Got a Mahalo today

I know these have been panned, but I think I'm Gonna like it. Instead of moving up, I moved down for my second uke. I'm a low end instrument kinda guy, will share some of my guitar collection sometime. Anyway, I wanted to try one of theses cheap ukes, I got the Orange one, I like Orange. With the original strings I have been able to keep it in tune for about half a song, I like the sound, kinda between the sound of a toy and a real instrument. Gonna try my first uke restring tomorrow, and probably lower the saddle a bit. Plays pretty easilly up to the 5th or 6th fret. What i am really loving about the uke in general is that many folks are amazed what songs can be played on them. when you play a song on an inexpensive uke folks are really blown away. I really wouldn't recommend this uke for a beginner,it needs some set up and better strings, but for someone who can do a little work on it, seems to be a great little instrument. Cheap enough to have one in the car, office, kitchen, wherever. I'll shut up and go get a beer.

I can see what you mean. I'm gonna get a nice flame mahogany, probably a tenor then get a cheap Mahalo to be my "beater" axe to carry around with me.
I really need to shut up and get to practicing.
Ernest

I have some cheap Mahalos too, for a beater travel uke.

They really benefit from sanding down the saddle and Aquila strings.

I've had my yellow Mahalo for about five years, and it mostly lives in my car. It gets as much playing time as (or more than) any of my other ukes. If anything disastrous were to happen to it, I've got a red one and a white one waiting in the wings to take over.

There used to be a supplier in the UK who vetted all his Mahalos before selling them. He found if he simply sold them as they came, he got involved in too many returns. It was more cost effective to weed out the clunkers, and only sell acceptable ones. I think he said that as many as a quarter of them were unplayable. He eventually stopped selling them altogether.

If you get a decent one, and set it up nicely, they are great little beaters.

Ukantor.

The Les Paul and Telecaster Mahalos are certainly better than most of their other models.
They come with what appear to be Aquila strings, and the action is not too bad (though still too high for my liking).
I sanded down the saddle on my Les Paul Mahalo, and it has terrific playability and decent sound. It's also got active electrics which work well.
Doesn't sound as good as my Kala Archtop or Eleuke plugged in, but it works well and you get a lot for the price.

I have yet to use a Mahalo with good intonation though..

ukantor said:

I've had my yellow Mahalo for about five years, and it mostly lives in my car.

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I want to do this. Do you keep it in the trunk or in the car itself?

kissing said:

The Les Paul and Telecaster Mahalos are certainly better than most of their other models.

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I lust for those Les Paul models. I imagnine they don't have those same dolphin shaped tuners that the colorful ones do, do they?

For the price, everyone should have one. The intonation is OK and, once the strings settle in, it stays in tune very well.

Well I got a Mahalo out of sheer impatience - couldnt wait to save up for a decent uke - and to be honest I really like the sound of it, though it is quite plinky plonky.

I've kept the original strings on it, and dont really intend to change them unless I win some off here somewhere . For me, its got its own little character, and I play it just as much as my Kala (strung with Aquilas). As with nearly every other reply, mines usually in the car in my backpack for work, and at £15 delivered to my door, if it were to break I'd be straight on for another.

Using a small triangular file (General Mfg. Needle File Set #S477) on the nut slots, 150 Grit on the underside of the saddle, & Aquilla strings helped my Mahalo tremendously.

I also tried turning the saddle around so that it slopes down toward the soundhole and it helped as well. Read that over on UkuleleCosmos a few years back, tried it, and oddly enough it worked. (Of course, this was on a Blue Mahalo, but it might work on Orange as well!)

Hi Sambient,

Mine generally lives on the back seat of the car, in a padded gig bag. It gets relegated to the trunk when the seats are in use, but that rarely happens.

We don't often get high temperatures here in England, but it doesn't take much to get a car hot in summer. Usually, keeping the uke out of direct sunlight, and leaving a couple of windows slightly open, is all it takes.

Ukantor.

I got more of a higher end Mahalo as a gift, not colored or a novelty shape or anything, looked really nice.
But I was getting sharp notes and I really would rather just by a new uke than have to sand something or whatever, so I took it back to the store.
But I could see the potential in the instrument had it been executed properly