Soprano, Concert, or Tenor best for fret-hand neuropathy?

IndyFan

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Hello! I would appreciate some experienced advice for a newbie.

I experience neuropathy in my fretting hand that makes it too painful to handle a guitar's 25.5" scale and string tension. Even Baritone ukulele is difficult despite the narrow neck. Locally, there are few Concert and Tenor models, though an abundance of Sopranos.

My assumption is that that Tenor would be best for me; I can more easily fret chords and high notes while reducing some of the strain. However, the lack of local options means I would likely need to buy an instrument unplayed and unheard (budget $400-ish), of which I am not thrilled.

Because of availability, I have been adding more Sopranos to my tests, and I was surprised that I enjoy playing them as well. The chord shapes are compressed the high notes aren't as easy for my stubby, medium-sized fingers, but they actually sound better than the larger models. (The Martin 0X sounded better than the all-solid wood Concerts and Tenors that I tried.)

My concern is for how likely it would be for the small Soprano scale to increase my neuropathy compared to the Concert or Tenor scales. I know there is no concrete answer until I try, but I am hoping that others who have practical experience with neuropathy issues will chime in about what has and has not worked for them.
 
Hi, one thing to mention here is that to get to the standard GCEA tuning, a tenor will require more tension. To keep GCEA re-entrant tuning on a soprano requires a lot less tension - making it easier to fret. I have small-ish hands so I prefer the soprano/concert sizes personally. If worried about it being too cramped, check out wider-nut ukes. Islander comes to mind. I think Flea's might be a little wider than usual too.
 
Concert uke is a nice middle ground of size and string tension.

Some players with hand problems also find that a wider nut and wider string spacing can help as well.

Some ukes like those made by Islander, Oscar Schmidt, and Magic Fluke Company have wider nuts than most other ukes as 38mm vs. 34mm.

Most soprano ukes will have nut that is 35mm or smaller, and this might work against you and feel too cramped, as the string-to-string spacing is only about 8mm on most soprano ukes. If you have problems with neuropathy and dexterity, this might be an issue for you.
 
I always recommend a concert scale as a first uke.
Lower tension than a tenor.
(Can be fitted with concert strings, as I do, to lower the tension).
More space on the fretboard than a soprano.
Works well with linear tuning, (low G).
 
Given your situation, I would suggest starting out with a very low priced Kala concert, like in the $130 range. As others have said, it's a good middle ground. After you have played it a while then you will be able to judge and if it is not the right choice you haven't lost much. And even the really inexpensive Kala's sound pretty good. If it does work out then you can always upgrade with little money lost.
 
How about a Romero ST concert? Overall size of a soprano. Concert scale. Tenor body. The koa and mahogany models are now available from HMS & Elderly, but are a little higher than your price range. Solid spruce top/ laminate body due out this summer. I mainly play concert and went with Islander for a soprano with the wider nut.
 
Hello! I would appreciate some experienced advice for a newbie.

I experience neuropathy in my fretting hand that makes it too painful to handle a guitar's 25.5" scale and string tension. Even Baritone ukulele is difficult despite the narrow neck. Locally, there are few Concert and Tenor models, though an abundance of Sopranos.

My assumption is that that Tenor would be best for me; I can more easily fret chords and high notes while reducing some of the strain. However, the lack of local options means I would likely need to buy an instrument unplayed and unheard (budget $400-ish), of which I am not thrilled.

Because of availability, I have been adding more Sopranos to my tests, and I was surprised that I enjoy playing them as well. The chord shapes are compressed the high notes aren't as easy for my stubby, medium-sized fingers, but they actually sound better than the larger models. (The Martin 0X sounded better than the all-solid wood Concerts and Tenors that I tried.)

My concern is for how likely it would be for the small Soprano scale to increase my neuropathy compared to the Concert or Tenor scales. I know there is no concrete answer until I try, but I am hoping that others who have practical experience with neuropathy issues will chime in about what has and has not worked for them.

The way I understand it neuropathy is weakness, pain and numbness in the hands ( https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/peripheral-neuropathy/symptoms-causes/syc-20352061 ) and given that condition you want to continue playing.

A Uke is a trade-off of many things and what you are looking for is the sweet spot, or at least somewhere near, in that trade -off. Plus you wonder whether playing will make the condition worse, I think only a sufferer or someone with relevant medical qualification can answer that.

