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10K for a Uke??!!
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Subject: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Justa Picker Date: 30 Dec 01 - 07:02 PM Check it out. Clicky |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Jon Freeman Date: 30 Dec 01 - 07:14 PM The bidding history is interesting. All 4 bids seem to come from the same person (inochan) who has a minus rating and a comment about him(?) being a high bidder and then not responding. Jon |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Justa Picker Date: 30 Dec 01 - 07:23 PM Yeah I noticed that too Jon. Something just a little fishy going on there. Granted it's in what appears to be mint condition, but even a starting price of 5K ---for a uke? (At 10K it should come attached to a prewar D-18. **G**) There are a lot of incredulous prices being asked for Martins on E-Bay right now. I especially love the brand new Woody Guthrie OO-18 being touted as "vintage". There's also a guy with a really nice looking what-he-calls custom 1979 "D-45". He wants 15K. Unfortunately he blew any chance of getting anything near that for this, because (a) the back and sides are Indian rosewood (as opposed to BRW) and secondly a 3-piece/D-35 style back?) Nope. 15K. Don't think so although I'm sure he may very well have paid close to that back then. It's probably worth closer to about 6K, if that, on today's market. |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Jon Freeman Date: 30 Dec 01 - 07:32 PM JP, I wouldn't have a clue over the value of a uke (or any other instrument) but I have to agree that 5K sounds high. I'm not clear whether people are actually misleading people on ebay or not but I hope that prices don't end up being driven to stupid levels there. An instrument is a tool first and formost to me and I've always had the sort of silly believe that good instruments should go to people who can appreciate them as musical instruments. I get nervous over collecters who want to put them in glass cages for example - all they seem to me to do is drive prices up and make it harder for those who want to play. Jon |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Amos Date: 30 Dec 01 - 07:45 PM Ebay is a classic paradigm of open market dynamics with segmented information access -- in other words, not everyone who bids is really informed about what others might know, so you get some really disproportionate highs and lows. I got BBW an accordion for Xmas, a relatively rare Sonoli, in good working condition, probably thirty or forty years old. Expected to beat them off with sticks at $300-400 and closed the deal for $180. I think I got a real bargain, but I don't have the expertise to know for certain. Funny place, E-bay!!! A |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Justa Picker Date: 30 Dec 01 - 08:01 PM Agree 100% with you Amos. There's nothing wrong with trying to exact every damn dollar you can get out of your prized possessions. My theory is that some of these people honestly don't know what they have; or they know exactly what they have and took it (talking guitars here) to their favorite dealer of choice, and the dealer offered them 15-20% below market value to buy it outright, or consign it; and they then left the dealer - put it on Ebay for what the dealer would sell it for, and just for good measure added another 20-50% onto that value. I agree with you Jon that it's sad to see really expensive instruments sit in glass cases (museum pieces) or in permanent climate controlled storage. They should be played. It's nice if a collector is also a player. I have a couple of expensive ones. They were acquired at a time that I honestly felt I wasn't worthy of ownership and couldn't do them justice musically - yet I bought them because I appreciated their beauty, sound and their musical potential - and sought to practise enough and work on my playing to feel some sort of entitlement in owning them. My conscience is easing in that department each passing year. *G* |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Sorcha Date: 30 Dec 01 - 08:27 PM Preaching to the choir, here, boyz. I would rather give away an instrument to someone who will play it than sell it for some ridiculous price anywhere, esp. on E-bay. In fact, I have done that.
The only way I would buy any instrument from E-bay is if it were under $50 US and I didn't care if it was "as represented". Idiots.
"Violins" (notice I did not say fiddles") are now starting at several K for a "good student instrument". Suzuki crap and small scale ones can be had for $300, but you could get more sound out of a garbage can with strings. Sad.
