RUMC

Really Useful Music Company (RUMC)


The Really Useful Music Company is a British distribution company based in Stanley, County Durham whose name is often abbreviated to RUMC.

It was founded in 2001 and sells mainly online through Amazon, eBay and the like, though I have seen them on sale in shops too. They distribute a range of instruments including wind and percussion as well as a full range of chordophones like Guitars, Violins, Mandolins and Ukuleles.

Though they do sell instruments branded by others they have a house brand called Clearwater that makes up the bulk of their catalogue, and while there are Clearwater Guitars, Banjos and Mandolins, the largest part of the Clearwater catalogue is Ukuleles. I have seen Soprano, Concert, Tenor and Baritone Ukuleles branded by them but never long neck or extra string variants.

One thing they appear to do, and I have never worked out if they are seconds or not, is have a selection of almost identical models from the same Chinese maker who does OEM for more famous international brands? In 2011 they had a number of models that were identical to some of Ohanas and in 2012 it was Eleuke they were mimicking? They still carried some of the "copy" ranges but they have moved to stocking more generic looking acoustic models and a range of steel strung, solid body electric Ukuleles based loosely on the famous guitar body shapes.

For a while they were selling the budget ABS plastic Concert made by Lanyao but they seem to have dropped this now.