I play Sopranos and have spaced the strings out on them to make them easier to play - they’re roughly 30 mm over the strings. Just a few mm has made a vast difference. As an aside Martin Ukes have well spaced out strings so the OX that you played is near as good as it gets. At the moment my hands, or rather my stubby man fingers, move easily but if that changed slightly then the frets of a Soprano would be too close together. I’ll always keep a Soprano or two but at some point I’ll move to a Concert with wide spaced strings and suggest that you start there (Concert) yourself. Some wider neck makes have been suggested above already, all make slightly different models with their own finer points and variations which might or might not suit someone’s personal preferences. From a price perspective the Oscar Schmidt’s are likely to be cheapest so maybe a trial purchase of a second hand one of them for size? The Islanders are nice enough and traditional, and the Flukes have a good name but not everyone likes the plastic fretboard.

String tensions vary with material as well as scale, more compromises here and you don’t yet know what your hands will handle. Booli has done a lot of research on strings and has some FAQ answers (click on his name at the bottom of one of his posts).

The above is maybe not an ideal response, but I hope that it is of some help in moving you forward.
 
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I think you may be wise to drop your target price a bit. Since you're kind of searching for the ideal uke, dropping that kind of chicken would suck if you didn't like the product. Plus, there is an absolute glut of quality tenor and concert ukes for less than $200. I too have stubby, medium-size hands and I started on a soprano which didn't last long. More recently I switched to a Luna tenor then discovered 38mm nut widths and got rid of that (35mm) for an Oscar Schmidt, Fender and Ibanez and I absolutely love all three. You also might consider a radius fret board as it might alleviate your symptoms. They're not wide-ranging but my Ibanez has it and I grabbed that for just over $100 on Amazon...plays like a charm and it really does make barre chords and finger picking a bit easier. Good luck to you Indyfan.
 
The flea ukulele is used for music therapy in children’s hospital. It is the easiest action and playability I have found and sounds beautiful! I was very discouraged trying to learn chords. No matter how much I practiced I couldn’t press hard enough to get a clear sound. I took off with the magic fluke Flea ukulele! Best money ever spent!
 
Thanks for your recommendations! A few hours at Mainland Ukes (Nashville, IN) last weekend were also a tremendous help. At this point I'm 60/40 Tenor/Concert because of higher fret access and larger body. I fell in love with Mainland's all solid, all Mango Satin Tenor ($310) which no other company seems to offer in the price range. To my ears, all of their ukes were superior to the $400 all solid spruce/rosewood Kala Tenor I came across that same week. However, as Boomershakalaka suggested, I may cut my budget. I am unsure how the scale will suite me long term, and several local players recommended I NOT get an all-solid uke the first go round because of our difficulty keeping humidity levels consistent in our home. They recommended an all laminate model with hard case and humidifier (even for the flukes) or the Outdoor Ukulele to start out. This would reduce cost as well as care requirements as I learn to play.

With this line of thought, any sub-$200 laminate would be $300 with a hardcase and Oasis humidifer, compared to $155 for a Outdoor Ukulele. In that case I wonder if the Outdoor Ukulele is a strong choice that requires little additional expense for care. Any experience and thoughts? BTW, I play lefty so ability to convert is important.
 
I don't think an Outdoor as your first and only uke will make you love the ukulele. There are decent laminates that sound better, probably for the same price. Enya, Donner, Kmise, etc. But a Mainland would be great. If you get a humidifier and hard case for that, or even a plastic bin with a sponge in a baggie, you'll be fine.

I'm not sure why your friends recommend a hard case and humidifier for a laminate instrument. It's slightly overkill, but I guess if you get something expensive, you might want to prevent the frets popping a bit on the neck. Again, in that case, you could get by with a plastic bin, but personally, I wouldn't bother, for me it would defeat the purpose of a carefree uke.

Good luck. Let us know how it works out for you.
 
The hard case & humidifier recommendations came from 2 separate long time playing locals who set up and repair guitars and ukes. After discussing our home's inability to maintain consistent humidity levels - despite room humidifiers - and how my electric guitars' necks react when not stored in climate controlled cases, they felt that even though laminate is quite stable there is still some risk, and more so to the neck. They believed that, in our area, any wood instrument should be stored in a climate-controlled case unless there is a spot in the house that is well regulated. The laminate would be a wise choice, but the only 'carefree" uke would be something like the Outdoor Uke.