In the last year, I have sold an Amati style 3/4 size violin for $100, a lap dulcimer for $65 and given away a 5 string banjo. All are being played now which gives me great joy. I am still looking for the Right Home for a very mellow orchestral violin and viola. I can play the viola and LOVE the sound, but I can't read alto clef and have no orchestra to play in anyway. I just play the viola as if it were a violin--but it's a 5th lower so it won't truly haromonize unless I learn new fingerings for all the tunes I know. I am NOT selling them on E-bay to some idiot stranger. |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: catspaw49 Date: 30 Dec 01 - 08:31 PM Great comments and all true, but let me add a personal note of bias I guess. It's a uke ferchrissakes! If it was the only uke Martin ever made and from the last stick of BRW on the planet, it would still be a uke. Five or ten grand? Gimme a break....... It's a uke. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Sorcha Date: 30 Dec 01 - 09:03 PM Bias?? Spaw, how the hell can you be biased when it's a Uke? (ukes burn really fast--faster than accordians even) |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Bill D Date: 30 Dec 01 - 10:58 PM first thing *I* noticed, is that they can't spell Ukelele but aside from that, the whole thing has just become speculation on the name "Martin"....granted, some Martins have great sound, how many $$$$$$$$ can tone that maybe 1/10 of 1% of the people can detect be worth? (sorry about the sentence structure, I just had a wonderful 8% beer) it is like million dollar Rolls Royces...there is just a 74% snob value on it, even if it is pretty and runs smooth. The scary part is that those who REALLY have big bucks to spend on those things are not usually the ones who can appreciate whatever extra 'sound' value they have anyway. |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Rick Fielding Date: 30 Dec 01 - 11:09 PM I think the reason for the high price is the fame of the owner. Nobody's mentioned that yet. Might he be setting a slightly high price on his celebrity? I think so. Now if it was Arthur Godfrey or Cliff Edwards or Peter Sellers...... Rick |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Sorcha Date: 30 Dec 01 - 11:11 PM Does Martin equal Martian??? Seems to. |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: catspaw49 Date: 30 Dec 01 - 11:13 PM Even if it had been owned by all of them and played by Godfrey everyday on his show then donated to the Pope who passed it on to Eric Clapton and Keith Richards who in turn gave it to Doc Watson............. It's a uke. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: GUEST,Grammar Police Date: 30 Dec 01 - 11:15 PM There are a lot of incredulous prices > justa the word is _not_ synonymous with incredible. |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: catspaw49 Date: 30 Dec 01 - 11:29 PM Great....So outside of yourself and a few other pedantic pissants, I can't think of anyone that would give a fine hair on a fat frog's ass. This ain't English class.....We're just talkin' here and I think we all understood what JP said. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Willie-O Date: 31 Dec 01 - 12:35 AM Well, here's an idea that could work in other places. The Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra, which I play with when I can find the time, gets instruments from an instrument bank founded by Blue Skies In the Community. This is the charitable offshoot of a very successful local folk festival. They accept donations of instruments, which are renovated by festival host/worldclass luthier Oskar Graf, and loaned to young musicians in the community who need an instrument to learn on. What a great idea, eh? The pre-existing condition that makes all this possible is not exactly a whim, though. Just happens that we have a festival which sells out every year, has nearly 30 years history, and has a social conscience that suggests giving back something to the local community that plays host to the festival for three days a year. And we have Oskar to glue the donated instruments back together...and Carolyn Stewart to organize and direct the fiddle orchestra and other projects. Still, it's a model others could emulate. There are unplayed instruments in closets everywhere....and people who would like to play them fuck eBay, sez I. W-O
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Sorcha Date: 31 Dec 01 - 12:54 AM Spaw, you forgot Gram Parsons by way of Emmy Lou's place....
