NUD: Cocobolo Tenor

Jerryc41

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I was amazed when I saw the email from Kevin telling me that I won the lottery for this tenor. I have super soprano, concert, and now tenor, so I'm through entering the lotteries. These are wonderful ukuleles, and they are making them at a faster pace than before. Find the Cocobolo Facebook page and enter your email address to get notifications.

The dog paw cutout is a $40 option which I have on all three ukes in honor of my dogs. With any luck, I'll get strap buttons on it today and bring it to the weekly jam session in Morristown, NJ tomorrow night.

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Congratulations Jerry, great looking instrument. Does the tenor have a radiuses fretboard? My old, arthritic fingers require a radiused fretboard. Enjoy
 
How does the lottery process work? Is it for a chance at buying an already made uke or for the opportunity to have it custom made?
 
How does the lottery process work? Is it for a chance at buying an already made uke or for the opportunity to have it custom made?

You will receive an email when a batch of ukes is finished. You can click on one or all of them. You will get a personal email if you win, and you can either buy it or not. The cost is $550 - $600, plus $109 shipping to the US. You will also receive an email listing the winners and what they won. The drawing is just a few days after the lottery is announced. There might be a way to enter if you don't want to use Facebook.
 
You will receive an email when a batch of ukes is finished. You can click on one or all of them. You will get a personal email if you win, and you can either buy it or not. The cost is $550 - $600, plus $109 shipping to the US. You will also receive an email listing the winners and what they won. The drawing is just a few days after the lottery is announced. There might be a way to enter if you don't want to use Facebook.

Really vibrant colors! Does cocobolo change appearance over time? Or did they do something to the finish or wood to slow that process? Awesome win Jerry!
 
Really vibrant colors! Does cocobolo change appearance over time? Or did they do something to the finish or wood to slow that process? Awesome win Jerry!

The colors on their FB page are brighter and redder than what you will receive - just a matter of processing, I guess. The first picture below is how I shot and posted it (indoors w/flash). The second shot is the same picture re-processed, and the third one is from the Cocobolo Facebook page - same uke. The first picture shows what it actually looks like.

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You will receive an email when a batch of ukes is finished. You can click on one or all of them. You will get a personal email if you win, and you can either buy it or not. The cost is $550 - $600, plus $109 shipping to the US. You will also receive an email listing the winners and what they won. The drawing is just a few days after the lottery is announced. There might be a way to enter if you don't want to use Facebook.

These ukes are stunning and I'd love to have one. I went to their website and signed up for notifications and got an email confirming I would get emails for future lotteries.

So we're looking at $659 to $709 delivered with no case. Oof! That's a bit of a punch to the gut! I'll need to sit down and ponder that for a spell while I catch my breath! I love a beautiful wood grain and these certainly have it. My head and heart aren't giving me an immediate "no" for an answer but I might have a hard time trying to justify spending that much. Maybe if I sold a bunch of my stuff and had that balance sitting in my PayPal account I could do it. That's pretty much how I bought my last 3 ukes. I'll have to let that Cocobolo pot simmer on the stove for a while and see how I feel down the road a bit.
 
These ukes are stunning and I'd love to have one. I went to their website and signed up for notifications and got an email confirming I would get emails for future lotteries.

So we're looking at $659 to $709 delivered with no case. Oof! That's a bit of a punch to the gut! I'll need to sit down and ponder that for a spell while I catch my breath! I love a beautiful wood grain and these certainly have it. My head and heart aren't giving me an immediate "no" for an answer but I might have a hard time trying to justify spending that much. Maybe if I sold a bunch of my stuff and had that balance sitting in my PayPal account I could do it. That's pretty much how I bought my last 3 ukes. I'll have to let that Cocobolo pot simmer on the stove for a while and see how I feel down the road a bit.

I ordered a case - which won't arrive for at least a week, but this came in a hard, zippered case. I don't remember if the others came in cases. I prefer regular hard cases without zippers.

You can enter the lottery and then decide not to buy if you win, but you can't go online and order one when you decide you want one. Just a few days before, I had received a Blackbird Clara which I had ordered five weeks earlier, so I know about spending more than was intended. I'm all through buying now - unless I sell a lot.

