UKE Republic

I don't have a horse in this race...but will say this:

Tone and volume are subjective....

Also, when you buy an uke from the places that do a setup (I do highly recommend this) you're not generally getting a personalized setup for YOUR playing style and the strings you're going to be using. I really don't know who will do that at no extra charge if you ask...but it's almost an impossibility due to the person setting it up not being able to see and know firsthand how you play. It's a bit of trial and error to get the ideal setup, and just isn't realistic if you're not in person with the one doing the work.
What you do get is a check for problems (buzzes, uneven frets, structural issues, etc.) and sometimes a lowering of action for easier playability (which is good for most, but not all). That's A LOT more than what you get from the big box stores online. Most of them don't even open the box. They receive it and ship it out.
I've never dealt with Mike, so can't comment on his setups. I have dealt with MIM and found her setup to be excellent for me. Low action but not too low for me. I didn't have to make any changes to her setup for it to be right for me.
I have dealt with Elderly Instruments more than any others. They haven't ever sent me an unplayable dud but I find their setup is sometimes a bit high for me at nut and saddle, although very playable. The frets are level though (not always crowned well, but very playable) so I can make final adjustments to get it more to my liking.
All that to say, we all have our own preferences and there is no one-size-fits-all. I'd say there can be a one-size-fits-most though.

I'll say one more thing:
I have owned a Kiwaya in the past and the frets were really low profile compared to most other instruments I've played. That made it more difficult to play for me.
It seemed I had to press harder to get cleaner notes, whereas taller frets require a lighter touch. So their factory specs just aren't necessarily for me, or weren't at the time (The Flight TUS-35 I have now has lower profile frets and I play it fine). There are just so many factors.

Good points, Jer. In particular, speaking of taller frets, I once had a Martin S-0, and the frets were nice and chunky compared to other ukes I'd owned, and I really liked the way they felt!

yahalele said:

Why Uke Republic has not brought it back to factory set up straight away? That is simple. Because Uke Republic has changed action. And Kiwaya's set up and quality control is very good reputation here in Japan. Why Uku Republic need to check buzz, tone and volume, string and attack? The ukulele had been changed action by Uku Republic, and customer has claimed. We need it back to factory set up first. It is not only ukulele but also Macintosh, Windows and even smartphones. Why not? These inspections may bring them big argument.

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Not only did the costumer (me) claim that Uke republic changed the factory setting for the action, Mike admitted in an email that Uke republic changed the action lower than the factory setting, which is already plenty low enough. Only after much ado about nothing did they change it back to the factory setting with noticeably improved tone. For the most part the problem has been solved but only after and because I raised a big stink about it and went through a lot of hassle with them. They didn't make it easy.

I am out of this thread. Way to much fanboyism for my taste.

Bill Sheehan said:

Good points, Jer. In particular, speaking of taller frets, I once had a Martin S-0, and the frets were nice and chunky compared to other ukes I'd owned, and I really liked the way they felt!

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I like bigger frets better too typically. I know with ukes already having a small fingerboard it's harder to get them on there without it becoming too cramped feeling though. I liked the frets on the Martins I've tried (Mexican made).

jer said:

I don't have a horse in this race...but will say this:

Tone and volume are subjective....

Also, when you buy an uke from the places that do a setup (I do highly recommend this) you're not generally getting a personalized setup for YOUR playing style and the strings you're going to be using. I really don't know who will do that at no extra charge if you ask...but it's almost an impossibility due to the person setting it up not being able to see and know firsthand how you play. It's a bit of trial and error to get the ideal setup, and just isn't realistic if you're not in person with the one doing the work.
What you do get is a check for problems (buzzes, uneven frets, structural issues, etc.) and sometimes a lowering of action for easier playability (which is good for most, but not all). That's A LOT more than what you get from the big box stores online. Most of them don't even open the box. They receive it and ship it out.
I've never dealt with Mike, so can't comment on his setups. I have dealt with MIM and found her setup to be excellent for me. Low action but not too low for me. I didn't have to make any changes to her setup for it to be right for me.
I have dealt with Elderly Instruments more than any others. They haven't ever sent me an unplayable dud but I find their setup is sometimes a bit high for me at nut and saddle, although very playable. The frets are level though (not always crowned well, but very playable) so I can make final adjustments to get it more to my liking.
All that to say, we all have our own preferences and there is no one-size-fits-all. I'd say there can be a one-size-fits-most though.

