For Sale: Brand new custom tenor solid mahogany mandolele, $290 incl. shipping.

KohanMike

Los Angeles, Beverly Grove West
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For Sale: Brand new custom tenor solid mahogany mandolele.

SOLD SOLD SOLD SOLD SOLD SOLD SOLD SOLD (finally)

I ordered this mandolele in mid June from Bruce Wei Arts in Vietnam, it's custom made by him to my specifications. It is NOT one of those low end ones listed on his eBay store that's made by other builders.

This one is very good build quality, better bracing and seam work. It's 17" tenor scale, 26.5" (675mm) over-all length, 9.05" wide bout (230mm). The low end ones are tenor scale, but are over 28" and 10" wide, closer to baritone size, I specifically requested mine be proper tenor size.

It's solid mahogany, neck is solid walnut, head plate and fretboard are solid dark rosewood. It's normal hi G tuning, I asked to lower the action so it's easy to play. I also had him make space under the saddle for me to fit a pickup, so it's ready for that.

The reason I'm selling this is during the 10 days while it was being shipped, I asked Bruce about making me a ukulele I've been thinking about for a few months, a gloss black with pearl binding all around. Then suddenly I thought, "I should have made the mandolele that way." After contemplating the idea for a few of days, I decided that's exactly what I'm going to do, so I ordered a black one and I'm selling this mahogany one.

I added gold tuners, gold GHS strings, gold strap buttons and a $50 gold tailpiece. It includes a strap and a gig bag. I'm in it for $375, it's certainly worth it, but I'm only asking $250 including shipping. The only handling it's had was for adding the extras, these photos I shot and the sound sample I recorded.

[video]http://www.kohanmike.com/uploads/Audio La Bamba.m4a[/video]
[video]http://www.kohanmike.com/uploads/Audio Random.m4a[/video]

Mahogany mandolele gold.jpg
 
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I've got to put in a plug for Bruce Wei. I purchased three ukes from his EBay store over the last few years and they either arrived cracked or just of inferior quality. Mind you, they were not expensive and my expectations were low. I still own one as it sounds good but the back is split. However, I just bought one that caught my eye and received it yesterday. I know, I'm a sucker for inlay and the price was worth the chance. Oh my. The build quality is excellent. The wood is of a higher quality than his older ones. The intonation is very good and the frets are level and polished on the ends. I sent him an e-mail and he said he is trying to improve the quality of his instruments and is building all of his own instruments in his shop now. He probably still has an inventory of Ukes from other builders so make sure to get one of his new ones like this one. Anyway, this is my two cents.
 
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Yes, Bruce told me months ago when I first contacted him that those ukes on his eBay site were built by others and he allowed them to sell through him. He designated the quality of the ukes by the Uxx number of the model, UU being the lowest quality and UG, UA, etc. being better. I noticed that he does not have any UU models anymore, that builder is now selling those low quality ukes on his own eBay site.

I just received another custom made by him, a gypsy jazz style and it's built extremely well, beautiful finish work, sounds really good. The mandolele I'm selling is also very well made and sounds really good. I hope someone steps up, it's a really good deal.
 
He designated the quality of the ukes by the Uxx number of the model, UU being the lowest quality and UG, UA, etc. being better.

As in UA is best, UB is second-best, UC is third, etc.? Or is it just UU v. Usomethingelse?
 
From what I gather, those codes seem to designate the specific builders. I just looked and the original low end mandolele I bought, it was a UTT, and Bruce said that the UG, UD, UC where the better ones. This custom one is better than all of them.
 
I have a couple baritones from him—a 19" slimline baritone UTT, which is very nice (but I had to set it up just a bit to get it like I liked it), and a full-size 8-string baritone UG, which is even nicer. Good to know!

I'm not in the market, but if I were, I'd want to know: you called this a mandolele, but that's just a reference to the body shape and the f-holes, right? It's not a narrow neck like a mandolin?
 
Correct, it's my own label, thought the moniker fit pretty well so I went with it. Otherwise it's a true tenor ukulele.
 
Looks like I'm going to have to find another place to sell this. On Wednesday I'm taking it over to U-Space and see about a consignment sale. Hopefully I'll have some luck there.
 
Not yet, but day before yesterday someone asked for more details seeing my signature on another thread, which I sent to him, haven't heard back yet.
 
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