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Original Post By:
Muttzukii
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Date: 2/28/2014 5:06:46 PM
(Updated: 2/28/2014 10:11:25 PM)
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| Recent comments on the Martin Tiple $$$??? thread make me realize that while we treasure our ukuleles, others may see them as, well, junk..........In the new book "The Martin Ukulele", Tom Walsh tells of getting a call to look at a trash-liberated early Ditson, An older edition of the Vintage Guitar Price Book has an article by a picker, who when going to garage sales,would always go through the trash in the alley first. That was where he found the ukuleles! Locally, a vintage cosmically flamed Hawaiian Kumalae was retreved from a public dump. Apparently tossed there because the neck had come off. Granted, these examples were a few years ago. Hopefully public preceptions have improved. Although, a friend of mine was painting a house recently where a Harmony Baritone was in the trash. When he asked if he could take it home, they indicated that they thought he was a little odd, but said "sure"........I personally haven't found any good ukes in other people's trash, but I'm still looking. How about you? Maybe under that box of broken Bics there is a vintage Kamaka thrown away because it had a broken string. So, share with us, your "Uke Tales from the Trash"!!! |
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Posted By:
shawn
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Date: 3/1/2014 10:52:45 AM |
Funny you should mention this. I found a vintage Martin 2K soprano ukulele that seemed to have been chewed by the dog (or someone's toddler) and mangled over the years to its demise. Lots of cracks and some missing pieces of Koa. I thought to myself, "If this thing could only talk..." I couldn't get myself to walk by and decided to rescue it from the trash. Odd thing was that it was sitting right at the top of all that was being tossed out and in plane sight for everyone to see. Maybe it was the previous owner's way of leaving it up for adoption. I don't know how long it was sitting there before I took it home to have it worked on but ukuleles are not typically found in the trash here in Hawaii - finding one, and a martin at that is sorta like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow - and we've got lots of those here (rainbows, not pots of gold). :)
a hui ho,
Shawn
http://ukulelefriend.com
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Posted By:
Frank B
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Date: 3/1/2014 1:53:47 PM |
| Dumpster Diving has never been on my bucket list, but I'll certainly pay more attention to roadside trash in the future. Great story. Thanks for sharing.
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Posted By:
Fowl
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Date: 3/1/2014 2:50:23 PM |
| Not in the trash but close. As a young married couple my bride and I went to a lot of estate auctions. This was in the 1970's and I knew nothing about ukes. Anyway, I bought a box of misc stuff for $1 and in it was a Kamaka soprano from the 1920's. We let our kids play with it as a toy for years and it never broke. A couple of years ago I got interested in ukes and wanted one. I knew I would kill that Kamaka so I sold it and got a Flea. Since then I have bought several beginner ukes for grandkids and other children and I am still ahead $'s.
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Posted By:
shawn
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Date: 3/2/2014 10:26:41 AM
(Updated: 3/2/2014 10:28:08 AM)
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One man's trash is another man's 'uke'. Lol
Shawn Y.
http://www.ukulelefriend.com
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Posted By:
Bart.
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Date: 3/2/2014 5:05:03 PM |
| My grandparents were on a walk and piled at the top of someone's garbage can was a ukulele. They knew I was into musical instruments so they grabbed it for me. It turned out to be a late '20s Martin concert and it is what got me started playing uke. It had a few cracks and loose bridge that I had repaired, but it is fine now. It was funny, when I was looking to have it repaired, one guy I talked to said it wasn't worth fixing, but he'd give me $200 cash for it. I went somewhere else.
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Posted By:
Ukester Brown
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Date: 3/22/2014 7:03:22 PM |
I have found quite a few good things from the trash, but never have found a uke. I have found other "good things" that were placed on the top and I do think it is the tosser hoping someone can use it somehow.
I hope to someday be able to tell the story of the one I found, or an old store I go to where the fella in the front goes, "Ya know I think I saw one in the back the other day" and when he blows the dust off of it I can see it still has the price of $24.95 for that pre 40's Martin 3.
Good hunting everyone!
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