Played some ukes at GC this weekend

I was pleasantly surprised at GC Saturday night when I went into the acoustic room. There were two ukes that I really wanted to try out. There were also some laminated Mitchell concerts and your standard Hilo cheapies.

1. Solid spalted mango Lanikai concert, $399. Beautiful wood, excellent high-gloss finish,very mellow tone. Fret ends were quite sharp, especially over the high frets right where I strum. Easily correctable but still expect a bit better setup for $400. I liked it, but the mellow mango tone is not to my preferences.

2. Solid-top mahogany Cordoba tenor with active Shadow pickup, $179. Much crisper sound than the Lani, better setup. Tone was kind of thin and not as rich as my Mainland, but to be fair I'm pretty sure that Cordoba had just come out of the box. The strings hadn't been tuned to pitch until I did it. I'm sure once the mahogany has a chance to open up and the strings settle in it will be a very nice player. I didn't plug it in, but I'm pretty sure the active Shadow sounds fine. Easy outside battery access. Intonation was good, matte finish was very nice, mahogany was quite plain and unremarkable-looking.

Winner: at less than half the price I'd take the Cordoba over the Lanikai. The Lanikai was nice but I tend to like crisp, bright, punchy tones. The Lani is the clear winner in the looks department, and would satisfy lovers of the mango sound. I would love to hear that Cordoba with a set of Worth Clears or Fremont Blacklines after a month or two of serious playing - I'll bet it's nice.

last time I went to the GC near me they had two ukes total in the whole store. I think an Oscar Schmidt and a Fender. well... I think they had two Oscar Schmidt... so three total in the whole store. not a great selection. And they were in a locked glass case inside the acoustic guitar room... sure, nice climate for storage, but sucks when there isn't anyone there to help you try them out.

I actually enjoy playing the Cordoba tenors they stock in Sam Ash or Guitar Center. Too bad that sometimes the fretboard is bone-dry and has contracted to the point where the frets stick out with a lethal edge, but hanging in an unhumidified store for months without anyone noticing will probably do that. $179 for a solid-top tenor with a pickup is actually a pretty decent deal. It's always better to buy from a seller who takes care of the instruments a little more and goes the extra mile to make sure you're satisfied, but if you live in the middle of nowhere and don't like to wait for shipping, the Cordoba ukes are a good enough choice.

Which Guitar Center was that at? Fairview Heights? The only ones I have ever seen over here at the Watson location were the cheap Hilos, one Cordoba, and the horrid Mitchells, never spotted a Lanikai before.

On a side note and from a previous conversation, I went into Music Folk a few weeks back and they have the Flukes/Fleas again instead of just the cheap plastic brands! I guess they were sold out last time I was there before that!

Duddles said:

Which Guitar Center was that at? Fairview Heights?

Click to expand...

That's the one!

Hmm, maybe I'll stop by that one later on... I was thinking about heading to GC to buy a djembe on Black Friday, maybe I'll make the trip up to Fairview instead of the Crestwood one.

Thanks!

I was lucky to find a used Hamaka Standard deluxe in great shape used at GC Hollywood for a great price