I'll say one more thing:
I have owned a Kiwaya in the past and the frets were really low profile compared to most other instruments I've played. That made it more difficult to play for me.
It seemed I had to press harder to get cleaner notes, whereas taller frets require a lighter touch. So their factory specs just aren't necessarily for me, or weren't at the time (The Flight TUS-35 I have now has lower profile frets and I play it fine). There are just so many factors.

Click to expand...

I agree. If you don't specify what you want, they are going to go as low as they can get it. That's what most people are told that they should want and that's what they expect. I think that the mark of an experienced ukulele player is knowing how you want your ukulele set up and conveying that to the person who is going to do it.

Rllink said:

I agree. If you don't specify what you want, they are going to go as low as they can get it. That's what most people are told that they should want and that's what they expect.

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Yes. I think that's usually good for beginners, but not always for experienced players who have developed certain tastes.

hi, jer and Rollie! The problem is not so easy for Alan here.

Bill bought a classical guitar two month ago via Amazon and post a thread under Guitar Discussion. That was fun thread. He said that he had to knock back some sharp fret ends (see the photo below). Now I start a discussion. Here is a stupid person. He thinks shaving the saddle bottom (see the photo below) are same as knocking back sharp fret ends in set up. You might think it is too stupid. But just imagine there is a such stupid person. And read Mike's post. Then you can understand what he thought. He does not know the relationship between action and saddle. Hence he can not see the relationship between action, buzz and volume. Alan took more than 3 weeks to explain it but he could not explain it to Mike and Mike still wrote in that way in this thread. I understand his frustration very much in his posts.



Last week I bought a guitar and post a photo in a thread under Links and Videos. This shopping has a bit of trouble (see the triangle below). The shop sent me a wrong parcel, and my gutar had gone to someone else's place. The shop was very clever and sent it directly from someone else to me. I have received it next day. I was very happy because I was really looking forward to play it. A couple of years ago, a customer of Mim post a threat about a buzz of her ukulele, which she received. As soon as post appeared, Mim replied. Mim had another uku in stock and she sent it straight away without receiving buzz ukulele.



Alan took more than 3 weeks to explain and gave up to explain. He just received another saddle. I am very suspicious about this saddle if it were original Kiwaya's one or not. I understand his frustration very much. Because even a day was very long for me in my guitar shopping.

Hence I contacted with Kiwaya's Japanese Headquarter. Kiwaya's set up and quality control is very good and high reputation. I asked if Kiwaya allows this kind of set up service. Does Kiwaya think this set up ukulele brand new or second hand? Does the ukulele still has Kiwaya's grantee? I am waiting for their answer.

Thanks, Yahalele, and perhaps we can use this moment to have a mutual understanding that even the finest and most reputable of merchants will inevitably have something go a little "jinxed" on them, and that we're all, after all, only human. Life is imperfect, but the nice thing about the passage of a little time is that it most often has a tendency to ease things. I hope Alan will return soon, and we can all pick up in a spirit of good will and gratitude for the wonderful common interest that we share.

:agree: with Bill. Good post.


yahalele:
I can tell you really put a lot of time into that post with diagrams and everything.
For the record, I'm not trying to choose sides here. I can understand the points being made by both sides. I'm just stating there are differences of opinions and preferences.
To be clear: I do not doubt Kiwaya's quality nor am I trying to say anything bad about them. The uke I had of theirs was very well made. It was the least expensive laminate model. I think it was KS1. I did find it very mellow sounding which I quite liked and a little harder to play than the other ukes I was used to, due to the low profile of the frets. That was just me though. If I played one again now, there's a chance I might be just fine with the frets. Low profile frets do offer the advantage of being harder to pull sharp due to pressing too hard accidentally.