Those Cocobolos are beautiful and distinctive, and they sound great. Every part of it is beautiful, and no two are alike. I like the radiused fretboard, something costs a lot extra on other ukes - if it's even available.
 
I ordered a case - which won't arrive for at least a week, but this came in a hard, zippered case. I don't remember if the others came in cases. I prefer regular hard cases without zippers.

You can enter the lottery and then decide not to buy if you win, but you can't go online and order one when you decide you want one. Just a few days before, I had received a Blackbird Clara which I had ordered five weeks earlier, so I know about spending more than was intended. I'm all through buying now - unless I sell a lot.

Those Cocobolos are beautiful and distinctive, and they sound great. Every part of it is beautiful, and no two are alike. I like the radiused fretboard, something costs a lot extra on other ukes - if it's even available.

Do they come with a satin finish? They look like they have a natural wood look/feel to them. About how often do the auctions come up?
 
The colors on their FB page are brighter and redder than what you will receive - just a matter of processing, I guess. The first picture below is how I shot and posted it (indoors w/flash). The second shot is the same picture re-processed, and the third one is from the Cocobolo Facebook page - same uke. The first picture shows what it actually looks like.

View attachment 122319 View attachment 122320 View attachment 122321

My understanding is that if not fully sealed cocobolo will darken.
 
Do they come with a satin finish? They look like they have a natural wood look/feel to them. About how often do the auctions come up?

Yes, it has a satin finish. And red strings. That seems to be all they do. The lotteries have been coming up much more often lately - every two or three weeks. Maybe he's hired more people.

I'm glad they're not lotteries because the price would definitely go higher than I would like. Look at what happened with the Timms ukes.
 
Yes, it has a satin finish. And red strings. That seems to be all they do. The lotteries have been coming up much more often lately - every two or three weeks. Maybe he's hired more people.

I'm glad they're not lotteries because the price would definitely go higher than I would like. Look at what happened with the Timms ukes.

Lotteries every 2-3 weeks is much more frequent than I expected! I figured it would be more like every 2-3 months. I think you meant to say auctions in the latter part of your post and I agree, an auction would most likely send the prices much higher than their asking prices now. I'm looking forward to their emails so I can see what to expect in the future. In the mean time it looks like I have a project and a goal to start selling off a bunch of my stuff to see if I can raise the funds to cover the cost. In my mind that's kind of like a trade and I wouldn't be spending money I haven't already spent. Right now I'm looking at a big box full of CD box sets I'd be willing to sell (mostly jazz), some which are out of print or getting hard to find. I could probably get $100+ on some of them but some would be hard to let go of. Out of sight, out of mind right? Maybe that's the mind set I'll need to take. Most of the other stuff is $10, $20, $30 range stuff but it adds up. Ugh, it's such a hassle to list a bunch of stuff to sell. Maybe I can plan on a spring '20 cocobolo if I haven't cooled off on one by then.
 
Congratulations Jerry!
You can't go wrong with a Cocobolo Ukulele. I didn't realize that they had sped up the building process. I waited almost 4 months for mine, but it was a custom order, which they won't do anymore.
I'd rather play my Cocobolo uke than anything else I've tried around here, even a MooreBettah, cause I was afraid of damaging it.
The only thing that bothers me in the least is that the intonation isn't very good after the 7th fret. Most people can't hear it. Other than that, I'd say the uke is just perfect, for me. It plays itself, compared to anything else I've owned. (!5 others)
Everybody that hears it loves it.
I"ve lost count of the number of people here that bought one because of mine.
 
The colors on their FB page are brighter and redder than what you will receive - just a matter of processing, I guess. The first picture below is how I shot and posted it (indoors w/flash). The second shot is the same picture re-processed, and the third one is from the Cocobolo Facebook page - same uke. The first picture shows what it actually looks like.

View attachment 122319 View attachment 122320 View attachment 122321

Nice job with the pics Jerry. I like the actual color on yours more.
 
I was also one of the lucky lottery winners who was able to buy a Cocobolo ukulele; in my case, a Cedar-topped, Cocobolo bodied Concert. I only saw a few made with this wood combination (most are all solid Coco top, back, sides, fretboard, headstock, etc., etc.) I have no regrets. I love the sound of the mellow cedar top that balances nicely against the bright cocobolo and it sounds great when fingerpicked (my preferred playing style).

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