Mahalo UB-30SB Solid Top Banjo shaped Ukulele with Sunburst finish
March 3, 2010 by baritone ukulele
Filed under Banjo Ukulele
- Solid spruce top
- Mahogany back sides neck and fingerboard
- Rosewood bridge
- NuBone saddle Nickel frets
- Gold-plated pegs
Product Description
The new Mahalo UB-30SB Ukulele with banjo-shaped body is a Blast from the Past! This rare, collectible body style hasn’t been seen since the 1930’s, and solid spruce top and careful craftsmanship assures a lifetime of playing. It has a sunburst finish…. More >>
Mahalo UB-30SB Solid Top Banjo shaped Ukulele with Sunburst finish
Related posts:
Novelty can be irresistable. After letting this baby sit on my wish list here on Amazon, I decided to pull the trigger when there was just one in stock left. It was the best price anywhere, and somehow in all my previous admiring, I’d not noticed that it has a solid spruce top.
That’s right, a solid spruce top at a cheap-uke price!
Know what else I was suprised to find it has, once I got it? A strap button on the bottom. A mandolin strap works well with this.
A detail I found unusual is that it doesn’t have a fret board that is a seperate layer. The frets are placed in the neck and it lies flush with the body on the front. There’s no fret markers beyond the 7th. Frets are smooth enough. Action is okay. I get no fret buzz. Has friction tuners that aren’t excessively fussy. Very comfortable neck.
Unlike the Mahalo LP & strat models I own, this didn’t come with Aquilas but with dark strings. Probably GHS or Hilo. At some point I’ll change them out, but these did eventually settle well enough after the usual initial few days of not staying in tune. If you’re new to ukulele, it is normal for it to take a few days for your strings to hold their tuning. You can speed this process with a little stretching of the strings.
This is a rustic looking little number with a very spanky sound. The round, though small, body and solid spruce top give it a voice of its own. Can give you a banjo-y sound with light rapid strumming if you like, but it isn’t committed to having only that sound. Can give you a variety of tone depending on how you play it. At some point I think I might try out this strung low g. If there’s anything noteworthy about the sound this way, I’ll update my review.
I like that they aimed effectively to keep a vintage look for this and instead of the colorful Mahalo label within the body, they did a sepia-tone one with a touch of blue.
Unlike my other Mahalos, this one did not come with a gig bag.
It’s a funny little uke. If you think you might want it, well then you do.
Rating: 5 / 5