I'm going to stop posting in this thread too as I don't see it accomplishing anything positive.
I hope there is a good resolution.

yahalele said:

hi, jer and Rollie! The problem is not so easy for Alan here.

Bill bought a classical guitar two month ago via Amazon and post a thread under Guitar Discussion. That was fun thread. He said that he had to knock back some sharp fret ends (see the photo below). Now I start a discussion. Here is a stupid person. He thinks shaving the saddle bottom (see the photo below) are same as knocking back sharp fret ends in set up. You might think it is too stupid. But just imagine there is a such stupid person. And read Mike's post. Then you can understand what he thought. He does not know the relationship between action and saddle. Hence he can not see the relationship between action, buzz and volume. Alan took more than 3 weeks to explain it but he could not explain it to Mike and Mike still wrote in that way in this thread. I understand his frustration very much in his posts.



Last week I bought a guitar and post a photo in a thread under Links and Videos. This shopping has a bit of trouble (see the triangle below). The shop sent me a wrong parcel, and my gutar had gone to someone else's place. The shop was very clever and sent it directly from someone else to me. I have received it next day. I was very happy because I was really looking forward to play it. A couple of years ago, a customer of Mim post a threat about a buzz of her ukulele, which she received. As soon as post appeared, Mim replied. Mim had another uku in stock and she sent it straight away without receiving buzz ukulele.



Alan took more than 3 weeks to explain and gave up to explain. He just received another saddle. I am very suspicious about this saddle if it were original Kiwaya's one or not. I understand his frustration very much. Because even a day was very long for me in my guitar shopping.

Hence I contacted with Kiwaya's Japanese Headquarter. Kiwaya's set up and quality control is very good and high reputation. I asked if Kiwaya allows this kind of set up service. Does Kiwaya think this set up ukulele brand new or second hand? Does the ukulele still has Kiwaya's grantee? I am waiting for their answer.

Click to expand...

I have no opinion as to whether Mike made a mistake or not in setting up Alan's uke. However, the ONLY pertinent point is that he and his friends played it for 2 weeks and damaged it in the process. If he felt the setup was bad, he is 100% entitled to a full refund on an UNDAMAGED uke. However, once he or his friends damaged that uke, it really doesn't matter if it was the worst setup ever. A damaged uke becomes B stock and no retailer should feel pressured to refund it, which seems like what Alan was trying to do by posting here.

yahalele said:

Why Uke Republic has not brought it back to factory set up straight away? That is simple. Because Uke Republic has changed action. And Kiwaya's set up and quality control is very good reputation here in Japan. Why Uku Republic need to check buzz, tone and volume, string and attack? The ukulele had been changed action by Uku Republic, and customer has claimed. We need it back to factory set up first. It is not only ukulele but also Macintosh, Windows and even smartphones. Why not? These inspections may bring them big argument.

Click to expand...

Hi Yahalele,
Its not a question of Kiwaya being a good manufacturer, there is a reason we set up. Keep in mind that we deal with thousands of instruments per year and know what we are doing.
Why would we set up a premium instrument like a Kiwaya some may ask? Generally instruments are shipped from all over the world (Kiwaya are made in Japan) using a cargo vessel, trucking and plane then stored in a warehouse. The varying effect of so many environmental changes can include, frets moving, strings going bad, tuners coming loose and more. We as professionals at Uke Republic take the time time to address, remedy and dial in the tone by means of a set up. This is done to insure a great playing ukulele.

Hi, Mike. You shaved saddle of Kiwaya(see the figure below). Simply we need factory reset. We need to get the saddle back to factory set up. If you have normal intelligence, you can understand this causal relationship. If you steal, you will be arrested. If you tell a lie, no one trust you. This relationship is simple. I use Macintosh computers. When they have a trouble, they show sad Mac (see the figure below). Then we make factory reset. It is same on Windows or even on smartphones too.



I was expecting this causal relationship in your reply. Alan of course understand it but you don't. I am quite suspicious your intelligence based on your reply and Alan and your friend's posts. Even you don't have normal intelligence, you still have responsibility to your business.


