Thursday, October 8, 2009

Mainland Mango Quickie Review


(Click on the pic for a bigger photo)

OK! Here is the new Mango concert ukulele from Mainland Ukes. I just received it via UPS yesterday. My first impression - "Wow, it's not what I thought it would look like." My Kala mango (a laminate) is a much different color. But the Mainland is stained, I'm guessing. The rope binding is on top of a white binding. The white binding is around the edge of the body back and the headstock, just like the Mainland mahogany (the red cedar Mainlands have only the rope binding).

But unlike the Kala, the Mainland is a solid wood instrument, and it becomes obvious after the first strum. It's LOUD! And the mango is a fuller sound than the red cedar and closer to the mahogany in tone. Sounds ring and resonate from the body which feels very light in my hands. Out of the 3 available woods from Mainland, I like the mango sound the best. I got mine with the friction peg tuners, which I prefer on sopranos and concert sized ukes. It's a very pretty uke and sounds great too.


You'll have to wait for audio, though. Sorry!

7 comments:

Mugambismonkey said...

Dammit, I'm drooling!

RussBuss said...

thanks for the review AC! too bad about the staining deal. i was hoping it would remain the natural grain color, which for mango is purple right? anyhoo, i think it's time for you to make a video.

Anonymous said...

That is beautiful. I didn't know what to expect of Mainland's mango line, what with the general consensus of UU'ers being that mango is too mellow. I shoulda known it would be awesome.

That thing is gorgeous and I look forward to audio and video!

Grumpy Coyote said...

The real question is: does it taste like mango?

RussBuss said...

mango sauce on hate toast.

Boozelele said...

Looks more like papaya. very curious.

Unknown said...

Sincerely shocked that you entrusted such precious cargo to a commercial shipper in light of the fact that I don't think you live all that far from Mainland Ukulele (not that far ... is less then 500 miles).

The trip would have enabled you to check out the stock of ukulele necks and overall quality of new Mainland Ukuleles. Remember that it is difficult to covet what you haven't seen or heard.

Post a Comment