Buying a Martin S-1 online?

rainbow21 said:

Under that reasoning, I would think you would buy from Mim. She is a single operator using her house as her business site and personally sets up each ukulele that she sells. That limits her volume of sales. She has this stellar reputation for her service which is why you see so many recommendations here.

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Right, and she's far from monopolizing Internet sales.

merlin666 said:

This is a common uke and available at almost all respectable retailers, such as Sweetwater, SamAsh, MaurysMusic, ZZsounds, Guitarcenter etc . A quick search found that they all have the same price of $419, but may have slight differences in shipping costs and customer service.

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Martin has Maury's Music and Sweetwater listed as online retailers. I've purchased ukes from both and the instruments were OK. You'll get the factory setup. For a Martin soprano we purchased that was fine and very playable. You can also ask for a discount which I've done from Sweetwater, Guitar Center and Sam Ash. Good luck with your search.

Captain America said:

I'm reluctant to buy from the Mim Store(c) since I like diversity and there should be room in the Ukulele Universe for more than one uke retailer. Just my take here.

I think glen's got a good point: I'm thinking Elderly since I've had catalogues from them in the past and bought strings there; seemed a good place.

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Are we talking about the same Mim here? Of all the stores listed I think Mim runs the smallest and most independent. She's anything BUT a large store or a monopoly? Were you thinking of somewhere else? Mim is just her - at home - she opens and sets up EVERY ukulele she sells. Her volume is VERY low.

Jerryc41 said:

I've bought over a hundred ukes online.

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And that was last week alone!

Captain America said:

Thanks all. I'm leaning to Elderly Music. As I said, I think if everyone buys from Mim's Big Uke Store, the end result is monopoly and not so good, just imho.

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Big uke store! :biglaugh:

Elderly does good setups; I'm a happy repeat customer and I recommend them heartily. But you do realize Elderly, as small as it is, is still a much bigger retail operation than Mim, right? How often a retailer gets recommended on UU does not reflect the size of the business. If that were true, HMS and Uke Republic and Mim are all bigger than Amazon.

acmespaceship said:

Big uke store! :biglaugh:

Elderly does good setups; I'm a happy repeat customer and I recommend them heartily. But you do realize Elderly, as small as it is, is still a much bigger retail operation than Mim, right? How often a retailer gets recommended on UU does not reflect the size of the business. If that were true, HMS and Uke Republic and Mim are all bigger than Amazon.

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Quite! I am utterly utterly confused!

bazmaz said:

Quite! I am utterly utterly confused!

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That's because you've been duped by BIG UKE. You think you're an independent reviewer, but you're just a pawn in their schemes to take over the ukulele world.

Proof? Sitting next to me are ukuleles, some that have found their way into my home after having visited your site. That can't just be a coincidence.

Damn that Mim and her world domination!!!

snowdenn said:

That's because you've been duped by BIG UKE. You think you're an independent reviewer, but you're just a pawn in their schemes to take over the ukulele world.

Proof? Sitting next to me are ukuleles, some that have found their way into my home after having visited your site. That can't just be a coincidence.

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Maybe put a smiley in there if you're kidding

Ukecaster said:

Maybe put a smiley in there if you're kidding

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Maybe I should have. One of my favorite qualities about the ukulele world is the friendliness you often find. I wasn't trying to hurt anyone's feelings.

Just to be clear, it wasn't a dig at Cap America. I think he might be mistaken about Mim, but I probably share his sentiments about monopolies and hope he finds a great Martin.

And it wasn't a dig at Mim. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from her.

And, well, it was sort of dig at Bazmaz. So, uh, apologies Barry; I don't think you're a part of Big Uke. Seriously, though, the idea of Big Uke is funny to me, and if I were to ever follow in Mim's footsteps and start selling ukuleles, I might name my shop Big Uke (just so there's no ambiguity about what I was trying to accomplish).