Mike. You shaved brand new Kiwaya saddle and this happened. You'd taken about three weeks for arguments. I really understand Alan's frustration, anger and disappointment. I ask you full refund and apology to Alan.

Bill Sheehan said:

Thanks, Yahalele, and perhaps we can use this moment to have a mutual understanding that even the finest and most reputable of merchants will inevitably have something go a little "jinxed" on them, and that we're all, after all, only human. Life is imperfect, but the nice thing about the passage of a little time is that it most often has a tendency to ease things. I hope Alan will return soon, and we can all pick up in a spirit of good will and gratitude for the wonderful common interest that we share.

Click to expand...

This.

(Since my name was brought up in the graphic I would like to respond).

I have messed up myself. We all have. We are human.

I think sometimes people perceive business such as mine and UR as larger operations than we are. And sometimes forget that ukuleles are made and then setup by human hands. Real people who can make mistakes, or miss something, or the ukulele is subject to the environment, or as Bill says, sometimes they seem "jinxed". It just all goes wrong. Heck, I had a transaction that seemed super jinxed and luckily the customer was super lovely about it. But everything seemed to go wrong.

Even with returns or swap outs, sometimes with our busy family schedules, simple human forgetfulness, the amount of orders, or just life situations in general something may slip and we are not 100% for our customers. Or sometimes simply communication gets weird. Or there is not another ukulele to swap it out for. Or the customer has a problem that is no longer there when it returns to the shop (sometimes just difference in climate can do that). It is the nature of small business that things go wrong and the system for a return is more personal than Amazon where the items come out of a box in a warehouse. But the benefit of a small business is we actually care about our ukuleles and our customers, you also get a piece of our heart.

Also, I have never had an ukulele that has needed to leave my shop without a setup. I don't offer Kiwaya so I don't know the particulars of that brand, but Mike would know if it does. In my experience, What ukulele doesn't? You would be surprised the issues that even the highest end ukuleles have.

I would hope this thread gets closed because it is getting unproductive. Humans are human and at the end of the day ukuleles are a music making tool, but are inanimate. This is a 2 sides of the story hear say thing. And goodness knows though I strive for perfection, I have messed up every now and then as well. And I hope someone would speak up for me if this ever happens to me. Lets go back to the initial post that was a glowing recommendation. That was the purpose of this thread.

yahalele said:

Hi, Mike. You shaved saddle of Kiwaya(see the figure below). Simply we need factory reset. We need to get the saddle back to factory set up. If you have normal intelligence, you can understand this causal relationship. If you steal, you will be arrested. If you tell a lie, no one trust you. This relationship is simple. I use Macintosh computers. When they have a trouble, they show sad Mac (see the figure below). Then we make factory reset. It is same on Windows or even on smartphones too.



I was expecting this causal relationship in your reply. Alan of course understand it but you don't. I am quite suspicious your intelligence based on your reply and Alan and your friend's posts. Even you don't have normal intelligence, you still have responsibility to your business.

Why Uke Republic has not brought it back to factory set up straight away?	Alan	Mark
answer	Not only did the costumer (me) claim that Uke republic changed the factory setting for the action, Mike admitted in an email that Uke republic changed the action lower than the factory setting, which is already plenty low enough. Only after much ado about nothing did they change it back to the factory setting with noticeably improved tone. For the most part the problem has been solved but only after and because I raised a big stink about it and went through a lot of hassle with them. They didn't make it easy. I am out of this thread. Way to much fanboyism for my taste.	Hi Yahalele, Its not a question of Kiwaya being a good manufacturer, there is a reason we set up. Keep in mind that we deal with thousands of instruments per year and know what we are doing. Why would we set up a premium instrument like a Kiwaya some may ask? Generally instruments are shipped from all over the world (Kiwaya are made in Japan) using a cargo vessel, trucking and plane then stored in a warehouse. The varying effect of so many environmental changes can include, frets moving, strings going bad, tuners coming loose and more. We as professionals at Uke Republic take the time time to address, remedy and dial in the tone by means of a set up. This is done to insure a great playing ukulele.
argument	He knows what is the question and why it was asked. It goes beyond pointing out comparisons to using them to change the readers vision.	replace the question to why Uku Republic sets up
Organization	Every paragraph supports the main argument in a coherent way, and clear transitions point out why each new paragraph follows the previous one.	No fact, observation or organization
Evidence	Concrete examples from texts support general points about how those texts work. The post provides the source and significance of each piece of evidence.	no evicence
Mechanics	This post contains a bit of errors in syntax, and punctuation. They are the evidence how much Alan angry is.	Most of it is copy and paste of previous post.

