Ragtime on the Mahalo 2500 Kahiko Soprano Ukulele

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bA0DtFd2jM

Been a while since I posted something on an ultra cheapo soprano ukulele now, so here goes. In case you'd forgotten, I absolutely love some of the cheapos - including this baby - but if you are serious about learning the uke, get something a little better. This is an aqcuired taste, to say the least.

Hope you like the piece, by the way.

Absolutely the best Mahalo I've ever heard! Great stuff Doc

Like it? I love it!
Even a Mahalo can sound good!

drbekken said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bA0DtFd2jM

Been a while since I posted something on an ultra cheapo soprano ukulele now, so here goes. In case you'd forgotten, I absolutely love some of the cheapos - including this baby - but if you are serious about learning the uke, get something a little better. This is an aqcuired taste, to say the least.

Hope you like the piece, by the way.

Click to expand...

Thanks for this, interesting and a very good example of what can be done to extract the best out of an inexpensive Uke.

In your comments attached to the video you mention sorting out the nut, changing the strings and changing the tuners. Please, what replacements did you fit and how did you select?

This thread on improving basic Ukes might interest some readers, http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?132891-Improving-how-your-basic-Uke-Sounds/page2

Thanks for the comments, folks! To Graham: What I did was remove the cheap geared tuners (they worked ok, but I put on some inexpensive friction tuners, quite simply because I think sopranoes look stupid with huge Mickey Mouse type tuners sticking out from headstock...) Then I carefully removed the nut and sanded it down from the underside...didnt touch the string slots at all. Then I glued it back on. Last, I sanded the saddle down so the action got just right on both sides. The intonation actually was half decent to start with, now it's better, if not perfect...good enough for a cheap beater anyway. The stock strings were absolute rubbish, so now it has some GHS black nylon strings...not the best, but they will have to do for a while..maybe I will try some other brand later. As far as soprano ukuleles go, I have four of them; a Martin S1, which of course is a high end instrument...truly great; and a Rogue soprano, which I also fixed up to be pretty good; and an almost derelict Harmony from the 50s...and now, this Mahalo. They all have their charm.