Mainland Solid Mahogany Tenor Review

berean_315

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Here is a quick review of the Mainland mahogany tenor ukulele with slotted headstock I recently got.

 
Really pretty playing and singing. Nice sound on the mahogany. You got a good one! thanks for sharing!
 
Nice! I have an unslotted headstock Mainland and love it.
 
Looks and sounds GREAT! :music:

I have one of the same model and love the sound and feel in the hands, and the intonation is spot on.

I've currently got mine strung with a low-G all-fluorocarbon set, the D'Addario EJ99TLG strings, and find them to give just the perfect sound that I like, and these strings are also effortless to play, as well as really makes the mahogany sing in it's own voice, different from all my other ukes...

Thanks for sharing! :)
 
Looks and sounds GREAT! :music:

I have one of the same model and love the sound and feel in the hands, and the intonation is spot on.

I've currently got mine strung with a low-G all-fluorocarbon set, the D'Addario EJ99TLG strings, and find them to give just the perfect sound that I like, and these strings are also effortless to play, as well as really makes the mahogany sing in it's own voice, different from all my other ukes...

Thanks for sharing! :)

Hello Booli, thanks for the info. I still the Aquila strings on it. Do you have a video/sound sample of your uke with the D'addario strings?
 
Hello Booli, thanks for the info. I still the Aquila strings on it. Do you have a video/sound sample of your uke with the D'addario strings?


Not yet, the strings are still stretching a bit, maybe after tomorrow they will be settled enough to make a recording.

Keep in mind that these D'Addario strings are thinner gauges than almost all others save for the Worth CL/BL for the C,E, and A strings but the unwound low-G is THICKER (0.0413") than all others save for the Worth CT-LGEX (0.0433").

The rest of the set is similar in guage if not exact to what the Ken Middleton Living Waters SOPRANO/CONCERT set, and THINNER than both the Oasis bright Hi-G and Martin M600 or M620, as well as thinner than the Worth CM/BM sets...

see here:

71UMdJNg4TL._SL1500_.jpg


and here:
71NA4FNsQUL._SL1500_.jpg


and here:

http://daddario.com/DADProductFamily.Page?ActiveID=3768&familyid=99
 
Looks and sounds GREAT! :music:

I have one of the same model and love the sound and feel in the hands, and the intonation is spot on.

I've currently got mine strung with a low-G all-fluorocarbon set, the D'Addario EJ99TLG strings, and find them to give just the perfect sound that I like, and these strings are also effortless to play, as well as really makes the mahogany sing in it's own voice, different from all my other ukes...

Thanks for sharing! :)
How is the tension on the strings? I played with T2s on my MB for 6 years. I just switched over to Craig and Sarah's highG GHS strings. They feel so much better to me. I'm curious about yours -- if they come in high G. I also have a mainland mahogany. They have Aquilad now. But I'm not a fan.
 
How is the tension on the strings? I played with T2s on my MB for 6 years. I just switched over to Craig and Sarah's highG GHS strings. They feel so much better to me. I'm curious about yours -- if they come in high G. I also have a mainland mahogany. They have Aquilad now. But I'm not a fan.

Hi Sukie, see my post above, I posted the info from the string pack for both Hi and Low G - we must have been typing at the same time.

The tension feels great, also very crisp and clear note separation and TONS of sustain.

Worth BT and CT and Living Water TENOR as well as Fremonts both clear and black, all have MORE tension than these EJ99s, and the EJ99s feel much more comfortable to me under both the fretting hand and plucking/strumming hand...

I've testing over 100 different sets of strings in the past 3 yrs and these are my favorite so far (unseating my previous faves in the Martin M600/M620 sets). I just put them on 3 different ukes a few days ago, and so far am very impressed with them...

But I find it takes about 20 hrs of playtime for my strings to fully settle to hold pitch as well as fit into their sweet spot for tension and tone. I do NOT manually stretch the strings at all since that has caused dead spots and intonation issues in the past, essentially RUINING a set of strings for me each time. VIBRATING the string is the best way I have found to NATURALLY stretch the strings, and while many folks have other ideas, this is what works for me.

I am MENTAL about intonation (+/- 5 cents and I cannot play the instrument, it's like nails on a chalkboard to me) and these strings are just perfect on all 3 instruments. The others are a Mainland longneck concert pineapple mahogany, that has the EJ99SC re-entrant set, and then I have another EJ99T re-entrant set on a Kala KA-T (which was the first uke I bought 3.5 yrs ago)...all tuned to GCEA, with the Mainland slot-head having the LINEAR string set as per above, the EJ99TLG set...and the others all re-entrant...
 
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Nice playing. Mainland mahogany tenors have real nice warm tone
Without getting into the "what is the best string" go- around (whatever works for you is right), I would lose the Aquilas
 
Aloha everyone!