Mike. You shaved brand new Kiwaya saddle and this happened. You'd taken about three weeks for arguments. I really understand Alan's frustration, anger and disappointment. I ask you full refund and apology to Alan.

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Either you have incredibly poor English skills or you are incredibly rude. "If you have normal intelligence, you can understand this causal relationship. If you steal, you will be arrested. If you tell a lie, no one trust you. This relationship is simple." "I am quite suspicious your intelligence based on your reply and Alan and your friend's posts. Even you don't have normal intelligence, you still have responsibility to your business." Here's another concept for you - Ad Hominem -"genuine discussion of the topic at hand is avoided by instead attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument". I have full faith that with your intelligence you are capable of understanding how this comes into play in your previous response. Just in case it doesn't, however, I will point that, despite you graphics, charts, layout, you have provided ZERO evidence of anything, but you have provided insults and vague allegations. Here's a thought. Instead of fancy layouts, why not put some meat in your post. Both posters have already stated the saddle was replaced back to factory settings, so you don't need to mention shaved saddles. Also no need to break down their responses as you have no skills in doing so. Instead of making one sided assertions, you are supposed to give examples, eg. "Evidence Concrete examples from texts support general points about how those texts work. The post provides the source and significance of each piece of evidence" is supposed to have examples of those "concrete examples" and "the source and significance". I hope you can improve your writing skills to enable you to write a cogent argument that lays out and backs up your position rather than merely hurl insults with cutesy graphics.

Mim said:

I would hope this thread gets closed because it is getting unproductive.

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+1 on this.

I thought I wasn't going to post here again, but this is getting ridiculous. Can someone get in touch with a moderator? I tried to flag a post, if it worked.


Yahalele: I was trying to be nice about your "graphics" in my earlier post...but now I think I get it. Looks like you think we're a bunch of idiots here who need a picture to understand things. What you did in your last post was flat out attack someone rudely. Maybe the language barrier plays into communication not being quite as easy, but your words up there are completely uncalled for and inexcusable. *shaking head*

To be absolutely clear, I'm talking about this part of your post that you directed at someone else in the thread:
"I was expecting this causal relationship in your reply. Alan of course understand it but you don't. I am quite suspicious your intelligence based on your reply and Alan and your friend's posts. Even you don't have normal intelligence, you still have responsibility to your business."

Okay the personal attacks need to stop NOW. I completely understand how a dealer and customer may have very differing viewpoints on a transaction, even heartfelt, honest ones. But the line is crossed when posts insult the integrity and intelligence of members on UU, particularly when made by individuals that are not even a party to the transaction. I have no desire to ban anyone, or suspend anyone, but violating the general rule in these parts, aka “don’t be a jerk,” is not permitted. Thank you.

wickedwahine11 said:

Okay the personal attacks need to stop NOW. I completely understand how a dealer and customer may have very differing viewpoints on a transaction, even heartfelt, honest ones. But the line is crossed when posts insult the integrity and intelligence of members on UU, particularly when made by individuals that are not even a party to the transaction. I have no desire to ban anyone, or suspend anyone, but violating the general rule in these parts, aka “don’t be a jerk,” is not permitted. Thank you.

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Thank you

Mark is on his business. I am blaming his business. Once we have paid money we can do nothing. And this might have happened many time and will happen again and again. I do not attack his private life.

So...... how 'bout those Cardinals...?