Comments on: Mahalo Les Paul Ukulele Review

By: Mahalo Flying V Ukulele Review | Ukulele Hunt

Mahalo Flying V Ukulele Review | Ukulele Hunt — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:53:28 +0000

[...] think of a worse ukulele to learn on. If you must have a ukulele that looks like a guitar, get a Mahalo Les Paul instead. They’re a much better [...]

By: Claire

Claire — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:48:45 +0000

Thanks for the review!

I was able to get the electric model on sale for $50 Canadian. This is my first ukulele and I’m really enjoying it so far :)

By: Davin

Davin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:54:48 +0000

Whats wrong with telling people where they can get them? lol, in these times us shop owners have to do all we can to advertise our wears. And I love ukes!! I tune up 5 or 6 a day and cant help but have a go on each one, and before i know it 10 mins has passed. They are just fun and have a pleasing tone. And yes there are some ukes out there that are of a very poor quality and just moving to the 1st fret shows how bad the intonation can be.

So woodshed – wanna buy a nice coloured mahalo uke?

By: Woodshed

Woodshed — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:48:02 +0000

JaywhY: Yeah, I certainly wouldn’t want to be relying on it for a big performance.

Davin: Nice bit of blatant self promotion.

By: Davin

Davin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:34:35 +0000

they are lush little ukes. I love playing them, another place to check them out is http://www.guitarbitz.com/folk_instruments.htm. there is also a les paul version – v cute!! and they sound great both acoustic and plugged in!

By: JaywhY

JaywhY — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:27:15 +0000

Woodshed: Oh I can see it being a very fun one for the collection. Like I said, they look fab and for basic playing they have a nice sound, but I’ve just been in the market for a gig worthy electro-acoustic.

I’m seriously considering the “Beirut endorsed” Lanikai LU-21TE.

Thanks again for a killer site!

By: Woodshed

Woodshed — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:45:12 +0000

JaywhY: Thanks very much for the review. Looks like it’s another one of Mahalo’s hit and miss ukes. But I still very much enjoy playing mine.

By: JaywhY

JaywhY — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:38:02 +0000

I just tried the electro-acoustic version of these out at a local music store.

Unplugged: It had nice volume and bright tone. I’d stack the sound against solid wood instruments I’ve played at twice the cost.

Intonation: Open position chords were all fine, anything up to about the 7th fret. But, It was so disappointing to have that cut away there and discover so many dead and out of tune notes. :( Most chords above the 9th fret were useless. It doesn’t really lend itself to the kinda shredding I was hoping for. I tried three different instruments and they all had differing tone/playability issues so in general, construction seems very inconsistent.

Plugged in: I tried it through a high quality amp, designed for acoustic instruments, and also through a Peavy solid state guitar amp. It was possible to achieve a decent tone through either on basic strumming numbers, however it lacked the sustain necessary for more complex single string runs.

BEWARE: The electronics rattled and caused cut outs and spikes during normal play. I think it would be a nightmare to repair if something broke loose inside.

Tuners: The machine heads were easy to turn and held the tuning just fine.

Fit and finish: Paint job was nice, these really jumped out off the shelf! The store had all three variations, black, cherry and sunburst and each was reminiscent of the iconic Gibson classics. The tuners and fret inlays were consistent with the Gibson look and really added to the experience. The fret board felt good under the fingers and the frets were well dressed.

Overall: Defiantly a step above Mahalo’s omnipresent beginner models, but for the money you could find a much better Uke. More of a novelty item than a working instrument for a serious gigging musician.

I’m in Canada and prices I’ve seen in store and online are about $100.

By: Woodshed

Woodshed — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:52:17 +0000

Davin: That’s what I’m saying. What’s the point of the compensated bridge when the instrument is never going to be accurate enough to warrant it?

By: Davin

Davin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:41:12 +0000

Hi, I sell the ukuleles – both the normal ukes and the electric version.

There are some ukes at the lower end of the budget that have “Compensating Saddles” and these adjust the length of the string to compensate for the differences in placement of the frets, otherwise the frets would have to wiggle over the neck and the saddle would be straight.

Most budget ukes that have a compensating saddle to not have perfect intonation on every fret, it’s just not possible to create such a perfect instrument for such a low price.

If you are looking for a uke with fantastic intonation on every fret, then you have to pay money or take your uke to a specialist luthier.

On http://www.guitarbitz.com/folk_instruments.htm we have a range on ukuleles for the beginner.

If you would like some more information on ukuleles then give me a call on 0845 2222 603.

Thanks

Davin