Soprano or larger

dobrojay

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Hi folks, I'm kinda hooked badly on the Ukulele since my son picked up a little Kala a couple weeks ago. I've noticed talk on another forum and you tube videos are mostly about Tenor ukes. Are they more popular than the Soprano models? I have huge hands and long fingers and have taken a liking to the Soprano which is the only model I'm familiar with, having been an Arthur Godfrey and Roy Smeck fan in the past. Naturally, being a guitar player I started off looking at Pre War Gibson and Martin ukes. The three that I was interested in, a Martin 5 and 3 and a Gibson 3 are out of my price range today. These three are in superb condition. I have a Koa Steel Guitar that happens to be my favorite due to the tone and looks, so I stated looking at new ukes. I kinda' like the Kala Koa that lists for $1599 and was wondering what your thoughts might be. Also your thoughts on size, Soprano vs. Concert or Tenor. Thanks, Jay
 
Lots of soprano players here. One of our members has a nice soprano group on Facebook, too.
 
Welcome to the disease, Jay! ;-)

Not sure where you live, but if you have a music store that stocks ukes, I'd say go try all that you can. Another option would be to check out a uke group and see if others will let you try their ukes.

It's sort of hard to know what size will work for you until you've tried them. From my personal experience, I've bounced all over the place. I now have and enjoy the full range of soprano to baritone. I felt soprano was a little small for my liking, but whenever I don't have one, my "Add to cart" finger gets twitchy and I end up re-buying one.

Also, besides the scale, the other factors that affect comfort include body size (even within a certain scale, some ukes have larger or smaller bodies), neck width (most being 1 3/8 but some being 1 1/2) and neck profile. For example, the Larrivee soprano is a slightly large body, slightly longer scale than a traditional soprano. At at $8xx, it's an amazing buy in my mind (I have owned one and loved it).

Re; Kala, I was a bit skeptical of the high end Kala's when they launched them. But based on the video samples and photos, I have been impressed with those that have come through Hawaii Music Supply. In that price range, you've have a lot of amazing ukes from which to choose.

Lastly, if you're uncertain about size, tonewoods, etc. and if you like to experience different ukes, you might consider spending less money initially, and buying used. You could even buy two used ones for less than that in total. I did this when I first started and rotated through a lot of instruments to experience as many as I could (I maybe am a bit extreme as I've now cycled through more than 40, but it has been fun). If you buy well, you will be able to re-sell without losing your shorts. If you buy a $1,500 instrument new and determine it's not the right one for you, you'd likely lose $500 or so selling it as used. Ukes above about $1,000 generally sell more slowly than those below.

Have fun and let us know what you decide!
 
Anything larger than a soprano is cheating . I would suggest checking nut widths . One reason I like Martins is the nut width , that extra space makes a big difference for me. Good thing to keep in mind if you think you have big hands. In my opinion Martin SO's are undervalued , it's one of my favorite Martins
and they seem to be going for around $200 nowadays. I think a reason some people get turned off from sopranos is that the nut is too narrow which most Asian ukes seem to be for me.
 
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Hi folks, I'm kinda hooked badly on the Ukulele since my son picked up a little Kala a couple weeks ago. I've noticed talk on another forum and you tube videos are mostly about Tenor ukes. Are they more popular than the Soprano models? I have huge hands and long fingers and have taken a liking to the Soprano which is the only model I'm familiar with, having been an Arthur Godfrey and Roy Smeck fan in the past. Naturally, being a guitar player I started off looking at Pre War Gibson and Martin ukes. The three that I was interested in, a Martin 5 and 3 and a Gibson 3 are out of my price range today. These three are in superb condition. I have a Koa Steel Guitar that happens to be my favorite due to the tone and looks, so I stated looking at new ukes. I kinda' like the Kala Koa that lists for $1599 and was wondering what your thoughts might be. Also your thoughts on size, Soprano vs. Concert or Tenor. Thanks, Jay

Have experimented with all sizes and have one (or more) of each. They all have their uses and purposes, ranging from suitcase travelers to jammers. I find myself spending the most time with the tenors, mainly because I like the deeper, richer sound.

There's a lot of good makes out there, and the Ukulele Reviews sub-forum has many critiques on it. It's a great starting place for acquisition research.
 
This is just my personal opinion.
I have all 3 sizes (no baritone and I think I won't go for a baritone... well.. never say never) .
I love soprano but my hands are too big and I have some trouble in "fit there" sometimes. But with practice, I am going there. Soprano are cute, great for travelling, with a lovely sound and a really LOW string tension that helps.
Tenor are loud (generical speaking then dipends from "solid/laminate", build, strings and so) and nice, but the string tension is quite high compared with smaller sizes so fretting is more difficult (at least in the beginning). But if you are a guitarist you should have no problem.
Soprano sound and Tenor sound are quite different. Tenor sound is more "guitar" than "traditional ukulele" (at least in my opinion).
Concert is middle-earth, a good solution. Louder than soprano, more space, but with a sound that is more similar to soprano than tenor.
In my opinion (and with my hands) you have to have an idea how much you want to go "down" with the frets. FOR ME soprano are like unplayable past 8th frets and concert past 11th frets more or less, but I think with exercise one can overcome this.

