Looking for a 15+ fret soprano ~$100?

Hi Folks! Happy New Year!

Like the title says, I'm looking for an inexpensive soprano to literally take anywhere/everywhere and as such want to get a commodity instrument that is easily replaceable in case it does not survive.

I have MORE than a dozen ukes, and play mostly tenor and baritone, and a few concerts.

I have a Mahalo $30 soprano that plays great after I compensated the nut and saddle for intonation and put Martin M600s on it. I bought it to see if I could play such a short scale and wanted to spend as little as possible. Now that I've confirmed that I can switch easily among all scale lengths after 2.5 yrs of playing, the biggest limitation for me with the soprano scale is the popularity of being limited to only 12 frets on most.

I am aware of the top 5 favorite vendors and appreciate getting a uke setup by them, but this question is for finding a soprano with more than 12 frets, and at least 15-16 frets. I am playing up the neck more and the lack of frets will frustrate me too much.

I cannot spend $200 or $500 on this as I want to try and find something cheaper since it's going to both take a beating, AND it's not something I intend as my main uke right now.

My intentions are to have the most portable uke to take with me, no matter what. Yes, I have Flukes and Fleas (and love them for what they are), but that is NOT what I am looking for in THIS quest.

I'm not fussy if it's a laminate, or plastic body, but the neck has to be wood if it's got a plastic body. A Makala Dolphin or Shark with more frets would be ideal, but they only have 12 frets.

Does anybody have knowledge of an inexpensive (~$100) 15+ fret soprano? Does one exist?

Please advise.

Thanks for your valuable time and consideration.

-Booli

HMS has a 16 fret Getsch soprano on sale for $100.

Kala SLNG has 18 frets and fits in a soprano case (so they claim)
http://www.theukulelesite.com/kala-ka-slng-gloss-soprano-longneck.html

geetee said:

HMS has a 16 fret Getsch soprano on sale for $100.

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Jim Hanks said:

Kala SLNG has 18 frets and fits in a soprano case (so they claim)
http://www.theukulelesite.com/kala-ka-slng-gloss-soprano-longneck.html

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Thanks guys!

Somehow I missed these. Both good options. I know HMS will do right on these.

I had previously seen that Kala ~$149 most places...seems like this is quite an aggressive discount, the longer scale and more frets of the Kala at this price ($92) seems to be the ticket.

Any idea how long the sale runs? (I might need to drum up some funds quickly)...hmmm

That's a fairly normal price on the SLNG. There is a solid spruce top version that usually runs $149.

Jim Hanks said:

That's a fairly normal price on the SLNG. There is a solid spruce top version that usually runs $149.

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That makes sense. I must have somehow equated the $149 with the base mahogany model, and thought that the spruce top was another $50 on top of that.

It's been a while since I let my UAS force me to drool-without-cash, so my memory could be foggy as well since I have not looked at pricing info recently.

Thanks for the clarification.

You are probably better off with the ones mentioned above but I got a Rubin w/ 15 frets for under $50 and it had a pick up. I think w/o the pick up it might be 30 I'd check Caramel.

Or you can look for used OXK Martin I saw one one craigslist last year going for not much more than 100.

that price on an oxk is a steal, don't count on finding a deal like this. i would seriously consider a caramel at that price range.

Brian1 said:

You are probably better off with the ones mentioned above but I got a Rubin w/ 15 frets for under $50 and it had a pick up. I think w/o the pick up it might be 30 I'd check Caramel.

Or you can look for used OXK Martin I saw one one craigslist last year going for not much more than 100.

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bnolsen said:

that price on an oxk is a steal, don't count on finding a deal like this. i would seriously consider a caramel at that price range.

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Thanks for the info.

I've just bought a KA-SLNG, (£68), but it does not fit into my soprano case, at 22.5" long, it is just too big to fit.

How good are you with your hands? Can you lay hold of a concert neck and put in on your beater soprano?

TheCraftedCow said:

How good are you with your hands? Can you lay hold of a concert neck and put in on your beater soprano?

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Thanks for the suggestion, but after all the work I put into the Mahalo to get it playing and intonation just right, and how surprisingly good it sounds, I'd prefer to keep it intact and not destroy it to create something else.

I'm not afraid at all of hacking an instrument, and have been successful many times with my 'ghetto' luthery, but in this case I want to get a uke that I can replace easily with another identical model.

Thus the quest for a commodity (read cookie-cutter factory-made) instrument.

I could get a concert neck (Mainland sells nice neck/fretboard/nut/tuners kits for ~$50, CB Gitty too but for less $$) and bolt it on to a cigar box and go that route, but again, not something you can have playable immediately after opening the box, since you first have a bunch of parts that need to be assembled, with about 10-12 hrs of free time, and this would also disqualify the Wolfele too.

After taking another look around at the Kala KA-SLNG, Cordoba 9100L, Mainland Longneck Pineapple Soprano, Ohana SK-30L (tenor neck on a soprano body), Oscar Schmidt OU2-P (concert pineapple) it feels like I'll be spending for something that:

1) Will be a compromise in durability, playability and sound when compared to my tenor scale 'Hibiscus Red' Flea

2) Except for the Ohana SK-30L, be putting me into a shorter scale quite often, which may, over time, if played often enough instead of my tenors, make it more difficult to keep the reach and stretch of my fingers of the fretting hand on tenor and baritone scale, which I am not willing to give up.

I find it easy to go shorter in scale for the exception than to go longer in scale for the exception as evident by playing my concert 'Lava' Flea as the sole uke for a whole month and when I picked up a tenor after that it was a bit difficult and took almost another whole month of hourly/daily practice to recover my muscle memory, to where I could play up the neck without looking at the fretboard.

3) Will be following down the too often trodden path of seeking yet another acquisition to satisfy a whim, instead of honing my skill on an instrument that I already own.

It is at this point that I fully realize what a serious addiction UAS can be.

So, for now, I'm going to exercise some discipline and put this quest for a 15+ fret soprano on hold.

The Flea can be replaced for an identical model (at some cost) and having several of the instruments from The Magic Fluke Company (see my avatar) I have first-hand experience with not only the fit and finish, but also the consistency and quality of these instruments from one to the next.

I'd like to thank everyone for sharing your thoughts and participating in this thread.
:bowdown::worship:

Mahalo :shaka:

Booli

islander ms4 17 frets. 98usd at hms, but currently OOS. amazon has it for the same price, free shipping.
very tempted to buy this one and dump all my other ukes but the tenor islander and the sopranino...

bnolsen said:

islander ms4 17 frets. 98usd at hms, but currently OOS. amazon has it for the same price, free shipping.
very tempted to buy this one and dump all my other ukes but the tenor islander and the sopranino...

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Thanks for the heads-up. I'm going to check out that model now as I'm still thinking about this quietly...

uke1950 said:

I've just bought a KA-SLNG, (£68), but it does not fit into my soprano case, at 22.5" long, it is just too big to fit.

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Yep, you need a concert case for longneck sopranos. I bumped into that issue, too. Worth considering if someone is looking for something that is very portable.