OH, cripes--I'll bet it was Don Ho's Very Own....... It's still a Uke........(grin) |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: katlaughing Date: 31 Dec 01 - 01:13 AM W-O that's a grand idea! I will suggest to my sister, as she is always on lookout for instruments for her students. Night Owl has told me about a sort of musical instrument lending program they have where she lives. If a person wants to see if they'd like ot learn a certain instruments, they can "check it out" for a set anount of time, then return it. Good way to try new things. Jon, the same person probably bid trying to reach the "reserve" price, as it is hidden. The only way one can tell if they've met it is to keep raising one's own bid until it says it's been met. Still, who knows, that bidder might be in on a deal with the seller. kat |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: M.Ted Date: 31 Dec 01 - 01:19 AM I think it could worth between 3 and 5k, depending on a lot of info that isn't there-relatively few of the instruments were made,and many one has to keep in mind that new Martin anythings are very expensive, particularly the ukes, if they still actually make them--the old ones are much nicer, and sound better than anything you can find of recent vintage-- "Ukulele" is spelled "ukulele"--and it is a damned fine instrument, Catspaw's small mindedness notwithstanding. Size is not a determinate of value, elsewise every double bass would be worth more than a strad-- Anyway, I would guess, for celebrity value alone, the most valuable uke in the world ought to be that celebrated vintage resonator uke that George Harrison bought a few years back from Mandolin Bros. |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: katlaughing Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:14 AM Looks as though either way is correct (my emphasis):
Main Entry: uku.le.le |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 31 Dec 01 - 06:36 AM Hye, I've got a Martin uke in vrey good condition, with case that someone gave me when her husband died. Does this mean I could get $100 for it? Jerry |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Rolfyboy6 Date: 31 Dec 01 - 07:31 AM Hey, Spaw, I used to have that 'just a uke' attitude. Then one vacation day I wandered into a backroad bar on Kauai. The regulars gave me the 'Yuck, Tourist' look, ignored me, and proceeded to play Hawaiian music--real Hawaiian music with male falsetto, part singing, and complex instrumentation. Ukulele like I'd never heard it before or since. It was to die for. I've never been able to sneer at the uke since. |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Rick Fielding Date: 31 Dec 01 - 10:35 AM I'd MUCH rather own a uke that had been carressed by Jerry Rasmussen than John Pearce!! Put it on Ebay Jerry...go for 9000 as a starter. Rick |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 31 Dec 01 - 12:03 PM Hi, Rick:
Maybe I'll start at $8,999/ People are always looking for bargains. Jerry |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Bill D Date: 31 Dec 01 - 12:22 PM ok...the world's biggest spellchecker, Google, gets 15,400 hits on "Ukelele" and 79,000 on "Ukulele"....I bow to the majority |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: M.Ted Date: 31 Dec 01 - 01:12 PM Jerry-- If you want to sell that uke for $100, let me know by PM-- as to a uke revival, there is already one in progress--with Jim Beloff, plinking out his novelty tunes at one end and "Iz", Israel Kamaka Wiwa'ole, who was maybe the best musician/writer/performer to come out in this last generation, at the other--
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Justa Picker Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:21 PM Okay....well how 'bout Don Reno's 1947 D-28? Considering all the extensive modifications it has undergone, normally it'd be worth a fraction of what an all original '47 D-28 should fetch, but the name/celebrity value of it will probably put it "up there". Still I am sure it will go for considerably less than the uke. JP -who is absolutely convinced the seller of the uke is NOT the real John Pearse. |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: M.Ted Date: 31 Dec 01 - 03:05 PM I wonder how much this guy paid Ronnie Reno for the guitar--sounds like Ronnie figured he was selling it to a friend who needed a guitar, not an "investor"-- As to the whole real "John Pearse" issue, I am sure it is a real John Pearse, just not sure which John Pearse-- |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Ned Ludd Date: 31 Dec 01 - 04:43 PM Erm Mr Catspaw... It's quite a nice uke? The (stirring) General. |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: M.Ted Date: 31 Dec 01 - 05:04 PM Nice to know there are still a few around with good common sense, Bill--now let's move on to pronounciation--"OO-KOO-lay-lay"-- |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 31 Dec 01 - 05:44 PM M. Ted: No, I'm not really intending to sell it, although it IS a Martin and comes with a hard shell case. The husband of a woman I knew casually, many years ago died, and because she knew that I played stringed instruments, she gave it to me. The Museum where I worked for many years in Stamford, CT is doing a MAJOR exhibit on ukuleles. It's opening soon... when I get literature on it, I'd be glad to share it if you're interested. One of the realities of Mudcat is that when someone posts a message, I have no idea if they live in Utah or Uganda. I think they plan to circulate the exhibit around the country, after it leaves Stamford. Jerry |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: M.Ted Date: 31 Dec 01 - 11:57 PM Jerry, I really didn't think you were going to sell it---it was a droll comment.Anyway. just from the little you've said about it, I know that it is worth a bit more than $100(it would probably be worth more than that if it were broken!) and, sucker that I am, I never take advantage of someone that doesn't know what their instrument is worth-- Please share your info on the ukulele exhibit, and especially the tour info-- |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 01 Jan 02 - 01:41 AM Mr. Ted: Over the years, I've picked up some beautiful instruments for next to nothing, and the people who sold them to me thought they were taking advantage of ME. Many years ago, I was home visiting my family in Wisconsin and some friend of my father's called and asked if I wanted to buy a mandola. I said, sure (not knowing what a mandola was, exactly.) I asked him how much he wanted for it and he said $8. It had a couple of broken strings on it. Came with a case. When he brought it by the house, and I opened the case, it was in perfect condition... an old Lyon and Healy flatback. I guess he saw how excited I was so when I asked him how much he wanted for it, he saw his opening and hesitantly said, $10. I told him it was a deal. He went home figuring he'd suckered a dumb college kid out of $2. And I have a beautiful mandola. Another time, many years later, I saw an add in the newspaper that said old banjo, $20. (Inflation.) I called the guy up and asked him what kind of a banjo it was. He said, "wait a minute" I'll go see. He came back and said, "It doesn't have a name on it." The I asked the critical question.."How many strings does it have?" And he said, "Wait a minute, I'll go see." When he came back he said, "It has five strings, but one doesn't go all the way up the neck." No wonder he only wanted $20! I asked him where he got it, and he said some guy gave it to him many years ago, and he didn't know where it came from. He had always meant to learn to play it and never did, and he sick of having it around. Ever the obliging one, I said I'd take it, sight unseen. The reason it doesn't have a name on it is that the neck is hand-made... beautiful maple and walnut. The guy was happy, but not as happy as I was.