I was just about to start a new thread focusing JUST on the Mainland Tenor Mahogany / Strings / and volume projection. I might still do it but glad I found this thread as a starting point.
I got my Mainland 3 weeks ago and I love everything about it, from fit and finish, looks (i got the cutaway version), neck, playability, size, and sweet sweet tone and voice.
It definitely has its own unique voice compared to my other ukes (i have 7).

But it fell short of projection and volume for me. After listening online and reading reviews, i really thought it was going to be the one I was looking for and I was looking for a deeper resonance and fuller bodied tone that I heard in other Mahoganies.
I needed more low end and somehow my Mainland still sounds very thin and not quite loud enough. I still love it, but after 4 string changes, it's still not resonant enough. Compared to the Kala All Solid Mahogany tenor and the Riptide Laminated Tenor Mahogany, the Mainlands sounds very thin to me. The Kala and Riptide has that low end thump which gives them a full bottom end compared to the Mainland.

I took the Aquilas off, and tried Sarah Maisel GHS Low G carbon with Titanium trebles, and that was nice and clear but not loud enough.
Then I put the D'Addario carbons on like the one listed in this post, and it played really well and smooth, but again, not projecting enough....it's a sweet sweet tone that doesn't quite get above a certain volume, hard to describe.
Then I put Aquila Reds on and volume went up a bit, but still not quite there yet.

I finally tried Fremont Blacks last night and it's the best set so far in terms of volume and projection, but stillllllll not quite there yet.

After 4 string changes, I'm lead to believe the Mainland Tenor is simply not meant to be a loud uke but instead a softer, sweeter one that's meant more for quite finger picking and strumming.
For Strumming, all strings were great....very balanced, even, clear and compliments my voice well.

For louder fingerpicking and jazz, the Kala and Riptides were much better.

So, Anyone, any suggestions on how to make my beautiful Mainland Tenor louder and more projecting or am I beating a dead horse?

I'm going to make a new thread for just this topic. Look out for it!

cheers!
 
I'm wondering, not suggesting, just wondering, if a conversion to a strings through body bridge would increase the volume enough to make doing it worthwhile to you.

This isn't a collectible uke so how the change might effect resale seems an interesting question. Would it be considered an upgrade?

Maybe some of the more knowledgeable can weigh in.
 
I am a music teacher and we have 60 mainland ukes we use in class, all mahogany, 30 sops and 30 concerts. Barring size differences, they all sound very similar. Very sweet and warm tone, not offensive high end, solid volume and projection but none are rockets. The concerts are a little louder and have a slightly deeper resonance but otherwise it's a nice traditional sound. I've owned two mainland tenors both cedar top and both have had plenty of volume and projection. I bet the spruce model is truly what you're looking for.
 
Hi all, thanks for chiming in.
Recstar, what you said makes a lot of sense and it does put into perspective my issue. I believe the Mainlands Mahoganies are designed and built to have that particular voice....sweet and warm, not too high or low. I do enjoy my tenor for strumming and it with the LOW G, it's not overly boomy. And with that, it's probably voiced to never have that deeper low end I was looking for. Now, i have the cut away version. What i've heard online are mostly the non-cutaways.
Do you all think having a cut away is part of the problem...changing the volume and projection? I would think not significantly.

Yes, cedars will give that bigger projection for sure!
I was just surprised at how quiet my Mainland was just because I am comparing it with two other tenor Mahoganies I played. The Kala solid tenor mahogany i had very good projection and volume and low deep end. I also have a Riptide UT-5NS, laminate mahogany tenor and it has PLENTY of volume and projection and deeper resonance. So with two mahogany tenors, i never expected my Mainland to be so quiet in comparison, despite the all solid construction and tone wood.
but alas, it's all in the bracing and voicing design.

Before i got the Mainland, i did a lot of research and reading reviews, and i even asked Mike from Mainland about it, giving him criteria what I was looking for. He recommended the mahogany. So i got it.
And like I said before, i really do love everything else about it...the looks, the feel, the neck is amazing and smooth, but just the volume fell short.

It's only about a month old, and it has the amazing Mi-Si Acoustic trio pick up in it. So maybe it's best to keep it and play it plugged in.

Or...sell it to someone who wants a Mainland Tenor Cutaway badly! Hmm....
 
Congrats! I'm a big fan of Mainland Ukes, a lot of Uke for the $$$!
 
Hello Booli, thanks for the info. I still the Aquila strings on it. Do you have a video/sound sample of your uke with the D'addario strings?

Hello Gerald,

Nice to see you on here. FYI- I have a Kanile'a tenor strung with that D'Addario string set. I'll bring it with me to the next meetup and you can play it and see how you like them.
 
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