iDavid,
I came from the guitar playing world too, and just this past summer have been buying/selling/swapping lower-high end acoustics/electrics to finally settle at a gorgeous Larrivee L03 for my acoustic needs, and an American Standard Tele for my electrified. Then I made the mistake of coming around here and seeing the prices and ended up ordering my first uke from MGM (to my complete satisfaction) without having ever even held one haha.
My first uke was/still is the old stock Pono PSS that MGM had on sale for $160 shipped with case, I just couldn't pass that up and so glad I didn't because I love the quality of that soprano. Then, of course about a month later I could no longer ignore the Mainland fever and also wanted to try a tenor so I ordered a matte mahogany from them.
Was disappointed at first when it arrived because the bridge was clearly starting to lift from the body (ahhh!
) and I could see huge gaps where it wasn't flush with the top on both sides and having come from the guitar world known that it ain't a good sign, certainly not for a NEW instrument. Mike was as courteous as can be and shipped a replacement that had return shipping paid for it also. Now this was just fantastic, because most places when you've got a complaint about your order, will not only make you pay for the return shipping, but also WAIT until they receive your return and take their sweet a$$ time before shipping you what you actually paid for and that kinda stuff just kills the joy of it all. That said, once the replacement arrived I had the chance to compare the two over the weekend before shipping the old one back, and honestly the replacement had a couple cosmetic issues like more glue leaks inside, fairly noticeable scratch underneath the finish in the top, and the grain patterns of the replacement just weren't as matched and straight as the original (looked like the sides were just created out of some sort of "last piece" of mahogany that needed to be used, rather than a piece specifically carved to make ukulele sides, the grain patterns were monstrously all over the place haha, albeit in a nice way? but again coming from the guitar world Ive never seen this on high end instruments from makers like Larrivee/Guild/Taylor and Ive been through a few believe me so I assumed the random grain patterns certainly couldn't have been an indication of BETTER quality, as all the mahogany grain runs nice and straight around the sides in high quality builds). Basically ended up keeping the original and took it to a luthier as I felt the lifting bridge was fixable and would make the instrument nearer to new/perfect than the replacement which I felt some weird disconnect with because of it's subtle but seemingly annoying imperfections especially for being a NEW instrument.
Also, I must say the actions on both were not to my liking. I love a nice low action, and MGM had setup the Pono beautifully, whereas both Mainland tenors were fairly high (close to 4mm at 12th). I had a setup done alongside the bridge fix on the original one and it's somewhere between 2mm-3mm now which is nicer but still would love it a little lower hehe, but Im getting used to it.
So...sorry I had to write so much, just thought Id share my ukulele tale as it is relevant here. Since the bridge has been fixed and the action set up a bit lower by a shop I can't put the Mainland down! Totally love the look, the sound, and am quite glad I kept the original one as Ive grown so attached to it!
Moral of the story? Despite Mainland being talked about as the holy grail around here, my experience with their ukuleles shows that their build quality is not as perfect/consistent as some would argue around here. With that said, I truly feel that Mike & Tookta's service picks up any of that slack and in the end I do not regret dealing with them and wouldn't hesitate to buy another instrument from Mainland! You get what you pay for is still always true +- some, and Mainland is still + some as their ukuleles are really great for the dollar. Once I got over the not so perfect (to me) action and fixed the bridge on the first one shipped it truly shines and I just love to play it everyday.
Also, surprising to me that so many folks here own the gloss models and Matte is a little underrepresented? I love guitars with matte/satin finishes and so to me it was a no brainer to get the matte, as I feel the finish gives the ukulele/guitar a more "natural" look. I play woodsy, rusticy, pychedelic folk music with it and it just looks gorgeous makes me wonder why I don't see more matte mahogany tenors around these parts? What is turning folks onto the gloss?
