I Can Never Buy a Mainland!

Paul December

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
Messages
1,990
Reaction score
2
Location
Chicago-land
I am guilty of impulse-uke-purchases....
....and it never fails that every time I try to buy a Mainland, Mike is away. This is about the 3rd impulse purchase he's lost out on!
I don't know if I should be upset, or thank him. :eek:

:) BTW this is what I tried buying last night.


mp.gif
 
Oooh! Red Cedar Pineapple? I have one. It's definitely worth a repeated impulse.
 
I think you would love that uke! I ordered mine online and left Mike a note. They set my Mango up perfectly!
 
Well unless you spent your impulse elsewhere, I m sure it will come back to you soon enough.
 
Sigh, yes I have one (and I really like it). For once my impulse purchase made sense. It was one of the "blems", and the blemish was a small finish spot on the back.
I say keep yielding to the impulse!

Full Disclosure: My Inner Uke Impulse Purchase is directing me towards a banjolele (maybe Firefly, maybe Mainland).
 
I sent a message inquiring about a tenor and he replied within the hour to tell me he will be back this weekend.
 
They are worth the wait. I don't know that there is a better uke for the money.
 
Well, I certainly love my Mainland mahogany tenor, but I suspect cedar is warmer. There is a kind of sharpish "tang" sound to the mahogany but I love the look of it and it is bright and clear. I'm trying not to catch UAS from you guys but if I do buy another uke, it would be a cedar concert Mainland.

I also noticed that you do have to wait for the instrument to open up. After I changed out of the Aquilas to D'Addario J71 strings, it has been going through a phase of some sort where the sound is a bit muted. First it was nice and bright and now I notice (with the increase in humidity here in late winter) that the sound is quite different. I'm going to strum it more as I assume the vibration will allow the wood pores to equilibrate moisture and adapt to the local climate here. The change in sound was quite dramatic.
 
Well, I certainly love my Mainland mahogany tenor, but I suspect cedar is warmer. There is a kind of sharpish "tang" sound to the mahogany but I love the look of it and it is bright and clear. I'm trying not to catch UAS from you guys but if I do buy another uke, it would be a cedar concert Mainland.

I also noticed that you do have to wait for the instrument to open up. After I changed out of the Aquilas to D'Addario J71 strings, it has been going through a phase of some sort where the sound is a bit muted. First it was nice and bright and now I notice (with the increase in humidity here in late winter) that the sound is quite different. I'm going to strum it more as I assume the vibration will allow the wood pores to equilibrate moisture and adapt to the local climate here. The change in sound was quite dramatic.


My experience with Mainlands is that the Red Cedar is a brighter tone than Mahogany. If you want warmer, I'd go with a Mainland Mango. Yes I own all three! :)
 
After I changed out of the Aquilas to D'Addario J71 strings, it has been going through a phase of some sort where the sound is a bit muted. First it was nice and bright and now I notice (with the increase in humidity here in late winter) that the sound is quite different. I'm going to strum it more as I assume the vibration will allow the wood pores to equilibrate moisture and adapt to the local climate here. The change in sound was quite dramatic.

That "phase" may be nothing more than the weather. I've noticed that some strings are extremely sensitive to humidity. Nylguts seem the worst in this respect (took one uke to Louisianna with nylguts and it was like playing wet dog fur while I was there and for a few days after - took the same uke back with fluorocarbons and no problem).

I've noticed that the KoO'lau golds (nylon) that I have on my mango tenor are also sensitive to humidity, but not as much as the Aquillas.

John
 
these Mainlands are the cocaine of the uke world, very addictive, not as expensive and definitely better for your health
 
Paul, it's worth the wait. I have a red cedar pineapple, and it's currently the one I play the most. However, I know how hard it is to wait. I'm waiting on a slothead mahogany concert right now. I ordered it a couple of weeks ago and have been eagerly anticipating Mike's return. Had I known he was out of town I would have checked with UkeRepulic to see if they had any in stock first. Have you tried there yet?
 
Top Bottom