I Got To Play This Little Gem...

I was in Denver the other day and dropped into a music store I like. This was hanging on the wall.

I played it for about an hour and Oh MAN!!!! It was SWEET! I could have put it on my credit card (and very nearly did), but then all my ukes and I would have to find a nice refrigerator box to live in when my wife saw the bill. Now I'm wondering what I can sell to come up with that much money...
I was surprised at how different it felt from my Martins. The neck had a much shallower profile. It was very comfortable. Not that the Martins aren't, mind you. It had a really punchy tone, but that might have been due to the Aquilas it was strung with. I've got Martin Fluorocarbons on my Martins. I had my Kiwaya out in the car, and brought it in to compare. The Kiwaya has Worth Clears. The Gibson was a lot louder, and really really light.
Well, if it's still there after I win the lottery, I'll get it!

Looks like a beauty, Chris. But sometimes, descretion is the better part of valor.

I hope everything is good with you.

Great report Chris. I had seen some Gibsons for sale and I never knew if I should pull the trigger.

Its good to hear a solid musician such as yourself likes the tone on that one.

I bought a Gibson Uke 1 off a list member for a very reasonable price. It is smaller than my Martin 1M and my various Gretsch vintage ukes but it is loud and punchy, really has what I assume folks are speaking of when the talk about "bark". I notice that vintage Gibsons come up much less frequently on ebay than Martins. IIRC last one that I saw was a Uke 2 or better that the seller had rested on a concrete wall to take pictures of, cringe, cringe, cringe. I didn't bid thinking that if he did that who knows what else that uke had experienced <g> (hope that it's not a list member who was selling it). cheers, g2

I didn't have either of my Martins handy to compare it with, but I had the distinct impression that it was a bit smaller. The only other Gibson uke I've ever played was a UB-1 banjo-uke, which has a shorter scale length than a normal soprano. I can't remember the actual scale off the top of my head, but it was small (and had a very narrow fingerboard!). The U-3 pictured didn't feel THAT small, but it did seem a little more compact than my Martins. And it definitely barked.