From concert to soprano

bsfloyd

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Hello everyone. I covered on this topic lightly before but would like to get more detailed now. Currently, I am a baritone only player.

My style of play is flatpicking Irish, Celtic, early music, and fiddle tunes. I really love this music and find the playing both challenging and rewarding. This stems from my guitar playing and now to my baritone ukulele playing. There is a ton of great material out there for ukulele in this style of play.

Very recently I tried my son's concert scale (linear tuning) for this style and immediately love it! The higher pitch sounded much more lively and energetic. I don't want to say it reminded me of a mandolin, but it kinda did. The timbre was right there and I really liked it.

So, the hunt for another instrument begins. My question is regarding the transition from concert to soprano. As mentioned, I've been using baritone scale for this style of play, which is not too far off from guitar, however the feel of the concert scale was a bit more drastic. Though I did manage fine with it, but don't know how I would fare on a soprano scale. I mean, the soprano scale is similar to a mandolin so I know it can done. Players use mandolin for this style of play quite often.

There seems to be more soprano scale instruments in my area over concert scale. Sure, I can test drive in the stores but I believe one doesn't get to know an instrument until they spend hours, even days with it. I would love to hear your experiences of moving from concert scale to soprano scale and how you think my style of playing might be affected before I begin my shopping journey. Thanks!
 
You might also consider trying to find a long necked soprano, basically a concert scale on a soprano body. That might give you a little more room.
 
I have both sizes but play Soprano the most. I like the Soprano’s more compact nature but that extreme compactness - with rare exception I don’t think any smaller works well enough for normal use - does result in compromises. There’s about 10% plus difference in scale lengths and whilst that does not sound much I find that it does make a big difference in terms of finger space and sound. The Sopranos are more cramped and quieter, well I think so. I alleviate the cramped fret board by seeking out wider ones with wide spaced strings and I’m happy enough to sacrifice some volume for compactness. I do very little finger picking but have noticed that sustain on the Sopranos is relatively short, I suspect that they are more suited to strumming but having said that there many high profile players who expertly finger pick on the Soprano.

It’s a long jump from Baritone to Soprano, maybe too long. If the Concert size works for you then it might be best to stick there for now rather than possibly try to change even further. If picking is your preferred style of play then do check out string spacing at the saddle, I suspect that it’s going to be tighter (for picking) than you are used to and the spread does vary between makes and their models - sorry if that’s stating the obvious.

Good luck.
 
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I've had both, & with low G, but returned to tenor scale, (with smaller than normal bodies), it's just a personal preference. :)

If concert scale worked for you, I'd go with that, it's a big jump from bari to concert; soprano may be a bit too far. ;)

Concert scale is easier to pick than soprano, but both can work, though, in general, there is less sustain from a soprano, this may affect how you hear the tunes you want to play.
 
My main instruments are concert Ukes, and I prefer to play finger picking and chord melody styles. However, I do find Sopranos being more inviting to just pick up and play a few relaxing tunes. I often switch between Soprano and Concert in one sitting, playing the same song to see how it feels to me, and to my own surprise, I often like the "feeling" of Soprano more. Not just the sound, but the whole package of the ease of play, the lightness of the instrument, the closeness of the Soprano to my body, just like holding a baby... It just gives me more pleasure.
As for the scale length, I do find limits with songs that require fretting higher than an octave down the board.

I don't have big hands, I wear medium men gloves and find both Concert and Soprano scale very comfortable. Some say their fingers have to cramp into tight space, I say my fingers are intimate with each other.
 
When you own all three sizes of Risa stick ukuleles with the bodies being the same size you can physically see the difference between fret spacing vs scale length. Most sopranos stop at the 12th fret, if you play much past this fret normally the lack of scale length (missing notes) will bother you more than learning the minute difference in fret spacing on any size uke.

I hear mandolin necks are very thin from side to side.
 
Thanks for the wonderful replies, and sharing your experiences everyone!! Very good points to consider. I will have to measure the nut width and string spacing on my son's concert scale. It's not a high end ukulele (flamed maple Ibanez laminate), but it is setup very nice and plays well. Being a flatpicker for some time now, I appreciate a nice generous string spacing.

Having read the replies, I think I am favoring the concert scale. Is it generally a narrower nut width for soprano compared to concert? Are there some makes of a wider nut soprano? I do like the idea of a long neck, or super soprano - thanks for that suggestion. I agree the soprano can be more of an intimate instrument, perhaps a long neck might be the best of both worlds.

