Are all the Hawaiian ukulele makers in lockdown again?

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There seems to be very little new stock reaching the dealers at the moment. I get the impression everything is on hold again.
 
I wonder if the pandemic, in general, is translating into increased demand for smaller or custom builders, and/or the used market?

I was certainly expecting a big upturn in the second hand market but it's not been that noticeable. You may be furloughed and in need of money but you also have a lot more time to play. There may have been some weeding out of lesser instruments but it seems more important than ever to keep the ones that make you happy.
 
I wonder if the pandemic, in general, is translating into increased demand for smaller or custom builders, and/or the used market?

It seems like Mim's business in way up. She's been hitting weekly her limit within a day or two lately. I know she had a few times where she hit is in a matter of hours.
 
I've been trying to keep track of when Mim hits her limit, in the second post in this thread: https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?145238-Lockdown-Entertainment

Cool thanks. I just read an article that guitar sales are up higher than they've been in years too. I think being at home is making a lot of people pick up an instrument for the first time. I'd venture to guess that the market for entry to mid level instruments is way up, but given a lot of peoples economic uncertainty that, sales of higher end instrument are down. Stuff in the Marketplace certainly doesn't seem to be going very quickly, but than again, summers are always kinda a dead in the Marketplace. It also would not suprise me if at some point in the next year we will se A LOT of used entry to mid level instruments for sale, as inevitbly, some folks won't stick with them and will end up trying to sell them.
 
I was wondering what was going on with Hawai’i and the lockdown situation. I watch the HMS’ The Ukulele Review/videos regularly and, in the past (early on when COVID hit) they used to talk about the lockdown in HI and how it was affecting things. But, the past few months (or so), it seems like there is not as much (or any) discussion about a lockdown, and it seems like they’re getting new instruments from Hawaiian luthiers frequently that they then talk about on their program. It made me wonder if things had loosened up a bit there with restrictions, etc.

As far as the part of the discussion about how busy Mim has been, etc. - I know the same is true for HMS. I bought a new Pono Deluxe cutaway tenor from them about a month ago, and also I bought another Pono Deluxe tenor on their Reverb site about three months ago. They’re crazy busy. I just bought another ukulele last week from a local guitar store and the same is true for them - instruments are selling like hot cakes. I heard the same word from another local music/stringed instrument store as well a couple months ago. What is interesting to me is that, prior to COVID hitting, my UAS had been at a standstill for two years. I have purchased four ukes since it started and as a result — had to sell two of my other ones - and am getting ready to sell another one shortly. ;-D

On a side note: the same phenomenon with sales going through the roof is happening in car sales, bike sales, and boat sales (especially earlier in the spring/summer with bikes and boats).
 
It actually appears that the Hawaiian ukulele makers are not shut down. KoAloha has been posting their progress on some 25th anniversary Red Label ukuleles that are expected to ship very soon. Kanile'a just sent out notice about two new Titanium ukuleles, the Pele and the Kanaloa.

I visit the HMS site daily and they have listed new stock for KoAloha, Kanile'a, and Kamaka in the last two months. Tours and site visits are shut down, but it appears that some manufacturing is occurring.
 
I’ve run past Kamaka in the past couple of weeks and while the front of the building is all locked up, the back area where they dry the wood and enter the factory seems to be open and I’ve seen a few folks walking around back there. So probably keeping the front of the house locked down but still manufacturing to some degree (although I am definitely not 100% sure of this, I only peek at what I can see from South St)
 
I made a visit to HMS warehouse yesterday...Kamaka,Kanile'a and Ko'Aloha are giving them a ton of ukes since many dealers have stopped their orders due to a slowdown in their business or other reasons due to the virus...
 
I made a visit to HMS warehouse yesterday...Kamaka,Kanile'a and Ko'Aloha are giving them a ton of ukes since many dealers have stopped their orders due to a slowdown in their business or other reasons due to the virus...

Do you know when? They seemed to have big deliveries a few weeks ago (especially from Kamaka) but have gone a bit quiet recently.
 
Well yeah, most retail and service businesses are locked down on Oahu (the other islands vary). But you can do what you want behind closed doors. So I'm sure builders build and internet sales are full steam ahead. I haven't gone to my office for over 6 months but am lucky I can work full time from home. Rather lonely existence but I've worn out a lot of string sets from all the extra practicing I've done.
 
I made a visit to HMS warehouse yesterday...Kamaka,Kanile'a and Ko'Aloha are giving them a ton of ukes since many dealers have stopped their orders due to a slowdown in their business or other reasons due to the virus...

Slow down in business? Ukuleles have been flying off the shelves for months, and shipping is disrupted from China with new supplies.

And it sure seems like the ukulele specialists are selling every high end model that comes their way...
 
He probably means the local Hawaii dealers are slow. Tourists are gone and music stores have been on lockdown for a long time so, if they ain't doing online sales, they have no need for stock.
 
Slow down in business? Ukuleles have been flying off the shelves for months, and shipping is disrupted from China with new supplies.

And it sure seems like the ukulele specialists are selling every high end model that comes their way...

HMS gets the Hawaiian ukes directly from their factories here? most dealers around the USA not ordering ukes for what ever reason...so the Hawaiian production companies give HMS most of their stock, that is how I understand it....I am only talking about Kamaka,Kanilea and Koaloha have no idea how or if dealers are ordering ukes from China....
 
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