Also your thoughts on size, Soprano vs. Concert or Tenor. Thanks, Jay
Glad you joined our group here, Jay.
The size question is a pretty challenging one, or at least was for me. Over the course of three and a half years, I tried out the main sizes (soprano, concert, tenor, baritone) and an in-between size (soprano with a concert neck), and honestly, I still have a hard time really clearly saying which of them I like the most. They feel like individual instruments.
I do believe that the soprano size is the most uke-y ukulele, the traditional size that has the traditional sound, and that you can use some of the most ukulele-typical ukulele techniques and styles on. The bigger sizes, especially tenor and baritone, go more in direction of the guitar. They are not like guitars, but they have more sustain and more fullness, and I find that many of the tenor performances on YouTube and in other places are basically "small guitar" performances.
I'm someone who had no prior experience with fretted instruments when I came to the ukulele, so for me I sometimes like the "small guitar" approach and I am in the process of buying a Kanile'a GL6, which is a koa guitarlele, a super tenor body with a broad neck and six strings. Like a small parlor guitar, basically. So, I'm not a traditionalist. The desire for the guitarlele was a result of sitting down and thinking about the different aspects I liked of my other ukuleles: the size of the baritone (easy to hold), the sparkle of the GCEA tuning, the deeper notes of the baritone, the bigger range of the low-G tuning, and the obvious choice was a big tenor/baritone-sized guitarlele (the six strings intimidate me a bit, but I'll sort it out).
Now, for the longest time I tried to find the ultimate size, the one size that would combine everything I want in one instrument. A concert seemed like a good compromise, but it was a little "neither here nor there" for me. Goldilocks, but I also wanted the big bed and the smallest bed, depending on mood. So I gave up on that and accepted that for the soprano sound, I'll need a soprano (I have two, one of them a 1920s vintage Washburn one, which only cost around three hundred), and I feel it's an essential instrument to have for me. The more guitar-sound-related needs are covered by the bigger sizes. I really only started to get on with the tenor size when I tried a low-G on it (instead of the re-entrant setup), and I only tried that in earnest after I liked my baritone so much.
Since you are a guitar player and you do have a koa guitar even, I think you already have an instrument that covers the sustain/deep/full sound department. A tenor would still sound and play differently, and you may well like it more than the guitar, but the soprano gives you a more distinct sound and experience. I don't really know if anyone can settle the size preference question without trying different sizes for an extended period of time, but a good start might be to sit down and ask yourself what you like about the soprano you have and what, if anything, you'd like to be different. Don't be swayed by what other people do or like. This forum here is definitely biased toward tenors, and it's the preferred size by modern performers, but there are also new and young soprano players of impressive talent, like
George Elmes here. Personally, I find the latter more impressive, and more iconic of the instrument, than a ukulele rendition of a well-known guitar song, but that's just me.