Oct/29/10
18comments

BadAax, Mainland Plastic Gecko: Ukulele Window Shopping

Mainland are following Kala into the pastel and plastic ukulele field. Interesting that both brands seem to be distancing themselves from the plastics ukes. Kala market theirs as Makala. And the Mainlands are missing the logo on the headstock and seem to have Gecko on the soundhole sticker. Also hoosierhiver (of Mainland) was playing down expectations on the UU thread.

Another Kala trick that looks like it’s catching on is the thinline travel uke. Here’s one from Ana’ole.

Another guitar manufacturer bustling into ukuleles: the hilariously named BadAax.

Photo: College boy, playing for a pile of men.

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  • Written by Woodshed
  • Filed in: eBay
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18 Comments

  1. Lorraine Bow October 29th, 2010 8:59 pm

    Which thinline uke do you think is the best Al?

  2. byjimini October 29th, 2010 8:59 pm

    Not keen on plastic ukes myself; I have a Mahalo Les Paul-style in the boot of the car as back-up, which is fine in itself.

  3. Ron Hale October 29th, 2010 11:02 pm

    Good grief…The Mainland pastel, polka-dot,
    gecko ukes look like they were designed by and
    for little girls. Why not just sprinkle some magic fairy dust on them and make it official?

    Kala should do something about the heavy head
    on their travel soprano (haven’t tried their
    others) immediately. There is just no excuse.

    Noting says “bad axe” like a pink soprano. Unless you toss in some polka-dots and add a gecko.

  4. Tuscadero October 30th, 2010 4:05 am

    Wondering if the Mainland plastic ukes are twice as nice as the Makala ukes, since they cost twice as much.

  5. plink freud October 30th, 2010 9:38 am

    I have two Kala travel ukes – a lacewood tenor and a cedar top tenor. They are fantastic, I don’t play anything else at the moment. They are quite different and I might have to keep both. The cedar is more mellow and sweet and seems to suit Worth strings, which don’t work so well on the spruce (sound a bit brittle), which is really grunty with Aquilas (I prefer concert gauge, and I’m going to try a set of sopranos when they arrive) I have had a concert travel concert too, but it didn’t seem to sing as well as all the tenors. The term “travel” is a bit silly really – they are still too long to fit in a backpack. Slim body would be a better description. For me the attractions are the less boomy, more balanced tone compared to a standard tenor, and just the comfort of the slimmer body (sadly not like mine) Here is a clip of my lacewood/spruce: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdKZfyAKbKA

  6. krabbers October 30th, 2010 9:45 am

    i quite like the look of the reggae gecko uke, i dont realy need another soprano but i will have have one, only cos im a sucker for anything reggae. and it looks like a reasonable price allowing for exchange rate

  7. Foinnse October 30th, 2010 12:24 pm

    Badaax? What a stupid name. Who is that supposed to appeal to? Having said that I quite like the chilli patterned one as crappy plastic ukes go.
    -F

  8. LonnaB October 30th, 2010 1:10 pm

    I was down at Mainland last week and played the new plastics. I also wandered into Sam Ash and played a Makala, and I would say that the Mainlands are at least twice as nice. They have a sturdy feel to them. The Chili Pepper Mainland is the one my ‘little girl’ liked. The Reggae Gecko was nice looking, too.

  9. Woodshed October 30th, 2010 2:18 pm

    Lorraine: I haven’t tried out any travel ukes. Normal ukes are small enough for me.

    byjimini: Yeah, I’m not keen on plastic. Even semi-plastic ones like Fleas and Flukes.

    Ron: I don’t know why Kala added a compass to the headstock of the travel ukes. Nice gimmick but seems nuts to me.

    Tuscadero: I was expecting them to be cheaper as well.

    plink: Thanks very much for the write-up. You mind if I add that to the Travel uke review page?

    krabbers: The exchange rate is fairly kind for uke purchases at the moment. Go for it.

    Foinnse: I know. A crappy pun on an offensive term. How childish.

    LonnaB: Thanks, Lonna. Good to know. I do suspect the ukes aimed at kids are bit too cheerful for many. But I’m not basing that on anything other than my own years as a depressive child.

  10. plink freud October 31st, 2010 8:43 am

    Hi Al, More than happy for you to use my travel uke comments. I might even do a youTube item with more detail – really impressed.

  11. Woodshed October 31st, 2010 3:01 pm

    plink: Thanks very much. I’ve put it here. Be sure to let me know if you do put a video up.

  12. Lindy Danny November 1st, 2010 1:51 pm

    It looks like Badaax isn’t even what most would call a guitar company. Their website (http://www.badaax.com/m-13-vento.aspx.aspx) seems to show them just being another China crap-strument producer. A while back, a buddy of mine bought a Vento valve trombone (I’m guessing it would be the one on their home page) and it was crap. Thin metal that didn’t sound good and bent extremely easily. I’d think twice about shelling out any money for something from this company.

  13. Woodshed November 2nd, 2010 4:24 pm

    Lindy Danny: Thanks for the info. Can’t say I’m surprised.

  14. faithmusic January 4th, 2011 8:00 pm

    Has anyone played the BadAax baritone ukulele? Would this be a decent choice for a beginner and at a low price?
    Thanks.

  15. Foinnse January 5th, 2011 2:32 pm

    Don’t know much about Baritones in general but I would think that at the very low price their Baris are advertised the quality must not be up to much. I tried to search for any decent reviews of the Badaax baris but it seems to be nigh on impossible! I would reccomend spending a little more and ging for
    http://www.amazon.com/Lanikai-LU-21B-Baritone-Ukulele/dp/B0018TBEPW or something similar. I’m sure there is more educated opinions available here but thats my 5cents for what its worth.

  16. Foinnse January 5th, 2011 2:49 pm

    Also, refer to linda dannys comment above…

  17. faithmusic January 14th, 2011 8:54 pm

    Hey guys, I just wanted to share. I did get the BadAax baritone ukulele to fool around with and I have to say, after tweaking it here and there, and adding Aquila strings to it, it sounds and feels pretty nice. I’m actually happy with it. For myself, this is a great introduction to a baritone ukulele and the great Aquila strings! These strings sound and feel great! I just wanted to share this BadAax review with you. It just might be the first review for this ukulele! :-)
    P.S. – I’ll be making a youtube video using the BadAax baritone shortly.

  18. Woodshed January 16th, 2011 10:38 am

    faithmusic: Thanks for the write-up. Glad to hear you like it.

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