karcsi is right when he says this is a recent phenomenon. We started about 10 years ago, a bit after Katrina, and at that time there were almost none.
But I’d disagree with those who would define instruments by scale. Scale lengths aren’t standard either; Baritones have the biggest differences, but no exact standard is followed for the others either. They’re somewhat variable, the same as body sizes. So in that case I think it makes sense to define them in terms of the sound you’ll get, and while scale definitely effects sound, it doesn’t do so as much as body size.
When we started I believe only a few Sopranos were available, and again, I think karcsi may be right as singling out Dave Means as a strong possibility for being the very first. I don’t think any of the major makers offered long-neck Sopranos in those days, but I think a small number of secondary makers were producing by that time.
My memory is clearer on the other sizes, as I’m pretty sure when it came to longneck Concerts we were second. I remember Kanile’a having one before us and I don’t remember anyone else making them then. Also if Kanile’a didn’t invent the term “longneck”, I think they deserve a lot of credit for popularizing it.
I’m also pretty sure when it came to longneck Tenors we were the first. The only caveat is that around that time William King was experimenting with incremental changes in scale and how they effected sound. He was making some Tenors with slightly longer scales than standard, sometimes fractions of an inch, but generally around 18”. If that would be considered “longneck” as opposed to the sort of variation in standard on Baritones, then I think he could have been first with Tenors.
We even made a few long-neck Baritones, but we called them Cuatros. And with us, that’s where the whole thing came from. After a decade of seeing smaller 4-string instruments in “longneck” proportions (check the photos below), then you almost start to look at Ukuleles as “shortnecks” and that leads to thinking about the differences.
There are valid reasons for both short & longnecks – as always, it comes down to what sort of sound and feel suits the individual player.
**********************
A final thought on Kanile'a. In those days no one thought of them as "Big K". They were very much a small shop - Joe, Kristen and maybe one part-time helper. It was not long after he got started on his own that I came back up from Central America. After buying, fixing up and selling a lot of vintage Ukuleles I started to get the feeling they just weren't as good a fit for me as some of those "longnecks" I had down south. At that point I saw this new company called Kanile'a and came
very close to buying one of their first longnecks for myself. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, and though Joe probably would have been happy to accomodate me in those days, in the end I started up an association with the Latin fellow who made our instruments for eight years until he retired.
But I think Kanile'a, being a small outfit in those days, was looking to get noticed. Those longnecks got them noticed, and Joe's success with them helped establish not only his enterprise, but helped establish those sorts of designs as well.
I do remember when down the road, Kamaka in particular, offered their first longneck for sale. Those who had been critical of the whole concept suddenly took another look.