We live in a very rural part of central Ohio, and my wife being an avid reader we know our local libraries don't have any musical instruments of any sorts - though that is a great idea! Heck, I'm still amazed that one of our small town local music shops has a Bruko soprano in stock!

Yes, mandolin neck are quite thin! While I'm not a mandolin player, I have picked them up from time to time and always wondered how them players do it. I guess it's with anything - the more time you put in, the more it becomes second nature. Perhaps this might be the same with getting along with the soprano ukulele. My hands are not small, but they are not too larger neither. I would say longer, medium sized fingers. I do admit to liking the smaller size, and the intimacy of the soprano, but the concert is still not far from that. Again.... maybe the long neck soprano may be the answer. However, I know there are none of those to be found locally....
 
Is it generally a narrower nut width for soprano compared to concert? Are there some makes of a wider nut soprano?
Have you looked at the reviews on Got A Ukulele? Barry favours wider nuts on sopranos and usually makes a point of mentioning nut width when testing an instrument. Speaking very generally, there seems to be a tendency for Chinese manufacturers to go for narrower nuts, but there are quite a few exceptions.
 
Martin nuts are usually about 36mm, Kiwaya and Famous about 37mm, and I believe that Islander are a full 1.5", or 38mm. A wide nut really helps on soprano, IMO.
 
A search on this forum might produce more but the only wide neck Sopranos that come to mind are the Islanders and the latest Lanikai’s Sopranos (eg. MA-P, 37mm I believe but check). They are in the $100 area and all laminate, two versions of the islander are available, the dearer on has a slightly longer scale and the neck joins at the 14th fret.
http://www.islanderukulele.com/Custom/ShopCategory?id=1
http://lanikaiukuleles.com/product/mahogany-pineapple-soprano-ukulele/
I still believe that a Concert would most likely serve you best, but it’s your choice and only you know all the factors involved in your decision.
 
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Thank you for the added replies, links, advice, and experiences everyone. Surely the answer is to own all sizes, and multiples in said given size as instruments are still different in the same size. I know this from my guitar background. I will certainly research and play as many concert size and soprano size ukuleles that I can. I'm sure I will have fun in my searching!
 
Thank you for the added replies, links, advice, and experiences everyone. Surely the answer is to own all sizes, and multiples in said given size as instruments are still different in the same size. I know this from my guitar background. I will certainly research and play as many concert size and soprano size ukuleles that I can. I'm sure I will have fun in my searching!

It’s good that the thread is a help, I think we learn from each other.

One of the pluses of being in a Uke group is that often other members are happy for you to look at and play their instruments, and share experiences, etc. I own several Ukes and that can be nice but I’ve also learnt a lot just from the instruments that my club buddies play - a cheaper option that leaves the house a lot less cluttered too. YMMV.
 
Have you looked at the reviews on Got A Ukulele? Barry favours wider nuts on sopranos and usually makes a point of mentioning nut width when testing an instrument. Speaking very generally, there seems to be a tendency for Chinese manufacturers to go for narrower nuts, but there are quite a few exceptions.
Wide nuts are fine, but narrow ones have advantages as well. It's easier to barre just two or three strings on a narrow neck. Especially if you have to skip the first and/or second strings, like, for example, D. You can mush three fingers over there (which may be why some folks like wider) or bend the first knuckle of one of your fingers and get them all, which is faster--and easier for some. Because one person likes a certain feature a certain way doesn't mean that's the best for everyone, or even most.
 
I just took a scale to my son's concert scale Ibanez and found it is at 35mm at the nut. From what I have read here on the forum this is on the narrow end, even for soprano. This certainly opens more doors for going with a soprano. If I can manage on the tightest ukulele nut width, then I should be good. I am used to adapting to different nut widths seeing how I play both steel string acoustic with their 1 11/16" nut width, and classical guitar with their 52mm nut width. My baritone is at 1.5". The wonderful world of various instruments!! :)
 
I love, love, love my Islander AS-4 (laminate acacia soprano) for many reasons. The nut width (1.5) is one of the main ones. I just ordered an Islander MC-4 (laminate mahogany concert) from Uke Republic to replace my Kala KA-CG. I'm just a hack, but the Islander feels great in my hands, is easier to play, sounds terrific; and costs about $120.
 
I love, love, love my Islander AS-4 (laminate acacia soprano) for many reasons. The nut width (1.5) is one of the main ones. I just ordered an Islander MC-4 (laminate mahogany concert) from Uke Republic to replace my Kala KA-CG. I'm just a hack, but the Islander feels great in my hands, is easier to play, sounds terrific; and costs about $120.

Thanks for sharing Junie Moon - I've read good things about the budget Islanders.
 
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