NUD: Hurrah! NUD: Boo!

It's easy to argue that I don't strictly need another ukulele, but I dislike arguments so this morning a parcel arrived from Southern Ukulele Store in Bournemouth, patiently ignored until I finished work, then carefully opened to reveal an Ohana SK-50WG. Not a high-end or exotic instrument, but a quite beautiful one with marvellous willow grain showing on the sides and back and a soft red-orange cedar top. Normally I prefer friction pegs, but only the very early examples of this model seem to sport them so I was planning to change the guitar-style tuners; in fairness, they were far lighter and better proportioned than many I've seen.

And then the crashing disappointment: peering inside I could see that one of the back braces was completely split through. Perhaps for a laminate it would make little difference, but I don't know. Happily Rob at SUS sorted out a pickup and refund, so I shan't be of pocket, but what a bummer. Very hard to find at the moment, particularly at the price I paid, so it will be a while until I have another NUD.

Definitely beautiful grain.

I feel your pain, that's a shame.

Oh man! I am so sorry you had that happen. It really sucks to go through that high of getting a gorgeous new ukulele to play and enjoy, only to have it taken away when you find a problem with it. Especially one that is as severe as yours is.

I hope you can find another to take its place. For a good price. Best of luck.

Couldn't find another of that model available, so I was planning to wait and keep an eye out. Then something unexpected happened and there may yet be a happy ending… Fingers crossed and I'll post an update as soon as I know for sure.

The update:

Over the weekend Rob from Southern Ukulele Store dropped me a line to say that, surprisingly, another Ohana SK-50WG had become available. This one was B-stock (a flaw in the varnish, I think) and had been obtained for a customer who asked for a strap button and some fluorocarbon strings to be fitted. When they turned up to buy it their head was turned by a tenor uke instead, so Rob was left with the Ohana which he offered to me at a reduced price. A strap button on a soprano seems unnecessary to me, but presumably the original customer had their reasons, but that aside I was about ready to bit Rob's hand off at the offer, except...

... except I'd just ordered a heavily discounted Romero Creations XS Soprano from Germany, thinking that the Ohana wasn't being replaced. Naturally I could have said yes anyway and explained myself to my fiancee when both arrived, but I decided to be sensible about it and told her the situation with a view to turning down the offer from SUS. And that's when she said those three little words which made my heart melt:

"Get them both."

And so here we are, the earlier disappointment turned into a double ukulele day! The XS only arrived today so I've done little more than get it in tune, but it's my first foray into the world of low G and metal-wound strings. Quite a beautiful tone to it. I'm going to have to change the tuners on them, though... can't get used to the ears.

Ah, I love happy endings; and this qualifies as a doubly happy ending.
Congrats!

Maybe she was hoping you'd let her play one of them?

I had an Ohana B-Stock TK-50G and didn't realize that was what it was until I offered it for sale here and found out. The flaws were hard to spot unless you gave it a close inspection. It played perfectly. Cedar/Rosewood. Nice sound.

The store owner charged me 15% less than MSRP for it. And didn't disclose that it was B-Stock & a Second. The label had TK-50GS B, I had no idea what it meant. I also had to ask him twice to set it up for me with a lower action. A true learning experience. Needless to say, I haven't shopped there again.

This was my second tenor uke. The first I bought on Amazon.

Kenn2018 said:

Maybe she was hoping you'd let her play one of them?

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If only! We have many things in common, but sadly a desire to play an instrument is not something we share.

Great to hear of happy endings in these days of doom and gloom