You seem much nicer than me. When I have more information on the ukelele exhibit, I'll post it on this thread.. Jerry
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: marty D Date: 01 Jan 02 - 01:44 AM Well I have a Harmony uke that my father played, and it's possible that Arthur Godfrey (or even Tiny Tim for that matter) MAY have touched it. After all they both lived in the U.S. and may have had occasion to visit an insurance salesman. Now that I think about it, Harry Truman or Richard Nixon may also have played it. Well it's possible anyway. I think I'll start with a reserve of merely 5000 dollars. If anyone's interested, I'll keep thinking of famous people who MIGHT have played it. Like Mother Theresa in her Hawaiian period. marty |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: catspaw49 Date: 01 Jan 02 - 02:40 AM Ted, you're quiye right....I am being small-minded and I want to expand my knowledge and breadth of understanding. I have learned much from your postings on this thread and I now feel it incumbent to revise my opinion in light of your comments. It's an Ook. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Dave Swan Date: 01 Jan 02 - 03:12 AM Catspaw can't help being small minded......it's just that he's got this little tiny head. |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: catspaw49 Date: 01 Jan 02 - 03:23 AM I'd like to revise my previous statement: It's just an El Swanno. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Arbuthnot Date: 01 Jan 02 - 09:04 PM Yea , brothers, the rationing of Koa wood for many years allows us to give this instrument some of the respect it deserves. On pronunciation, nothing to do with Yuka, the legendary brother of Sir Peter Lely( I quote the dictionary of Doggerel). But still, as Spaw said originally, a UKE. Is the price proportionate with the work that went into Orville Gibson's mandolins? NO! There are people in the UK who will pay such amounts for splendidly made Banjoleles, such as those made by Abbott. But whatever the final price, a uke is a uke, and $2000 is a fair price for any koa uke, discounting historic associations |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Jon Freeman Date: 01 Jan 02 - 09:15 PM Anyone else noticed it has dropped back to the opening reserve of 5K? Jon |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: M.Ted Date: 01 Jan 02 - 09:35 PM I will be surprised if it sells for that price--but they are still fine instruments--not withstanding what any of you yahoos might think-- Jerry, it is true that I am a nice guy, but apparently I have a lot of hostility not very far under the surface--I could have picked up a D'Angelico for $250 bucks a few years back, and if I had, I probably wouldn't have to deal with all this supressed anger-- |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: katlaughing Date: 01 Jan 02 - 11:03 PM I like to hear of the correct pronunciations of Hawaiian words, M. Ted, thanks for posting it. |
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Subject: RE: 10K for a Uke??!! From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 02 Jan 02 - 02:44 AM Other than M. Ted, does anyone posting comments here actually play uke? I haven't played one in thirty years. All I know is that it is tuned My Dog Has Fleas. That's probably politically incorrect, now. Jerry M.Ted: how much was $250 worth back then? I rember when $100 was worth $10. When single dip ice cream cones were a nickle and shave and a haircut really was "two bits", although Iwasn't old enough to need a shave, then. My $10 mandola would cost $50 now... still a steal. |
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