Personally I love tenors (I love LOUD ukes) and concerts, the first more than the latter, but close. I like also Soprano sound, but my hands are too big and clumsy . I only use soprano when travelling with family or when tired on couch and just want to have some relax.
But it is a personal taste. You should try all three sizes and see what fits better to your tastes.

About Kala, for that price honestly I would go for a 3-k (Koaloha, Kanile'a or Kamaka).
Kala is fine (I personally like the travel line of Kala a lot), but for that price range I think hawaian brands are better.
 
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In the US and Canada tenor ukuleles seem to dominate, in Europe it's still sopranos.

The matter of big hands and therefore sopranos being too small, is raised a lot and in my humble opinion silly. A mandolin scale is as big as a soprano (and has a narrower fretboard), I've seen superb soprano players with sausage fingers, and some even play those sopranino, sopranissimo and nano sized contraptions. It's a matter of practice. Remember, there are brain surgeons and watchmakers with very big hands.

There is a difference in sound, however.

As someone in favor of older instruments, do look at some cheaper models. The difference between a Gibson uke-1 and uke-3 is mostly ornamental and a matter of rarity, but takes it from $300-400 to $1400-1600. Prewar Martin 0s are still affordable to mere mortals, and there are some other brand worth considering (LeDomino, Favilla, Kumalae, Kamaka...).
 
I'm in the try as many as you can camp. As an old guitar player, I started with a Cordoba baritone, which I like. But, as people have said, I soon wanted another. My second uke is a Mainland tenor. The baritone was used; the tenor was in the $200 range. While my guitars were higher-end, I'm really content with the ukes I have to start out with. Will I get more? Maybe a concert and/or soprano later down the line. And I might want higher end ukes in the future. I do know that I'll take the opportunity now to try whatever different ukes I can get my hands on, so when I decide to expand or replace I'll know a lot about what I want.

For now, I just want to get to know the ones I have well and learn to play as well as I can.
 
all sorts of folks with assorted size hands and fingers play all sizes of uke. Used to be a video floating around of a tiny 5 year old Asian girl playing a Jumbo guitar. Also videos of guys with huge hands playing sopranino's. Try all the sizes. I prefer concert size, but still feel my Kamaka soprano is my most playable uke and also feel comfortable playing tenors (after a little "warm up". Uke clubs are great places to start if there are no local music stores with a selection of different size ukes.
 
In the US and Canada tenor ukuleles seem to dominate, in Europe it's still sopranos.

Really ? That's interesting. People I saw/know in Italy played almost exclusively Tenor or Concert (Concert is a lot popular among women, Tenor by man... god knows why), with only a small part sopranoists. But I don't know so many people so I have not the possibility to create a relevant statistic.
 
One of the business oriented papers, maybe WSJ(not sure) had an article on the ukulele "re-craze" a year or two ago. They concluded that concert size was the biggest seller in the US. If I remember correctly, they ascertained this from sales figures from large manufacturers and big music box stores. However, in the high end market, it was fairly evenly split between tenor and concert. I would say that around here , UU, tenor would be the leader.
Everyone seems to gravitate toward what gives them the best results and comfort. This you won't know until you try. I think that Eddie's suggestion to try with "used" first makes sense, in that you can try out two or three sizes. Also, mrStones makes a good point with one of the major Hawaiian K brands over a Kala at your budget.
Oh, and by the way, concert size is my concentration, after much experimentation.
 
I have large hands 10 1/2" thumb to little finger tips. I prefer a soprano just because it's sound says ukulele to me. When I want another sound I'll go with a Baritone or hopefully with practice a Bass. I'm a vintage Martin fan (UAS) I'm not a fan of the newer Martins. Not lively enough. The market for vintage has not returned, nor will it soon to the high prices before the Chinese invasion.
I say go with a 30s Martin, any style unless you want an extended fret board, then your limited to 3s and 5s, in good playing condition. The width of the Martin fretboard allows all but the fattest of fingers to easily play it.
Lastly have fun.
 
I like Soprano and Concert. Any larger than that to me just doesn't sound "Uke". I find that I play the Concert the most.
 
Thanks so much for the replies, I should have realized there was as much about Ukuleles on the internet as vintage Martins, Gibsons and Dobros. At my stage in the game of life the Martins and Gibson mentioned in my opening post are out of the question. I am now looking at the "K" models mentioned and find them more appealing than the top of the line Kala. At my stage in the "game of life", every day is a blessing, 'ceptin' I gotta have a top of the line Soprano uke before too many days go by. Thanks agin' folks. I'll let you know what I decide upon, with your blessings, I hope. Jay
 
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.
 
...I am now looking at the "K" models mentioned and find them more appealing than the top of the line Kala...

A lot of folks have a soft spot for the K models. But don't write off the USA Elite Series Kala's too quickly; they are handcrafted in California for a small team of skilled luthiers.

This Spruce/Rosewood tenor looks and sounds fantastic to me: http://www.theukulelesite.com/shop-...a-custom-tenor-4custom-t-spruce-rosewood.html . Also, some of other ones listed on HMS have an additional video showing a tour of the shop.
 
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