What is your favorite scale uke? 2018 edition.

Favorite scale:


  • Total voters
    145
  • Poll closed .
I knew someone would say that, and I think it's technically correct, but - a concert body feels absolutely enormous to me compared to a longneck soprano, and really clumsy to play. So for me there's more to it than just scale length. Which is why I chose soprano, because if the question was phrased more like "you can only have ONE uke and one uke only, and your choices are limited to soprano, concert, tenor, or bari" I'd far prefer a soprano to a concert just for pure comfort alone.

I agree. Body size can have a big impact on comfort, so it would be nice to include the longnecks. Right now, if I had to pick one scale I'd say it's my 19" tenor. That one isn't an option here. So I won't vote! ;-)
 
Still concert. I've owned all the other sizes, and they just don't work for me. Always, concert.
 
Spent my learning time on concert & concert scale ukes in the main.

I've tried most combination of sizes/scales now, & have come to the conclusion that the best scale is tenor.

However, not the body size, that is more concert sized.

So my main players are small bodied tenors, long neck concerts, acoustic & electric, (& I just got hold of a steel string too).
 
For comfort of playing I like concert and baritone scale lengths but for the sound I love the bark and fast decay you get with a soprano uke - gets me to play to the ukes strengths and sounds rather than play like I play my guitars, relying on that extra bit of sustain and smoothness. If I had to pick one I'd keep my sopranos.
 
I have thought about what I play the most. Up until March of 2017 I would have voted Tenor. But since that time I would have to say Baritone, still love the Tenor but it’s no longer my main player.
 
Definitely concert. I've played soprano & tenor as well. Soprano works, but not as comfy as concert. I can't do tenor scale very well, but love the sound. So, I found a "short neck" tenor (tenor body, concert neck) that I should receive soon. We'll see if that satisfies my tenor craving?
 
I would have to go with soprano. All the scale sizes have their nice attributes, of course, but I like the challenge of standing (or sitting) there with nothing but that little soprano, so "minimalist", and making it "work" with whatever songs I can come up with that fit my ever-declining vocal range (usually songs I grew up loving during the sixties and seventies).
I voted concert, I guess because I picked concert to start with and I have two of them. But Bill's argument makes a lot of sense to me. I recently got a spruce top soprano and frankly have not hardly picked up my concert since I got it, pretty much for the same reasons that Bill states. If I hadn't already have clicked on the button, I would vote soprano.
 
I chose the concert scale. When I switched to the ukulele a couple of years back, I was used to the scale of a regular electric bass. At that time, I couldn't get happy with anything shorter than a tenor scale. And that's what I played for about two years, until a friend cured me from that believe by first handing me his sopranino. Of course, I couldn't get along with that at all. But after trying the sopranino for about ten minutes, his Glyph custom made soprano uke suddenly felt like a double bass in my hands. From that moment, I started enjoying the soprano scale as well.

But even the best custom made soprano can't make my huge hands any smaller, and although I am able to play regular, simpler stuff on a soprano, I still feel more comfortable with a longer scale for more jazzy or other elaborated stuff.
Now, I find most tenor ukes somewhat oversized, and I agree with the user who earlier wrote that his famous ukulele size is a soprano longneck. Mostly, because I often prefer the sound of a soprano. But for me, that means it's a concert SCALE, although size-wise it's a soprano.

However, the latest addition to my collection, just arrived earlier this week, is the Koaloha soprano with a tenor neck. Right now, I suppose she has a very good chance to be my favourite uke. So maybe in the next edition of this poll, I might vote for the tenor scale again. I think it's all constantly changing.
 
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Soprano for me. I started on a concert and have two tenors, but I always come back to a soprano.
 
concert for me - its where the string tension suits the music I play. Also, when I bought my Blackbird uke, the only way to get an ekoa instrument was to buy concert scale. And the Blackbird Clara does it all - put reentrant strings on it and it does a great soprano bark, the linear tuning sounds as good as any tenor for finger picking... wish I had two so I could keep one in each tuning.
 
Aaah the scales. In my opinion a fretboard soloist has 2 things to learn. The scale and how to adjust mentally when going higher up the neck.

And I think maybe one can learn 2 different scales, like soprano and concert. Or concert and tenor. I would imagine the difference between soprano and tenor is maybe too large, that you would need to look where your fingers go?

When I got my concert I would always need to look, because I was used to guitar scale. Now that I have got used to it, i can play "blind", but noticed that now I need look on my guitar. Because the scale is so different.

I'm only talking about guitar like instruments where you have 1st, second , 3rd and little finger on subsequent frets normally. Instruments like mandolin that is tuned to 5ths, require a different attitude. Myself I don't know about it, but used to play violin as a hobby until I got tired of upsetting my neighbours lool.
 
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When I first started thinking about playing the ukulele and was researching it I just got confused with so many opinions and options, so I picked concert just because it was in the middle, thinking not too small not too big. But I think that I have pretty big fingers, size 11 ring finger, I don't know how that compares to others, but I have not noticed any difficulty in fretting a soprano after four years of playing concerts. In fact, I was surprised that the soprano was a bit easier to play because I didn't have to stretch so far for some of the more spread out chords that I have to play sometimes.
 
I voted for concert because that's all I've played at this point. I have 2 concerts, but I'm eyeing an Outdoor Ukulele(soprano) and a Tiny Tenor for 2018. So my preference could change once I have some more experience.
 
I voted for tenor. I am not sure if it is because it is my favorite scale or if it is that I just like the way my tenor sounds compared to the others I have.

OK, this sounds really weird. I am a petite woman. 5'2" (on a good day). I have small hands - wear a ring size 4.5 and can reach an octave on the piano but not much more. YET, the concert and tenor ukuleles seem to be easier for me than the soprano. I have a hard time holding a soprano - too small. The small neck is harder, too. I can finger the chords fine, but it is just the holding of the soprano that is hard for me. I got a Pono soprano because the neck is a little wider, but it mostly sits in its case.

All that being said, I don't get to play very much - or haven't lately. I am trying to schedule it into my evening. I will have to test drive my ukes to make a more informed decision. But for now, I'm sticking with tenor.

I have never tried a baritone.
 
I voted for tenor. I am not sure if it is because it is my favorite scale or if it is that I just like the way my tenor sounds compared to the others I have.

OK, this sounds really weird. I am a petite woman. 5'2" (on a good day). I have small hands - wear a ring size 4.5 and can reach an octave on the piano but not much more. YET, the concert and tenor ukuleles seem to be easier for me than the soprano. I have a hard time holding a soprano - too small. The small neck is harder, too. I can finger the chords fine, but it is just the holding of the soprano that is hard for me. I got a Pono soprano because the neck is a little wider, but it mostly sits in its case.

All that being said, I don't get to play very much - or haven't lately. I am trying to schedule it into my evening. I will have to test drive my ukes to make a more informed decision. But for now, I'm sticking with tenor.

I have never tried a baritone.

Installing a strap button makes a huge difference when it comes to holding a soprano - just sayin'.

Your post does underscore my earlier statement that it's not just scale length that makes a favorite, a favorite. Sounds like we're about the same size and I've got small hands too, and can reach chords just fine on concert scale - but as I mentioned earlier, a regular concert body feels enormous and clumsy (as does a tenor or a guitar for that matter!) for me. Ukulele ergonomics - could be a whole other post! :)
 
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