RevWill
Well-known member
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.
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 edited: