The concert mahagony ukulele by Strong Wind is a ukulele for the more demanding ukulele players who don’t want to break the bank, coming in at around $50 to $60 (depending on discounts or on which Amazon store you order). So it’s priced higher than the popular Dolphin ukulele (~ $20), but considerably lower than other intermediate ukuleles (cf. Kala ukuleles at $80 – $150).
What do you get? Build quality?
What do you get for your hard earned money? A very well built ukulele which feels very nice with a very good balance. This is not the case for many budget ukuleles! Especially the neck with rosewood fingerboard is a big plus. The body is made from laminated mahogany with a nice grain. While mahogany is often used to produce a more deeper, warmer sound, this is generally not the case when used in its laminated form. However because basswood is used as filler wood, it does hold up quite well giving you a ukulele with a volumous warmer-than-usual sound.
Does it stay in tune?
While most budget ukulele come with a plastic nut, the Strong Wind ones come with a cattle bone one, making it a more sound investment on the long term. The tuning heads are metal geared and while they should hold their tune quite well, this was not really the case for my reviewing unit. Every day that I picked it up to play, it was slightly out of tune and had to retune it. No problem at all with the included digital tuner which is very easy to use. It comes standard with premium aquila nylon strings, instead of cheap plastic strings more commonly found on budget ukuleles. It is possible that the necessity to retune is due to slack in the strings as it were brand new aquila strings (which is a good thing).
Conclusion
All of this already sounds (pun intended) quite good for $50. Taking into account then that it also comes with a well made gigbag, a ukulele strap and cleaning cloth (don’t forget the tuner as well), it’s an amazing deal for the beginning ukulele player who doesn’t want to mess around with poorly constructed ukuleles.
Disclaimer
Click here to buy this ukulele from Strong Wind. Full disclosure: I was not paid to write this review nor was I forced to write a review about this ukulele or company. I was however provided with a reviewing unit in order to write this review.
