The Mabuhay MC-11 is a fantastic choice for those who have outgrown their entry level concert ukuleles, giving excellent tone and all solid specification. The volume and clarity of tone is startling, better than many ukes at a higher price than these. Seriously fine, sweet tone with cracking projection, good sustain and nice resonant bass too.

This uke has such a great tone that the looks of this Mabuhay could be overlooked. Certainly, when we first got one out of the box, it looked refreshingly different - but then we started playing it and wow, what a sound! The looks were forgotten as we reveled in how good it sounded! But, the mango wood grain is really pleasant to look at, and the mango bridge and fingerboard make it stand out from the crowd too - so good for the eyes as well as the ears.

The MC-11 concert is equipped with Aquila strings, which suit this down to the ground. Often with better quality ukes we might suggest a string that would be a better fit, but the volume and brightness the Aquilas offer match the projection, depth and sweetness of the tonewood perfectly.  The character of the mango tonewood really comes to the fore. Tonally it punches well well above its price.

On the simply shaped headstock there is a nice inlaid, discreet 'M' logo. The Mabuhay MC-11 has geared tuners which are not bad, but there are better out there - still, they do the job. Also on the back of the headstock is a 'tree' logo which is screen printed in black. This doesn't do a great deal aesthetically. These things we point out just so you know this is a proper, thought-out description rather than a sales pitch... because if we only mentioned the super tone then you'd probably think it was too good to be true!

Mabuhay ukes in our opinion offer tone to match the likes of Pono at a lower price tag, while still looking lovely. Excellent, excellent value.