UKE Republic

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yncs50

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Portsmouth, Ohio
I have to tell everyone that I just completed an excellent transaction with Mike at Uke Republic.

I bought my grandaughter her first Uke, and had Mike ship it to Ventura, CA.

USPS tried to throw a wrench in the works, but Mike wouldn't allow it.

She has her Uke now, and all is well.

Thanks Mike, all my business will be coming your way.
 
Mike is a good guy. I love visiting his store.
 
I have to tell everyone that I just completed an excellent transaction with Mike at Uke Republic.

I bought my grandaughter her first Uke, and had Mike ship it to Ventura, CA.

USPS tried to throw a wrench in the works, but Mike wouldn't allow it.


She has her Uke now, and all is well.

Thanks Mike, all my business will be coming your way.

Thanks so much for those kind words. I'm glad she likes her new ukulele :)

And everyone should Semper Ubi Sub Ubi
 
happy to say I just bought a uke today from Mike. Wonderful to deal with and I look forward to more future transactions as well as my hopes of someday getting to visit his great shop! Keep up the great work Mike, can't wait to get my new Kala cedar/acacia from you!
 
Mike is a super guy. I purchased all my Ike’s from him but one. Very good service
 
Another cheer for Mike! I’ve purchased a few ukes from Mike and they’ve all been stellar experiences.

Looking forward to the next one...
 
I ordered a uke from Mike, when it arrived at his shop he saw a tiny flaw . He gave me a choice of accepting a discount or a refund. Mike could have held up my money and gives me a store credit instead but he didn't. I received a full cash refund back on my PayPal account.

I have been hoping and waiting for another opportunity to buy from Mike ever since.
 
I appreciate the videos that he posts frequently on Facebook. You can tell that he loves his job. I split many of my purchases between Mike and Mim—The Ukulele Site doesn’t carry the Ohana models that I have been looking at, and both Mike and Mim get those models when they come out. Both dealers will also order entry level Kala and Ohana products on request—and both carry some of the same big brands (e.g. KoAloha). I’m looking forward to stopping in the store the next time that we visit family in Georgia.

P.S. I do have to admit that I’m jealous that he’s wearing shorts in most of his recent videos...we’re stuck in winter here with shovelable snow AGAIN this weekend.
 
Another metric to evaluate a business is how they handle returns. Well I have returned one uke to Mike - just because I didn't like it - and it was no trouble at all, no questions asked. Wouldn't hesitate to deal with him again. He's also the only domestic source for Living Waters strings that I know of.
 
I once had a spur of the moment order with Mike before Christmas. He went out of his way to make it happen and I received my Uke just in time. Superb service. I will not hesitate to buy from him again.
 
About four years ago after I was playing ukulele for just a few months I happened to be near Atlanta and I went to the Uke Republic shop and met Mike. I only bought some strings and trinkets at the time. Over the years I have made several online buys of strings and other small items. Last year at the Strummin’ Man Ukulele Festival in Panama City. I mentioned to Mike that I was interested in a Cedar topped Kala Baritone. When I approached his booth he recognized me and reached around to hand me the Baritone. Of course I bought it. We chatted about strings and I bought some Living Water Baritone strings which I am really liking. How he recognized me after such a long time ago brief encounter I don’t know. But I am very happy to do business with him. He and his wife are a class act and run a first rate business.
 
+1 for Uke Republic.
I mostly have bought strings, but wouldn't hesitate to buy a ukulele if one caught my eye there. (It's bound to happen sooner or later, right? LOL.)

I once got an order (strings) and put the envelope aside for a few months, and considered it my mistake to not have looked at it any sooner. When one thing wasn't what I had ordered, even though there was a time lapse on my end in noticing, Uke Republic corrected it with my next order, though I didn't expect that. That's impressive customer service. And seems all too rare these days.

I love the Uke Republic videos. If you need any proof that ukuleles are fun, just watch those videos. :)
 
Uke Republic is great, both online and in person! Donna and Mike are quality folks, and they'll treat you right every time! :cool:
 
I can't swim, so I can't cross the ocean and visit Uke Republic. :p

But I absolutely love their YouTube channel. Thank You for the great vids, Mike!!!!!! :D
 
I am going to have go contrary to the general opinion on UKE republic. The Kiwaya KTS4 I bought from them was very badly set up with loads of problems. Lots of buzzing throughout the instrument, weak tone and volume (saddle set to low). It was pretty much unplayable.

After a number of email exchanges (and pretty bizarre advice from Mike) I sent it back to get fixed. Mike claimed all was well and even sent a seven second video clip to prove it. It wasn't, and after more email exchanges they replaced the saddle with a new Kiwaya saddle at the factory set height. When I received it back it was better... but only about half fixed. I have a strong suspicion they also screwed up the nut and that was not fixed. A point of interest is I had Martin M600 strings on it when I sent it back to UKE republic and when I received it back it was strung up with generic no name nylon strings with the Martin M600's in a bag (or course the Martins are unusable as they where already cut). That made me very suspicious about the nut. In one of the emails Mike claimed I was using strings that with too thin of a gauge (which pretty much means no fluorocarbons can be used). I'm guessing they screwed up the nut by cutting the slots too wide (and possibly to low) and they strung it up with thicker gauge nylon to cover it up. I will give fluorocarbons another try in the next week or two with some worth clears (on order) but I fully expect bad things to happen. Things are already getting worse on the G string as the nylon stretches out.

There set up was a complete amateur hack job. I have pretty much given up on UKE republic actually fixing what they broke.I will have to try and find someone local to build a new nut. I certainly will not be a repeat costumer.
 
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I bought a little Makala Shark from Uke Republic so my 3 year old could start playing around (and allow me to practice) - I was really impressed that they do a setup on these little ukes because I wanted something more than a toy, and playable, but not too expensive. Played great right out of the box! Thanks Mike!!
 
happy to say I just bought a uke today from Mike. Wonderful to deal with and I look forward to more future transactions as well as my hopes of someday getting to visit his great shop! Keep up the great work Mike, can't wait to get my new Kala cedar/acacia from you!

I love that uke! It's my everyday player with a low g on it.
 
I have only purchased strings from them, which were quickly shipped. I do have 2 qualms about their website. The first is that models always seem to "coming soon", and the second is that, unlike Mim, laminates are listed as the species of wood, with no mention of them being laminates. Yes, we all know that only solid means not laminated, but not everyone does. A buyer should never be surprised by receiving a laminate when they don't now how they are labeled. Mim is much more conscientious about this.
 
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