NUD: aloha from Illinois???

I had a lot of guitars back in the good old days but sold most them, one by one, because old age made it increasingly uncomfortable to handle large, steel-stringed instruments. Thus my switch to ukuleles.

Back then, two of my favorite guitars were made by D'Angelico in NY. When I heard they had made ukuleles for a while, I decided to search one out. I found a D'Angelico Bayside Concert Ukulele at Aloha City Ukes (ACU) in Illinois. I bought it well below MSRP. ACU did a good set-up and installed two strap buttons, fore & aft. For free! Then ACU shipped it to me in Hawaii, also for free.

I just received the uke. I'm not patient or skilled enough to write detailed reviews so I'll just say it has a solid hog top, lam hog B&S, plays nice & sweet & loud, and is very lovely to look at. Too bad D'Angelico stopped making them.

ACU has a huge selection of ukes including Ohana, Kala, Pono, & many others including Hawaii's "K" ukes (Kamaka, Kanile'a, KoAloha, etc). Their prices are good, they do set-ups on request, & give free shipping. They answer emails quickly. The owner (Matt) is from Hawaii so I guess that's why "Aloha" is his outfit's name, even though it's in Illinois.

Aloha City Ukes is a wonderful resource in Highland Park, Illinois, which is a North Shore suburb of Chicago and my childhood home. I was fortunate enough to visit Matt and his shop last June, and came home with two wonderful additions to my uke family. All Chicagoland ukers should make a pilgrimage to Aloha City Ukes, and everyone else should visit the website (link above). Matt is a gem; you will not be disappointed.

Somebody on Facebook (I think) mentioned the store. And I visited their website shortly after they opened. At that time their selection of ukes was pretty limited. If I remember correctly, they were almost all Ko'Aloha brands.

It's good to see that they have a wide selection of ukuleles now from modest to expensive, from many brands. I hope they are successful and continue to grow. Just wish they were closer.

Next time I spend some time in Chicago, I'll pay them a visit.

D'Angelico? I'm pretty sure that there was a big pricing deal on one of them a week or so ago at Guitar Center. Maybe someone is importing them under D'Angelico's name?

Yep...just looked..they are there but no longer on sale. They were $70 for a day if I remember correctly.

It’s on sale again today for $70

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Daily-Pick.gc?source=4GOA5L6BB