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Customer Reviews
While realising and acknowledging that Mahalo is a manufacturer of low-cost budget ukuleles one would assume that a certain degree of craftmanship and attention to details would still be observed and adhered to. Unfortunately, it was not the case of the MO1 I received.
The rounding of the edges seemed to be a good idea and a factor in my purchase. Sadly, it was incorrectly applied and a section of about 10cm on the top was oversanded to the point of rendering the the underlying kerfered lining visible. Not something any player/owner would want to see.
There were about two dozen of specks trapped under the finish all over the body. I quick blow with some compressed air would have removed them but as they weren’t I had to sand the offending sites back.
The fret ends were protruding and sharp. I put some low tack masking tape to protect the top while addressing this issue. Much to my shock, upon removing the tapes I had to realise that portions of the finish were also lifted from both sides of the fingerboard and remained on the tape.
The back, sides and the heel of the instrument were/are covered with black blotches of unknown origin. They are under the finish so can’t be easily remedied. One of them is clearly a fingerprint.
The bridge showed some signs of coarse sanding which I removed during adjusting the action to my preferences.
What I also did not expect to see is the cheap looking metal strap button screwed into the endblock. I am not aware of any ukulele manufacturer factory installing these buttons especially on soprano or concert size ukes. Why? Because there is just no need therefore demand for them. It has never been traditional to fit them and if you seem on ukes it is probably due to retrofitting them by their owners’ rquest (with the possible exception of tenor and baritone size instruments). I replaced the strap button with a tapered violin end pin made of ebony. If I have to have it it might as well be nice, strong and permanent.
The use of the soft, flimsy, black nylon string did disservicein my opinion. Being so soft hey can be easily pushed out of tune and furthermore they do not have the necessary kinetic energy to drive the top to it’s full potential resulting in less than desirable tone. I replaced them with Fluorocarbon strings as they impart a nice, crisp, bell-like ring to the sound although I realise that not everybody is looking for this chimey tone.
Perhaps the saddest part of this purchase is not the abovementioned shortcomings but rather the fact that precious commodities like solid Cedar and Mahogany was squandered by substandard workmanship.
Based upon the above I was going to award a generous three stars but when Mahalo repeatedly ignored my inquiries regarding the deciphering of their serialnumber I deducted another star.
