Big Island MO-SPS Solid Hawaiian Mango Soprano Ukulele in hard case #200368

Here we have an all solid Hawaiian mango soprano ukulele, with a lower than expected price tag. All Big Island acoustic ukes are half made in Hawaii. The wood is milled and prepared in Hawaii, then shipped to a specialist factory in Vietnam for assembly. They make some absolutely sensational instruments. They're a real step up from what we'd usually expect from most Chinese factories.

It's been far too long since we've seen something new from Big Island. In the early days of the Southern Ukulele Store when Big Island and Pono were the benchmark for affordable high end ukuleles. Neither brand has compromised on quality or consistency throughout the 2010s.

For those of us that cannot justify the jump up in price for a Hawaiian made ukulele, Big Island are the perfect option. You get high end woods with fancy cosmetic details and high gloss finishes.

The U-MO-SPS is the 2020 incarnation of popular former model H-BI-MO-SPS and although neither will win awards for having an exciting product name; the ukuleles themselves are packed tight with features.

The solid Hawaiian mango top back and sides have some gorgeous quirks to them and you can spend hours just examining the body like it's a city map. The rosette and front and back bindings are Hawaiian koa and the rich creamy coffee brown colour of the bindings is great against the greens, greys and yellows of the mango.

This uke sounds great, it has more of a sweet almost innocent sound compared to the koa models in the same series... It's not by any stretch a quiet ukulele but each note has an undeniable sweetness to it and a really nice soft decay to each note that makes you want to pick it up and play lullabies!

Some of the more subtle touches to this soprano ukulele that you should look out for are the abalone dots, snakewood buttons on closed back geared tuners and 2020 MO-SPS models have returned to rosewood fingerboards and bridges giving the instrument a slightly softer feel than ebony.

I almost forgot to say that these ukuleles come with a Big Island woodshell hardcase! How's that for an added extra!

Specification:
Solid Hawaiian mango top, back and sides
35mm nut width
Rosewood fingerboard and bridge
Hawaiian koa front and back binding
Hawaiian koa rosette
Abalone front dots
Side dots
Bone nut and saddle
High gloss finish
Snakewood buttons on geared tuners
Big Island hard case included
Manufactured in Vietnam

Mango wood is en excellent choice for a ukulele. Not only does it have that tropical mojo, it is also a sustainable wood, much more so than other indigenous Hawaiian species. Sound wise it is on the mellower end of the spectrum, so more like mahogany than spruce, but this makes for a very relaxed, smooth sound which lends itself more naturally to strumming than fingerpicking. It takes a low G very well.

Pictures show actual instrument.