he answered. Every time I asked a silly question, he helped me out.

But here's the best part. Once the uke was finally in, he asked me if I wanted a sound sample before officially placing my order. I didn't need the sound sample. I ordered it straight away, but he got the sound sample for me anyway. Now I have a video of Corey and Kalei playing my uke before it was shipped out. How cool is that?

I don't know if that's something they always do, or if he just did it because of the long wait. Either way, it was more than I'd expected, which is always nice.

Bottom line is, Andrew gave me every opportunity not to commit to buying the uke. For four months he went back and forth with Blackbird to try and figure out what was going on with my order, and I got it for the same price as I would've paid ordering direct.

I'm sure he made some money off of it. That's the point of owning the shop, but I'm sure his margin wasn't huge.

I'm sure they aren't the only great shop around. I've read great things about Uke Republic, Mim's, and a lot of others, but my experience with TUS has been nothing but first class.

I'm sure someone out there has a different story about things not working out perfectly, but please don't use this thread for that. Every customer has a bad experience, and every business has a bad moment.

I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the great experience I had and say a public mahalo.

Aloha, Uke Family.

Keep strummin'.
Click to expand...
Dittos. I've purchased two ukuleles from them and their customer service goes out of their way to help you in any way they can. They are surely amazing folks. Just recently called them about a low G string for my Color Series concert, didn't want to leave a message and hung up. Later during the day my phone rang and it was TUS to follow up! We had an informative and educational phone call with nothing but courtesy and professionalism on the part of TUS.
Outstanding to be sure!!
 
UkeBock said:
I recently ordered a new KoAloha KTM-00(new version) from HWM(The Ukulele Site, still confused by the dual name). I must have emailed Joel back and forth 20 times with every question under the sun. I got a quick reply for every single question. And every reply was way more than just one word answers(like I've gotten from some other retailers). They really seem to care about their customers and I felt really good about my purchase(spending $1,200+, I wanted to make sure I made an educated purchase, hence the million questions from me). I should receive the uke today actually. But I cant see buying a uke from anyone else. Great people over there.
Click to expand...
Same here! I made my first "big" purchase from them- AMM3 that I love- they helped me out to no end and went the nth mile!
 
They are my go-to site and I click a few times a day to not miss any new additions to their custom uke stock. Of course, having Andrew or Joel give advice on purchases and setups is awesome.

They are on my "place to visit" stops when going to Oahu. That is my car rental day with stops there, Matsumotos for shave ice, and maybe Giovanni's shrimp truck locale. Haleiwa is a wonderful area. A few years ago, I stopped into their Kaka'ako site (now closed) and Tobias Elof and Zoe Bestal played a number for my wife and me. Then at the Haleiwa store, Kalei played a song for us.
 
Last edited:
This thread is from 2019.

That being said, for the most part I have had outstanding service and response from HMS & staff.

The single best example was: I bought a Pono Tenor Masters uke. Had ordered a complete setup and pickup installation. I received a call from the tech that was doing the setup. He said he found a small crack next to the neck and showed it to the other techs. They sent it back to Pono for evaluation. They could not guarantee that the crack wouldn't get worse over time. HMS only had one more Masters in stock, would I consider that one? (I didn't.) No more Masters were scheduled for build and Pono didn't have any left. So they gave me store credit and helped me choose a Kanile'a tenor when a new shipment came in.

Pulling an expensive uke because of a small flaw that I, probably, would never have discovered, impressed me a lot.

I did have one problematic purchase. But that was mostly my fault.

I have since bought two more tenors from them with excellent outcomes. With great low setups to help my arthritis.

It still amazes me that the instruments arrive from Hawaii two business days after they ship it. How cool is that?
 
mnb128 said:
Hi fellow uke nuts. I'll try to make this short, but I doubt I'll be successful.

I first got bitten by the uke bug this past Christmas when I took my family to Hawaii and 'Santa' brought my son an uke. It wasn't super cheap, but it's nothing special, a little, laminate soprano.

