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'.
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'.