Sunday, December 23, 2007

Mahalo U30 Soprano - Sound and Intonation

For a lot of people their first experience of playing a ukulele is with the inexpensive coloured Mahalo U30 Soprano, for very little outlay you can pick up one of these ukes and have fun with it straight away. I thought it would be interesting to put up a sound and intonation post for my first uke that would act as a 'control' for any other comparisons.

As with the Clearwater Roundback Concert I've used all the same programs and recorded in the same way. This is not a review of the Mahalo U30 Soprano Ukulele.
Intonation pictures were done using AP Tuner, recording done in Audacity.

NOTE : I've replaced the strings of the Mahalo with Aquila Nylgut Sopranos (most people recommend that the concert strings are used for extra zing). I've done no alterations to improve intonation etc.

Sound Sample
Sample


Intonation

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The Mahalo in all its glory

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a yellow Mahalo U-30 that a friend left at my house.. I just started a blog about me and learning the ukulele. (learningtheukulele.blogspot.com) I love it and I am trying to figure out how to make it sound better or decide if I should buy a new one. Did buying those stings help or did it sound the same?

Keith said...

Yep they did make it sound better, go for the concert Aquila strings though.

Ian Heams said...

I have just picked up a Mahalo U30 (yellow) uke as I have been coersed into appearing as a Hula-Hula girl at a party. Considering I am man in his 60's it should be a laugh if nothing else. At first I thought the uke might make a prop but I have been really encouraged with how easy it is to play. After sorting out the tuning (I didn't realise there were two standard ways of tuning a soprano uke) and playing for two weeks I already have three songs and an increasing understanding of how chords work. I'm going to wow them with my virtuosity as well as my cocnut bra!

A Beginner Ukulele Player said...

I've played a few of these little guys and have noticed that while the uke is mostly a decent little instrument (for the money) the intonation can be pretty rough. But, for such a cheap ukulele you really can't expect all that much.

Overall, I've been very happy with it, and I love it for when I go camping with the girlfriend.