Blemished Mainland Tenor Review

When I was deciding which ukulele to buy, I saw overwhelmingly positive reviews for Mainland, which is why I decided I wanted the classic mahogany tenor. The only problem was that I wanted it in gloss, which they are currently out of stock on. Mike at Mainland offered me a discounted blemished model with the assurance that the blemishes are "really minor stuff." I was a bit nervous since I couldn't see it first and couldn't really find any reviews on blemished Mainlands, but I decided to go for it.

First, the customer service was awesome. I placed my order on Thursday, the uke shipped on Friday, and it was in my hands on Monday.

There are plenty of other Mainland reviews on here, so I won't waste a lot of time on the normal stuff. Suffice it to say, it has a gorgeous sound and I am loving playing it. I took it to my ukulele lesson and, after a few minutes of strumming and checking how the bracing was done, my teacher said he would probably be giving Mainland a call to order one for himself (as well as a set of tuners because he doesn't like the friction tuners on his Martin, but liked the sealed tuners on the Mainlands).

And the blemish? As soon as I took it out of the box, I closely inspected the entire uke. It took a couple of minutes before I noticed a TINY (maybe a centimeter square?) little scuff in the finish on the edge. You can't even see it if it isn't in the right light. If you are ever offered the chance to get a blemished model, don't hesitate! You will still have a beautiful instrument.

Overall, I can't say enough positive about my experience with Mainland.

That's awesome -- and re-affirms Mike's excellent reputation. Congrats.

My Mainland soprano a few years back was also blemished, couldn't nice the difference.

i have a question for you all. i've been listening to clips of the mahogany mainlands. they don't sound like the K brands but they don't sound all that far behind them either. they really sound like great units. is this an accurate perception?

I have a Kamaka Soprano and I have several Mainlands. I love them all. The Kamaka is a bit smoother (like butter) to play and a little richer tone, but I find myself grabbing the Mainland most often. I prefer the Mahagony sound slightly more than the koa. When you consider the Kamaka probably cost three times as much as the Mainland the Mainland is hands down the better deal. Oh and all three of my Mainlands are blemished models. Makes not one bit of difference in playability and sound and you have to really search to find the blemishes.

Where does one find a Mainland blem? Do they appear on the Mainland site from time to time?

dphansti said:

Where does one find a Mainland blem? Do they appear on the Mainland site from time to time?

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When I'm getting ready to order a Mainland I always email Mike and ask him if he has any blems. Well, I used to. He knows me well enough now that I don't even have to ask anymore, he's like, "I have a blem, do you want that?" :biglaugh:

My Mainland bari was a blem and I couldn't figure out what was supposed to be wrong with it - then on the first string change my hemostats slipped and put a huge gash across the top behind the bridge. (Begin to understand why I like blems... )

My Mainland satin mahogany soprano was a blem because of a tiny dark spot in the wood that Tookta had to point out to me (I picked it up in the shop during UWC last year). That uke has become my "number one" uke - being better even than my KoAloha.

John

chuck in ny said:

i have a question for you all. i've been listening to clips of the mahogany mainlands. they don't sound like the K brands but they don't sound all that far behind them either. they really sound like great units. is this an accurate perception?

Click to expand...

I have/have had three - a mahogany cutaway, a gloss mango, and a rosewood & red cedar that I gave to a son-in-law. I haven't had a high-end tenor, though, but have had concert and soprano KoAlohas so I have an idea what I would expect from a K-brand tenor. I don't think Mike himself would claim that a Mainland tenor is going to have the volume and "butteriness" of a K-brand. However, it becomes a case of diminishing returns. With the right strings (generally not the Aquilas that come on them, IMO) my Mainland tenors have all been outstanding with very nice tone and decent sustain. My tenors all give up some in volume to K-brands, but that's what microphones are for.

In the smaller ukes (i.e. soprano) I think the Mainland actually compete very favorably with K-brands. At least both of the ones I own are really in the game with both of the KoAlohas I've owned. Both of my Mainland sopranos (satin mango and satin mahogany) intonate better up the neck and have clearer tones up the neck than my KoAloha longneck soprano. With the heavy fluorocarbon strings on the mahogany it's a dead heat with the KoAloha longneck on volume (the mango was close as well, with those strings, but they were really too bright for the mango).

But, in the larger tenors I've not yet found one that is quite so closely matched against the K-brands as my sopranos. (Not saying that there aren't any out there, I just haven't found one yet.)

One thing that you probably won't find in the Mainland, or any other factory uke no matter how carefully inspected and set up, is the consistency that you can expect from the K-brands. Mike and Tookta do a great job of inspecting and setting up the Mainlands - enough so that I've never seen a "lemon" or "dud" as you sometimes encounter with other "factory" ukes. Still, they are factory ukes and it's simply a fact that there is going to be more variation from sample to sample.

Finally, if resale value is important to you, you will probably get back a much larger percentage of the price of the K-brand than you will on a Mainland or any other "factory" uke. Of course, the price differential is enough that depending on how much of a hurry you are in to sell the difference between purchase price and resale price on the more expensive K-brands might well pay for a Mainland! LOL


And...that's probably a much longer answer than you were looking for...

John

My Red Cedar Concert blem looks great. You practically need a magnifying glass to find anything wrong with it. Of course, I'm a complete noob and barely play the darn thing. But, I can't really blame Mike for that now, can I?

I got my blem red cedar tenor two years ago and it still plays as sweet as it did on day #1.
Mainland just cannot be beat for the price IMO. You made a good decision.:music:

maybe a stupid question

are blems and 2nds (seconds) the same meaning?