spacing "larger" than the usual soprano?
...
but if the soprano is actually bigger in the fret area
This has not really been addressed in previous replies...the NUT WIDTH is a bit more on all Magic Fluke ukuleles, compared to say Kala.
Fluke/Flea Soprano/Concert nut width is 1.4".
Fluke/Flea Tenor nut width is 1.45"/1.4" respectively.
This means that you have more space to stack your fingers if you play a DMaj chord in first position as 2220 (Since I do not have double-jointed fingers and cannot press down 3 strings with one finger and then have the A string ring out, I play a DMaj chord as 2225, actually barre across all 4 strings at the 2nd fret, and then pinky on A string at 5th fret).
Also, I find the neck profile very comfortable -- it's not perfectly round or C-shaped, the edges from the fretboard are rounded but then the middle area down the center of the back of the neck is flat, this flat area is about 3/4" wide, and I find it helps to support your thumb, and give you a good target to place your thumb for good fretting-hand posture.
As others have said the instrument scale, i.e. from NUT to BRIDGE, going from soprano, concert and tenor is INCREMENTALLY LONGER as you increase scale length, and as such there is a bit more fret-to-fret spacing in the longer scale length than the shorter. If you have giant sausage fingers, many have found it easier to play on Magic Fluke ukuleles.
You will also have a few more frets with the longer scale instruments.
All scale lengths of the Flea have the same BODY size, and all scale lengths of the Fluke have the same BODY size.
I own one of each (Fluke and Flea) (see my signature below).
See here for the official instrument measurements:
http://www.magicfluke.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1830
(Oh, and do the friction tuners actually work well?)
If you can get used to friction tuners, they work just like any that I have tried.
I cannot get used to the herky-jerky imprecision (coming from a lifetime of geared tuners), even spent for the $40 Grover friction tuners as an upgrade from the Grover 2B's that come with these ukuleles, and even so, either the tuner was too tight and impossible to turn without overshooting the pitch, or it was too loose and would slip from string tension. I have given up on friction tuners.
I want to PLAY the instrument, and not play fiddly-games with the tuners, so I had replaced/upgraded the friction tuners on my concert Flea with Gotoh UPT-L planetary tuners, and my tenor Fluke came with PEGHEDS when I bought it used.
I think that the Gotoh UPT tuners are much better and much smoother than the PEGHEDS. The Gotoh can also be installed without a tapered reamer, you just need to enlarge the hole to about 8mm, and I did this by using a T-handle and hand turning a unibit drill bit very slowly - took all of 20mins.
As far as the slipping on the belly area when holding one of these ukes, you can have them install the grip strips if you buy direct (it's easier to play from the start), or go to Walmart/hardware-store and get some of the anti-slip rubber strips (or starfish-shapes) that you stick to the bottom of the bathtub, and fix them across the back of the instrument horizontallly (as you hold it).
My Fluke, which I had bought used, already had grip-strips installed, but for my Flea, I already had some 6x8 adhesive-backed foam sheets (they come in a 100 pack for like $8 from Amazon) and cut one into 3 strips and stuck 2 of them on the back of my Flea, and both kinds of strips hold the uke from slipping equally well.
Another solution is to use a strap and tie it around the headstock with a shoelace, and then stick some velcro to the back and have the butt-end of the strap also fixed with velcro. I have this setup also on my Fluke and Flea, but I am finding that I do not always use the strap now, and for that the grip-strips really help.
-Booli