Boy, did I miss the boat.  I thought I was plugged in to the whole harp ukulele thing all along, including the latest gossip last January, 2011.  Remember the blog that talked about Pete Howlett’s new designs?

That “Dyer”-style design was a scoop then, following which Pete very quickly found a company to produce them (aNueNue) in Asia.  I tried to get my foot in the door (through Pete) but didn’t get anywhere.  In fact, I didn’t even see the final product until I stumbled upon one on the Internet some months later.  That was to find out that the entire trial run of 88 units had already come and went, selling out in record time.  I had hoped to do a whole story about the instruments, but of course, would have needed to be plugged into the whole Uke world (I am not), as the Harp Guitar world had no idea.  I ended up buying the last one on eBay at full pop, just to cover my butt (part speculation, part research).

When Pete told me the other day that they had done one additional production run and hooked me up with the company owner, it was only to find out that just 12 (of 80) had been allotted to the States, and in a couple days the dealer had all but sold out.  I just got the very last one, to list on HGM.

Yes, they cost as much as a Holloway, but these things are hot!

(And really, why let the uke guys have all the fun?  These are our instruments, aren’t they?!)

(And the scuttlebutt is that this is the last time these will be made…)