When visiting Mainland Ukuleles (about 20 miles away), they said our local climate can be quite "dangerous" to all-solid wood instruments without good climate regulation. They recommended Mahogany or Mango over their Red Cedar top models because they see the most climate-related issues with the cedar models.

I'm open to polycarbonate, laminate, or solid wood models, as I know it what is required to take care of them. At this point it is just a hard decision starting out. As a longtime guitar player, I can appreciate the finer details of a nice instrument and don't want to set my bar too low, but also don't want to go overboard. My original picks pushing past my budget were all-solid - Ohana TK-39 ($360), Ohana PKC-70G ($310), and the Mainland MNG-T ($310). Too many options! :drool:
 
I think you have what one of my old bosses called "analysis paralysis". Since you know what a decent instrument offers, I expect an Outdoor or a Fluke/Flea will not have the same appeal as even an inexpensive Kala all laminate. You can get an all laminate Kala for about $140 and up. It's real wood, has a decent neck profile, real metal frets, etc., etc. And they sound pretty decent and are the world's best selling brand. Don't over think it -- just have fun! :shaka:
 
My Islander Tenor came in at under $200 I think (from HMS), it's a spruce top laminate and the uke I play most. My Oscar Shmidt OU4 was under $100 on Amazon, is heavy, not as well set up, but good for knocking around with. I currently have a low G on it. I also have a Mainland Concert, the string tension is very low, but I am a little more comfortable with the tenor scale. FWIW, I also have some peripheral neuropathy (post Chemo). Cheers. :)
 
I have a bit of neuropathy going on too, more in my feet, but about 5% feeling loss in fingers, no pain, just numbness. When I started ukeing a year ago, I started on a soprano, after 50 years of guitar. It was somewhat difficult at first, but think soprano was more worthwhile, since it requires more placement accuracy, and I find going to the more roomy concert and tenor sizes is easier for me, but I like the sop sound better, and want to keep at soprano. I guess I feel that if I can play soprano accurately, I can play any uke size.
 
More space on the fretboard than a soprano.

Not necessarily true - depends on the nut width / string spacing Keith. I could show you sopranos with far more space than concerts
 
This is a really difficult one to answer accurately, because whilst not all ukuleles are the same - not all HANDS are the same either. What someone finds comfortable other people may not. That said, to dispel some myths...

Space on the fingerboard and comfort in a neck is dictated by a number of things

1. Spacing down the neck
2. Spacing across the neck
3. Profile of the neck.

Now for spacing down the neck, in most cases this will increase with scale increases - that spaces the frets more widely as you go up in sizes. However, whether that will help you depends on your hand size and condition. Also bear in mind that bigger fret spacing can mean some chords become more of a stretch down the neck and some people struggle with that too.

With regard to point 2, this affects the space you have for fingers to be next to each other on the fingerboard (think chords like G and Dminor). Whilst people 'assume' that larger scales give you more space in this regard that rule is not necessarily true. That space is dictated by neck width and string spacing. Whilst on many ukuleles, as they get bigger in scale the string spacing can also go up that ignores the fact that there are many sopranos with wider string spacing than most concerts and as much as most tenors. In fact there are a couple coming to market now with more space across the neck than I've ever seen on a tenor. So the fact that scale can naturally increase width leads people to make a false correlation that 'if you need more width - get a bigger scale instrument'. Not true You can get as much with a soprano AND if your condition affects the stretching DOWN the neck too, this may be a better option than going to a tenor for example. With a wide nut soprano you get the benefit of more lateral space, but without the stretches down the neck.

The third one is the most subjective but can make a huge difference. Some necks have a very rounded chunky profile, wheras some have a very flat profile. Only by playing some will you know which suits you best for comfort.

And when you then consider that all three of those come into play together, it gets complicated

TL:DR - you really need to try a few until you find the most comfortable. But dont be swayed by the 'this scale is best for you'. It might not be, and it probably isn't that simple.
 
To me Barry’s post, #19 above, is a good way forward in terms of understanding the hand to instrument interface - some folk don’t find trouble with that interface but others, me included, do.

Mention was made of wide spaced neck Sopranos and from what Barry says it seems that some others are about to hit the market. Currently I think that the Islander Ukes are the most well know and they start a a bit above $100; Lanikai have recently introduced their MA-P, which I believe has a wider neck (and string spacing), and it’s slightly under $100.

My experience is that wide spaced strings on a Soprano do make them significantly easier to play and the shorter scale length does have some advantages in terms of easier reach.
 
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