Mainland Mahogany Tenor or Flea??? Need advice!

ukulelelearner

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Within the next year, I'd like to add another uke to my collection. It has come down to a Flea or a Mainland Mahogany tenor. I would most likely uke the flea for strumming and signing and the mainland for solos/instrumentals. They are both abou in the same price range.

So if you had to choose one, which one would you choose??

Any other comments would be great!

Thanks,
Annemarie
 
Mainland tenor. A more versatile instrument.

Your YouTube videos are superb, btw.
 
And the Mainlands are sooo pretty :). It's high up on my ukeporn list.
 
Hmmmm, the old apple vs orange dilemma
 
I have both. Get the mainland. Fleas a nice knock around take to the beach uke. The mainland sings.
 
Aloha Anne Marie,
I love both of them....hard to decide....I'm with the others...go mainland.... but I love my fluke's tone and volume...only thing is the thick neck...
 
:agree:

I agree with everyone. Apples/oranges; I have both and love both; if choosing only one, Mainland.

Or, Mainland first, Flea later. :) :)

Kathryn
 
Mainland tenor. A more versatile instrument.

Your YouTube videos are superb, btw.

I have both. Get the mainland. Fleas a nice knock around take to the beach uke. The mainland sings.

Aloha Anne Marie,
I love both of them....hard to decide....I'm with the others...go mainland.... but I love my fluke's tone and volume...only thing is the thick neck...

:agree:

I agree with everyone. Apples/oranges; I have both and love both; if choosing only one, Mainland.

Or, Mainland first, Flea later. :) :)

Kathryn

I'd go for the Mainland, I have one and for the price they are hard to beat.

Wow thanks everyone! I didn't think everyone would go for the Mainland's, but I hear they are great. Thanks so much for commenting. I've decided, Mainland this year, Flea in the future!:)

P.s. Coolkayaker1-Thanks for watching my videos. I'm trying my best to put the best videos up, but sometimes the ipod limits what I can do. Thanks for the comment, I've got more to come in the future!
 
Hmm, I guess I am in the minority but I would go with the Flea. The Flea is a great instrument and quite a value.
 
They're both fantastic and you really can't go wrong either way.
 
I bought a tenor pineapple flea this month. I am very happy with it and got the new backpacker style bag not on their website yet. I previously owned a soprano tiki flea and a kamaka pineapple. I never have to worry about it getting dinged or damaged. I used to play my tiki more than my Kamaka because I could always leave it right next to me without worries. That being said I will be ordering a Kamaka semi custom tenor at Christmas time. I loved my last Kamaka. I like a good bang around uke with good intonation and a good high dollar uke. I was always more mindful of taking my Kamaka out. The flea I played more because I didn't feel I had to make an event out of it to take it out and play it. Hope that helps.
 
Newportlocal makes an excellent point; I have the Mainland mahogany tenor and I use it as my main uke but...I don't like to take it out for banging around. It's just too beautiful. Looks like a very expensive instrument because they use so much care in making them. If you are out and about, busking or banging around, camping, playing outside, etc, the Flea would be a good choice as it's very durable. But if you want a gorgeous instrument to be your main uke and you play inside mostly, I'd go with the Mainland. I got a solid case for it, so if I do travel, it's well protected. I know it's not a fancy schmancy custom Collins, but I treat it as if it were.
 
Mainland is a solid wood uke. thats my vote. Nothing wrong with a fluke. Get that one later used on the market place. You will not see as many mainlands used.
 
And the Flea is some fancy composite material with a laminate top. It's awesome - and, in my humble opinion, outperforms many a solid wood uke. That one instrument is solid wood and another is a composite, laminate, or whatever, is proof positive of little. I did buy my Fluke second hand - but one can certainly recommend purchasing a solid wood second hand as well - so really I don't know why one recommend getting a fluke in the future from the used market and not say the same for the Mainland (assuming equal return policies). I've also purchased a Bean Sprout banjo ukulele second hand. That the Flea may have less variability in its sound compared to solid wood ukuleles is a plus for the Flea, not a con.

Mainland is a solid wood uke. thats my vote. Nothing wrong with a fluke. Get that one later used on the market place. You will not see as many mainlands used.
 
Flea Flea Flea... Did you get one yet? Now, I see the value in the Mainlands and have been drooling over a few of them... But as a prev poster said, I don't want to make an event out of pulling out the uke. Thus the Flea (lava tenor in my case) is my only uke. I do keep her in the gig bag, but keep the bag open so I can just play whenever. I would not do that even with a Mainland. I'd feel obligated to treat it "better" than that, i.e. baby it. And as someone also said, the Flea sound doesn't really vary. I've owned 4 Fleas in all, and always loved the sound. Fret issues are another thing, that is, setup issues. I can't speak for Mainland on this, so don't think I am. But I've owned other ukes that had sharp fret ends, I could feel them sticking out when I ran my hand up the neck, and I don't like that at all. The back of my Flea neck is so smooth because I slide up/down often without worry. I can only do that because the Flea is made so well, fretboard is bound for lack of a better word (it may not actually be bound), and the fret ends are smooth. If I upgrade to the rosewood fretboard, I know they will be smooth too. Have also owned a solid body FLuke w/ rosewood fb, and the metal frets were as nice as the plastic ones as far as setup goes. Basically what I'm saying, as has been said before on UU, is that if you can't play the uke in person and are in the least bit afraid you might have to return it, get the Flea. <3 Let us know when you have it! We love to rejoyce in that, no matter what kind of uke you choose!
 
Apples and oranges.
Get both.
Travel with the Flea.
Stay home and play the Mainland.
Win win.
 
I have a Flea and thinking about selling it as I'm not used to the sound. If I want a thrasher uke, I would just buy a dolphin. I don't consider $200 to be cheap but affordable so at that price, I would buy the best one possible and for me, it would be a solid uke.
 
I think the choice really comes to "what is it you really want, a soprano or a tenor?" Decide that and your choice is made. My choice would be for a flea I really like my flea and the soprano scale suits me. The largest uke I own is a concert and I have no real desire for anything bigger. I suspect that many of those advocating the Mainland are really advocating a tenor over a soprano, though I thought I detected a hint of instrument snobbery - "solid wood" [vs polymer back/laminate top].

In the end, of course, you must decide what suits you best and what you really want. I wouldn't be surprised if your mind wasn't already half made up and you were just testing your decision.
 
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