This mango wood Kala tenor electro ukulele is a real beauty. Curly mango is a beautiful wood to look at, with a varied, richly patterned grain and a near 3D effect. This is the KA-MTGE-C uke, which stands for mango tenor gloss electro cutaway. Put like that, you can see why they use abbreviations! The gloss finish really brings out the visual qualities of the mango, and the uke has an abalone soundhole decoration, with black, white and wood body binding. All little touches that elevate the Kala KA-MTGE-C above the norm for impact on the eyes. What a ukulele looks like is important, but not as important as how it sounds, so we'd better come to that.

The Kala mango tenor is loud, that is for sure - but in a balanced, well rounded well - and the sustain is fantastic. If you strum gently, the rich melodic tone is gorgeous, but if you really give it some, it really responds. The faster and harder your strumming, the louder and bolder it gets. It really is lovely to listen to.

The Kala KA-MTE-C with gloss finish is nicely set up, with a nubone nut and saddle, which help with aforementioned sustain. It has Aquila strings fitted, which seem to suit the ukulele - particularly with the great projection it has when you play hard and fast. The neck is solid mahogany, and it has geared, closed metal tuners, with black buttons. Oh... and of course it is electric too, with a responsive Shadow P3 active EQ, with tone and volume controls. This is a good quality unit, which is capable of producing a wide range of sound shapes when amplified.

This ukulele has a really good list of features, it sounds particularly good - to the point where even though it looks great, it is the beautiful rounded tone that lingers in your memory once you put it down, not its looks. That is, if you can put it down at all!