Makai Ukuleles - A Lot of Punch For the Price!

Since I have been out of the ukulele buying mode (for obvious reasons) for quite some time, I have really not paid a whole lot of attention to any new manufacturers. Besides, my last few purchases were vintage ukes.

More recently, I was asked to help buy a ukulele for my aunt.
Since I was in Japantown, in SF, I went by the Alohawarehouse alohawarehouse.com
to see what i could find for less than $100.

I was pointed toward a rack that had some ukes by a San Francisco company, called Makai.
Being a local from the big island of SF, this peaked my interest, of course.

I picked up and strummed a couple of them, and right away, I could tell that they were made in China, which I swear I would never buy an instrument from (typically, they have done a bad job, notably thick necks); However, these ukes were different. Although the finish was plastic-like, the overall build of the ukulele was very nice. (thin neck, bindings, bone nut, gotoh tuners, aquila strings.) Suprisingly enough, on first strum, the mahogany uke sounded really nice. As a matter of fact -too nice...it sounded almost as good as any vintage soprano i had; However, i then tried out a spruce top soprano, and that ukulele really sang. Not to mention, the neck wasn't thick, and the frets didn't cut into my hand. This was not a bad uke at all. More surprising was the cost. Although Edgar (the owner) had the ukulele priced at $79.99, he was able to offer another 10% off. So, I walked out of the store with a decent soprano uke for just about $70.

Near my house, I found a store that carries all instruments made in China. With that being said, their whole ukulele collection was Makai. I sat down and now had a choice of exclusive models, limited runs, and regular runs of any combo you can think of:
Koa, Spruce with Mahogany, Cedar, etc. I played them all, but when I got to the Cedar Uke stringed with aquilas, that first strum punched me in the nose. It was sharp, loud, and had perfect intonation up and down the neck. I was sold. I needed another Uke like i needed a "hole in my head" but this Concert-sized gem really got my attention. The tag had a suggested retail of $249, but when I asked the salesman, he offered it to me for $129. - How could I resist? I have been really playing a lot again, and have only been playing this Makai Concert Cedar, which by the way, sounds as good as any of my other ukes.