For me playability is all in the neck

billten · Feb 27, 2016

After a post from Dave about his preference for a chunkier neck and bigger fretwires i started looking at my (relatively small) collection of ukes. The ones i love playing and the ones that sound nice but i never just bonded with and it's an interesting division.

The ukes i absolutely love playing generally have a 1 1/2 nut, a thicker neck profile and big frets. The ones i either don't play or play infrequently are all narrower and thinner necks along with small fret wire. I even have a uke with a thicker neck and very small frets and it is not one I often reach for.

While the sound is a huge factor and should be important this area of playability is one i have never considered when selecting a uke, especially when ordering online. I trend towards the 'little guitar' and fingerstyle play end of the uke music spectrum so i guess my preferences make sense. I'm happy that i now have a clearer idea of what to look for in a uke for my taste in that elusive playability factor. Thanks Dave for starting me down this path...

sam13 · Feb 27, 2016

Dave is a good man. We should all have friends like him and I consider myself fortunate.

For me, I like a thinner neck and prefer satin to gloss and a radius neck if possible.

However, I have a Kamaka HF 2L with a thin neck and flat fret board. And I LOVE it.

Recstar24 · Feb 27, 2016

I'm mostly a fingerstyle player too and I agree neck size and profile is really important for that bonding process. So far I've been pretty lucky and my hand seems to be ok with different necks. My stansell is very thick and chunky with almost perpendicular edges like a guitar, the D shape I guess you call it, my Hoffmann is more medium sized and c shaped, and my Mya moe is a thinner d shape.

Dan Uke · Feb 27, 2016

sam13 said:
Dave is a good man. We should all have friends like him and I consider myself fortunate.

For me, I like a thinner neck and prefer satin to gloss and a radius neck if possible.

However, I have a Kamaka HF 2L with a thin neck and flat fret board. And I LOVE it.

I prefer thin flat fretboard but the HF2L is my least favorite cuz it's too thin!

UkerDanno · Feb 27, 2016

And I can easily go from my vintage Martin to my Pono and not really feel the difference, aside from the heaviness of the Pono neck.

Ukulele Eddie · Feb 27, 2016

billten said:
After a post from Dave about his preference for a chunkier neck and bigger fretwires i started looking at my (relatively small) collection of ukes. The ones i love playing and the ones that sound nice but i never just bonded with and it's an interesting division.

The ukes i absolutely love playing generally have a 1 1/2 nut, a thicker neck profile and big frets. The ones i either don't play or play infrequently are all narrower and thinner necks along with small fret wire. I even have a uke with a thicker neck and very small frets and it is not one I often reach for.

While the sound is a huge factor and should be important this area of playability is one i have never considered when selecting a uke, especially when ordering online. I trend towards the 'little guitar' and fingerstyle play end of the uke music spectrum so i guess my preferences make sense. I'm happy that i now have a clearer idea of what to look for in a uke for my taste in that elusive playability factor. Thanks Dave for starting me down this path...

I'm curious if you compared the action (measured at the 12th fret) of the ukes in your "playability" group vs. those in the "not-as-playable", would there be any difference?

billten · Feb 27, 2016

I just looked, they are all pretty much similar. I usually have my action a little higher than most because I seem to dig in a bit and a super low action can make the uke buzz and subsequently have adgusted several of my ukes to the action i prefer. The big thing seems to be a super skinny neck profile combined with small fret wires make a uke i personally find hard to get comfortable with, i'll certainly be looking at that factor from now on when i consider my future online purchases.

Ukulele Eddie said:
I'm curious if you compared the action (measured at the 12th fret) of the ukes in your "playability" group vs. those in the "not-as-playable", would there be any difference?

Nickie · Feb 27, 2016

Believe it or not, my favorite neck shapes come from low dollar ukes.
The best IMHO are Cordoba and Boulder Creek. Perfect for my hands!

sam13 · Feb 27, 2016

Dan Uke said:
I prefer thin flat fretboard but the HF2L is my least favorite cuz it's too thin!

I just love the thin neck on this Kamaka. Finding that Uke one loves is so personal.

DownUpDave · Feb 27, 2016

sam13 said:
I just love the thin neck on this Kamaka. Finding that Uke one loves is so personal.

It seems some people are more sensitive to neck proportions than others, it really is so personal.

sam13 is about 6' 6" with large hands and he likes slim necks. I'm 5' 10" with small to medium size hands and I like deep chuncky necks.......go figure.

Bill, so glad you are finding what works for you. Make your way to Toronto in the summer time and we'll get together again for another parking lot jam, lol. I'll get Simon and Brenda and Tim and we'll have a hoot

billten · Feb 27, 2016

DownUpDave said:
Bill, so glad you are finding what works for you. Make your way to Toronto in the summer time and we'll get together again for another parking lot jam, lol. I'll get Simon and Brenda and Tim and we'll have a hoot

Sounds good Dave, i'll bring my Gretch and we can compare notes

Ukulele Eddie · Feb 28, 2016

billten said:
I just looked, they are all pretty much similar. I usually have my action a little higher than most because I seem to dig in a bit and a super low action can make the uke buzz and subsequently have adgusted several of my ukes to the action i prefer. The big thing seems to be a super skinny neck profile combined with small fret wires make a uke i personally find hard to get comfortable with, i'll certainly be looking at that factor from now on when i consider my future online purchases.

Sounds like you've developed an important understanding on your preferences. Should make future purchase considerations less risky!

sam13 · Feb 28, 2016

billten said:
Sounds good Dave, i'll bring my Gretch and we can compare notes

And just to prove we don't live out of our cars, we could meet st Daves and maybe have a BBQ.

Ukejenny · Feb 29, 2016

My SK28's narrow neck feels really good, but it isn't a flat neck. Flat necks put strain on my thumb. I also love the neck on my Clara. It feels really good to me. I also like the feel of a low buttery action and pretty soft strings.

70sSanO · Mar 1, 2016

This is an interesting thread. I'm not sure how to describe the necks, so I'll use quick and slow.

I have 2 ukuleles from the same person that have totally different necks one us wide and thin and it feels super quick, the other is almost as wide but really chunky and for me it feels slower, if I can describe it that way.

But I have a baritone that is narrower and fairly chunky and that seems quick to me.

I also have some 3 strings that are obviously narrow and thick and they are a breeze to play.

This has gotten me thinking that it may be a combination of factors that may even include scale length. Obviously playing up the fretboard results in a wide and thick neck at that point, but the frets are closer together so the extra hand radius around the neck balances out the fret spacing.

John

For me playability is all in the neck

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