tenor ukuleles

Mainland Ukuleles

June 27th, 2009

If you are looking for a high quality solid top ukulele, look no further. The people at Mainland Ukuleles deliver a first class uke at a bargain price.

Appearance
The ukuleles are available in Solid Mahogany or Solid Red Cedar with a gloss or matte finish. The other options available are the color of the tuning machines, either chrome silver or gold, and the tuner buttons, available in Ebony or Mother of Pearl.

Playability
The ukuleles are delivered ready to play. Mainland sets up each ukulele before it leaves the factory. The necks and related components (bridge and nut) are adjusted so that none of the frets buzz. The tuners are guitar style tuners with a gear ratio of 14:1 for accurate tuning. This is an improvement over the more traditional friction tuners that turn at a ratio of 1:1.

Sound
This is where the Mainland ukes really shine. The solid wood gives them their beautiful tone. The harder mahogany sounded a little brighter to me than the softer red cedar and the larger tenor sized ukes have more volume than the soprano and concert sizes.

Accessories
Mainland offers the coolest hardshell cases in the industry. The Faux Alligator is a visually stunning case that will have everyone anticipating the instrument inside and the plush interior gives the instrument a soft place for storage. The Tweed style cases are very attractive and very well built as well but they have one slight flaw. The soprano case will not fit a ukulele with sealed gear tuners. It is not quite wide enough at the headstock to accomodate the guitar style tuners.

Blurp
I give the Mainland Ukuleles are a definite 10 out of 10 for the instrument and a 9 out of 10 for the accessories because of the tweed case size issue. However, this is not an issue for me because I prefer the Faux Alligator case anyway.

For more information check them out at Mainland Ukuleles or you can purchase them at BoutiqueMusic.com.