Hows Business?

Michael Smith

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I don't think I'm going to get any orders while we are locked down here in California. No uke groups playing. All music stores closed. We are frozen in place.
 
I had a look on eBay at hand made ukuleles....I went to “completed items” and 25 out of the first 32 listings were marked up as sold...so the market is not yet dead..and a ukulele is a great way to pass time in isolation..lots of time for practice :)
 
I just got my order list expanded by a few so while the real world is locked up and miserable, the online world is flying free and looking for something to entertain itself.
Parts ordered in are coming from places I wasn't expecting. In particular a lot of the Chinese tuners and things I have ordered have arrived with German postal markings.
I am not sure how the Llamalele uke I just packed off to Canada is going to get there because the only direct flight from Australia to Canada just got cancelled. An order I sent to Canada in early Feb took 8 days. That seems like a lifetime ago now.
 
Just found this in a BBC article.......Are many of us turning to music - and not just listening to it - to help us cope during the coronavirus outbreak?
Marvel Guitars in Timperley, Greater Manchester, has seen a surge in demand for musical instruments in recent days.
"Ukuleles have flown out this week," said owner Rick Manning. "It's something that young kids can just pick up and start”.
 
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It seems Londoners are doing the same
There's a story on the London TV website about buyers queuing in the Duke Of Uke. I'd like to post a link but I keep getting told off for sending spam.
Miguel
 
It seems Londoners are doing the same
There's a story on the London TV website about buyers queuing in the Duke Of Uke. I'd like to post a link but I keep getting told off for sending spam.
Miguel

Yes! I got the same message when I tried to post a link...anyway I’ll be listing some more sopranos on eBay soon as I’ve been spending more time in the workshop lately self isolating...so I’ll see how it goes :)
 
Yes! I got the same message when I tried to post a link...anyway I’ll be listing some more sopranos on eBay soon as I’ve been spending more time in the workshop lately self isolating...so I’ll see how it goes :)

Put a space in at the http :---------- and you can past in a link.
 
...so the market is not yet dead..and a ukulele is a great way to pass time in isolation..lots of time for practice :)

From a buyer (not a builder) who likes to peruse this board to see what's being built, I'll second this notion.

Just this week I was on Reverb looking at hand-built ukuleles. For me I had two thoughts in my mind:
(1) I wanted to find something new to play -- it's a bit of Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome, but not with the same motivations; and
(2) I wanted to find something hand-built as a way to support smaller independent builders.

After a great conversation with a builder/restorer in New York, and I'm going to purchase one of his 'under construction' ukes next week. For me the opportunity to semi-customize a uke was a new and exciting experience. In this case, semi-customize means I selected the 'under construction' project based on size and looks rather than something he already had up for sale. I also was able to chose peg-style tuners for the concert-scale when the builder would've normally put on geared tuners with buttons out the side. Not much, but fun for me.

All this to say, I encourage you to keep building and explore other outlets for your craft. To be 80's cheesy, "If you build it, they will come!"
 
From a buyer (not a builder) who likes to peruse this board to see what's being built, I'll second this notion.

Just this week I was on Reverb looking at hand-built ukuleles. For me I had two thoughts in my mind:
(1) I wanted to find something new to play -- it's a bit of Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome, but not with the same motivations; and
(2) I wanted to find something hand-built as a way to support smaller independent builders.

After a great conversation with a builder/restorer in New York, and I'm going to purchase one of his 'under construction' ukes next week. For me the opportunity to semi-customize a uke was a new and exciting experience. In this case, semi-customize means I selected the 'under construction' project based on size and looks rather than something he already had up for sale. I also was able to chose peg-style tuners for the concert-scale when the builder would've normally put on geared tuners with buttons out the side. Not much, but fun for me.

All this to say, I encourage you to keep building and explore other outlets for your craft. To be 80's cheesy, "If you build it, they will come!"
Anyway I finished this one today...I’ll take some proper photo’s tomorrow and give it a try on eBay.

DB83E4D2-668C-4730-BCAE-1867BAF866F1 by Ken Timms, on Flickr
 
"Australia Post will suspend its “Economy Air” international delivery service for parcels to all countries effective 3 April and until further notice."

This effectively puts my customers into "the uke is not even possible to put in the mail" status.

Update: I had to create a business account to send eparcels. Same prices but.
 
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Amazon have stopped ordering books to focus on food and stuff, so The Ukulele and my previous book on the history of the mandolin have disappeared from Amazon. And this a month after a fairly positive review in American Lutherie. Hurumph...

Spending lots of time the the workshop though.
 
Amazon have stopped ordering books to focus on food and stuff, so The Ukulele and my previous book on the history of the mandolin have disappeared from Amazon. And this a month after a fairly positive review in American Lutherie. Hurumph...

Spending lots of time the the workshop though.

They are showing when I look for them. US delivery but.
 
Amazon have stopped ordering books to focus on food and stuff, so The Ukulele and my previous book on the history of the mandolin have disappeared from Amazon. And this a month after a fairly positive review in American Lutherie. Hurumph...

Spending lots of time the the workshop though.

The book is still available on Amazon to me here in California. A must-have book by the way. Very well done Graham..

uke book.jpg
 
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