Freshman
FU 1 S

There was a reasonably large, (35+ guitars and some other chordophones), instruments auction, as the bulk of lots were Pianos but there was quite a few other instruments as well, some of which looked new, I suspected that it was a Piano shop that had closed down for some reason and was selling off it's stock. While I had no interest in the Pianos, I did like the look of a number of the other instruments, some of which I put in a cheeky bid and some of which I just marked to watch as see. The very first Guitar I liked the look of, (a brand new Supro Jamesport), I won! With this I was already looking at shipping so I tried quite hard on the subsequent lots knowing that more lots lowered the shipping cost per unit. I did get another Guitar too, and after the Guitars there was a couple of new Ukuleles as auction lots to sell. I had looked at them in the catalogue prior to the auction and didn't especially need any of them But I carried on watching just to see how they went. As it happened they didn't go very well, but the first 2 were already represented at Ukulele Corner so I didn't bid. Next up was one that I didn't have an example of, a Soprano Freshman model FU1S. Whilst this was never one of my "must have" Ukuleles, they had a good reputation and were not cheap to buy new, so when bidding opened at less that 20% of the retail price and no one else was bidding I decided to have a go; after all I was already getting 2 guitars shipped. Still no one else bid so I got it for the maiden bid price, and even with the shipping costs this still looks to be a serious bargain. 

When it arrived at Ukulele Corner, it looks brand new as well and is certainly at least as good a quality Ukulele than I had been led to believe. it has a solid mahogany top, all of the binding is spot on, no blemishes or extraneous glue that I can see, and it has a good and loud tone. the only things that let it down is the nut and saddle look like cheap plastic, and that the g string goes out of tune much faster and further than the rest. I have looked at the tuner but I can't see anything amiss? It also has a small slither splitting off from the brace above the sound hole. It won't become a structural issue in the near future, (who knows 50 years from now?) but still its something to be aware of.