He loved it for about 10 minutes, then moved on to his toys. I, however, picked it up and had the hardest time putting it down for the rest of our trip. It caught me off guard because I've never been a musician, but for some reason the darn thing kept finding its way into my hands.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I start doing research on ukes. I wanted one of my own, and on these forums specifically, I kept seeing references to some place called HMS. After a bit of research, I realized that HMS was actually TheUkuleleSite, a site that I'd been on several times before just browsing.

So, I read some posts, a lot of posts, did some research, and called them up. A guy named Andrew answered the phone. He was super kind and took a good bit of time with me. He answered a bunch of noob questions, gave some opinions, made a few recommendations, and I ended up ordering a Pono ATD. In hindsight, I probably would've liked the non-deluxe version better, but that was my fault. He didn't recommend the deluxe. I opted for the gloss finish on my own. Turns out this Andrew guy was the owner. Who knew?

The Pono was perfect for what I was looking for. Sure, it wasn't cheap, but it was nowhere near as expensive as he could've tried to talk me into, and it really does sound wonderful for the price.

Fast forward a few more months. I travel a ton for work, and I wanted something that I could travel with without having to worry about humidity, cracking, and all that stuff. By this time UAS has hit me hard, and in addition to the travel need, I was also ready for an upgrade. I'd seen videos, heard sound samples, and read reviews and NUDs of just about every brand under the sun. I decided that the Blackbird Farallon was what I needed for both the upgrade and travel.

I could've ordered it directly from Blackbird, but I didn't for two reasons. 1) I wanted the setup that I knew TUS would provide. 2) I like to support local businesses when I can. (No, TUS isn't local to me, but I hope you get my drift.)

It was a custom order. Details aren't important as I'll post a NUD sometime in the near future. Blackbird gave an 8 week time frame, but Andrew warned me that they'd taken as long as 4 months in the past.
Sure enough, it turned out to be just over 4 months. Would I have had it sooner if I ordered direct from Blackbird? Maybe, but I'd accept the extra wait time again if I had the option. Here's why.

I was a custom order, but when I asked Andrew if he needed a deposit, he told me not to worry about it. Midway through the wait, I asked him to put aside an aNueNue Air Air pickup for me for when the uke came in. Again, I asked if he wanted a deposit of some sort, and again, he told me not to worry about it. Every time I asked him for an update he answered. Every time I asked a silly question, he helped me out.

But here's the best part. Once the uke was finally in, he asked me if I wanted a sound sample before officially placing my order. I didn't need the sound sample. I ordered it straight away, but he got the sound sample for me anyway. Now I have a video of Corey and Kalei playing my uke before it was shipped out. How cool is that?

I don't know if that's something they always do, or if he just did it because of the long wait. Either way, it was more than I'd expected, which is always nice.

Bottom line is, Andrew gave me every opportunity not to commit to buying the uke. For four months he went back and forth with Blackbird to try and figure out what was going on with my order, and I got it for the same price as I would've paid ordering direct.

I'm sure he made some money off of it. That's the point of owning the shop, but I'm sure his margin wasn't huge.

I'm sure they aren't the only great shop around. I've read great things about Uke Republic, Mim's, and a lot of others, but my experience with TUS has been nothing but first class.

I'm sure someone out there has a different story about things not working out perfectly, but please don't use this thread for that. Every customer has a bad experience, and every business has a bad moment.

I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the great experience I had and say a public mahalo.

Aloha, Uke Family.

Keep strummin'.
Click to expand...
What a great story. Andrew is a wonderful person who demonstrates every day that it's not just about selling ukuleles. He provides a real service by sharing his experience and advice. I have had the same great experience every time I've consulted him about an instrument. I have called him a ukulele psychologist more than once. He asks the right questions to prompt the customer to think through what they want and why and listens!

Bluesy.
 
Before the pandemic we usually spend 5-6 weeks a year on Oahu visiting my wife's family. I've never bought an instrument from HMS but always head up to the North Shore to stock up on strings, new humidifiers for the New England winters and whatever else catches my eye. I love going there and the staff are great.
It's a haul to get there from Kailua but it's a very scenic drive. There's also a good coffee place not too far from the pineapple maze.
Grab lunch somewhere, a shave ice and it's a great day. Missed our trip this year as well, we'd normally be there right now. Miss the sweet potato pie from Ani's! Next year! Going to eat my way from one end to the other!
 
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