What is your favorite scale uke? 2018 edition.

Favorite scale:

  • Total voters
    145
  • Poll closed .
janeray1940 said:
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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Yep, a strap would help, but it doesn't help with the width of the neck. For some unknown reason, I like the larger body of the concert and tenor. Go figure! :)
 
ahoy

first and second ukes were concerts

was advised
not to get soprano
too small, just toys

third uke was soprano
right off just felt right

now pick up a concert or tenor
they feel like huge beasts

make mine soprano

yours truly
mac
 
always interesting to see such polls being a builder.
 
Beau Hannam Ukuleles said:
always interesting to see such polls being a builder.
Click to expand...

I bet it really is.

As a non-builder I'd guess that sopranos are the hardest to get right. There can't be much margin for error there. (Probably wrong. My wild guesses tend to be! :D )
 
I like three sizes, #1 baritone, then #2 concert, then a #3 concert longneck. But if i had to pick one. Baritone. Buuuut, concert is best out of tenor or soprano.
 
I'm not truly an extremist but I only really enjoy the ends of the spectrum...soprano and baritone.
 
I like sopranos, the intimacy of the size, the bark, the challenge of campanella on a soprano makes me laugh. Curling up in a easy chair with such a tiny instrument and coaxing satisfying noise makes me happy. Soprano size has allowed me to learn more about music and how it works because it seems more attainable...only 48 notes to memorize the fretboard seems less intimidating than a guitar. I also have a wonderful concert and rarely play it, too big to carry around or have one in every room. Tenor scale instruments just makes me wish I had baritone. I don't have a baritone for fear it would just make me want a guitar....and I have a guitar! The guitar rarely is played though I might get it out again...any minute!
 
Bill Sheehan said:
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).
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Definitely agree. I play entire sets on a soprano and just ordered a custom soprano uke with a wide 1.5" nut ...good for classical tunes, campanella style, chord melody jazz standards and clawhammer. No stretch , no stress.....just cool.
 
sometimes I really wonder how much of these, is
"I know what I like"
vs
"I like what I know"

When I first started on tenor, sometimes I would wonder about if I should be playing concert because some of the fingering I wanted was a stretch especially at first position.
But now my left hand index and pinky can span almost an inch wider than my right hand, and I don't feel that shorter would be better, and playing up the neck more.. makes the stretch pretty much moot.

People say that it's a hand size issue.. but then we see videos of tiny kids shredding the crap out of a tenor, and full adult men shredding on micro ukes, which stands in direct opposition to hands to small, or space too cramped.

But... one thing that is definite... a longer scale has more sustain, and maintains tone better up the neck.
 
For me, it all starts with what I want to hear.... low tones, check..... sustain, absolutely..... a wide good-sounding working range, yes, as I am all over the fretboard.

That's why I like baritone. And I'm a woman with small hands, so I have to make it happen, somehow. It means my left hand, besides being flexible, is constantly moving, seldom in the same place for long.... so that even when playing a single chord, I sometimes have to slide my hand up midway through it, to catch the treble notes.

We do what we must with what we have. :)

bratsche
 
I finally voted and chose baritone. Though my second choice, and I wish we could have picked two, is surely tenor. I do prefer the deeper timbre of the baritone, and being a guitar player I like the longer scale length. However, I'm currently in the market for an eight string tenor to tune in mandola tuning :)
 
I've not voted partly because it doesn't show up on the mobile version I'm on just now,and partly because I'm not sure.

I started on soprano and for a long time resisted getting a tenor and it was only when I tuned one dGBE I felt it had something to offer. Now I'm mostly playing my 6 & 8 string tenors and like the extra fullness they have so my sopranos have been somewhat neglected. My one concert is definitely neglected. I've only fairly recently got a baritone and I like it. It did take me longer to adjust to than the other scales, though.

I no longer feel I have a preferred size. They all have their qualities.

A thought:
Long neck soprano = small body concert
Long neck concert = small body tenor
Long neck tenor = small body baritone

Should we define them by scale length rather than body size? Then what do you call those of intermediate scale length?

Just a thought.
 
Apart from what has become established, i.e. long neck & super, those being designations of the next scale up on any one particular body size, we usually go by scale length.

That is because it is the most important aspect to the player, (i.e. how far you have to move your fingers on the fretboard).

I now prefer to call my 'misfits' small bodied tenors. :)

I think I should also refer to my RISA solids (tenor & concert) as travel ukes. ;)
 
Last edited:
When I started playing, I was really into tenors. But now I'm gravitating towards sopranos, I really like the traditional punchy sound it has. put in some low g's and i can play all day. But i really like all the sizes. :drool:
 
guitarman said:
But now I'm gravitating towards sopranos, I really like the traditional punchy sound it has. put in some low g's and i can play all day. But i really like all the sizes. :drool:
Click to expand...

This has been in my serious thoughts as of late :)
 
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