Best bang for the buck?

georgio said:

I did like the Mainland all mahogany reviews on youtube, but they were all Matte finish. My eye likes the gloss.
Is there much (if any) difference in the tone of matte finish vs. gloss?

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Back in March I ordered a Mainland Matte Mahogany soprano as an 18th birthday gift for my niece, who had visited me a few months earlier and was really taken with my ukuleles. I'd never played or even seen a Mainland in person before. Her birthday was in April, so I had a couple of weeks with it before I had to wrap it up and take it over to her (you know.... to stretch the strings so it would stay in tune... yeah, THAT'S it...). I must say, the rope is WAY more subtle in person than you would think from the photos. So anyway, I really liked it. At the end of May I ordered myself a gloss-finished Mainland Red Cedar/Rosewood Pineapple soprano. I LOVE it. The rope is even more subtle on the cedar. The mahogany has white binding around the sides, with the rope on top. The cedar has some dark wood binding on the sides and the rope on top.
About a month ago, I ordered myself a gloss mahogany soprano with a Mi-Si pickup installed. I haven't gotten to compare it directly to my niece's matte finish (she lives about 6 hours away), but I have to say, I have NO complaints whatsoever about its sound! And I think the gloss finish looks fantastic. Her matte finish (granted, this is based on only one example) is more of an orange-ish color, whereas my gloss finish is a really lovely golden mahogany color. And the grain really pops out with the gloss.

Also, something to think about... from a distance, the rope binding is not nearly as noticeable. I used mine at a Halloween gig this weekend. My wife took a couple of pics while I was playing it, and you can't see the rope at all. That might be the angle. I looked at it on its stand from off-stage and noticed that the rope wasn't really ROPE-looking from more than about 15 feet away.

And here's a couple of pics of my Pineapple, just so you can see what the rope looks like against red cedar and rosewood:

Can you tell I am really trying to sway you here? lol

georgio said:

I did like the Mainland all mahogany reviews on youtube, but they were all Matte finish. My eye likes the gloss.
Is there much (if any) difference in the tone of matte finish vs. gloss?

Click to expand...

I did an A/B test on a Matt and Gloss Ohana Mahog which is pretty much the same and the gloss finish seemed to have a kind of additional chime to it that I preferred. There is a difference.

I did the deal! There was just no clearer choice than the all solid Mainland Concert. I liked being able to choose the tuners too
I will post a NUD upon it's arrival. Thank you all for your warm welcome and great advice!
Georgio

Yay! I think you'll love it!