Your favorite Ukulele size -- Autumn 2016 edition

Your favorite Ukulele size?

  • Sopranissimo

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Soprano

    Votes: 28 21.1%
  • Concert

    Votes: 42 31.6%
  • Tenor

    Votes: 46 34.6%
  • Baritone

    Votes: 8 6.0%
  • Longneck/Super Soprano

    Votes: 4 3.0%
  • Longneck/Super Concert

    Votes: 4 3.0%
  • Longneck/Super Tenor

    Votes: 1 0.8%

  • Total voters
    133
  • Poll closed .

Mivo

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 25, 2013
Messages
2,526
Reaction score
72
Location
Germany
We haven't done this in a while, so I'm curious what the current forum audience's preferred ukulele sizes are. :) I included the major hybrid sizes also. If you like several, please pick the one that you enjoy playing the most.
 
Would you consider something like the Ohta San, (and others with a 16" scale length - Ono has one, too, right?), to be a separate category?
 
It really buggers me that the tenor size is the most popular. I can't figure it out. I play my concert uke 90% of the time, then 10% on my Romero Tiny Tenor, which is no bigger than a concert size. Most of my friends play a concert uke.
 
Would you consider something like the Ohta San, (and others with a 16" scale length - Ono has one, too, right?), to be a separate category?

I didn't want to split up the poll too much (could also put 19" and 20.5" baritones in their own categories). I'd say that a 16" concert might be best counted as a longneck concert. (I can't edit the poll.)
 
After playing guitar for almost 50 years, my first uke was a mail order soprano because it looked like my Fender Telecaster electric guitar and I knew nothing about uke sizes. When I tried to play it, I could hardly make the chords. So I looked at the internet and learned about sizes, dropped by my local Sam Ash, tried out each size and immediately knew tenor was for me. Since then every uke I've owned (18 in 3 1/2 years, down to 6 now) is/has been a tenor cutaway. (Nickie, why should someone else's choice have anything to do with your choice, to each their own.)
 
I am also similar to kohanmike. I have played guitar for about 8 years and transitioning to ukulele, the tenor size accommodated my hands the best. I have a Kala concert and I can certainly play it fine, but for me the tenor size feels best. :)
 
Interesting. Every time this thread comes up (and I'm sure I made one) the tenor always wins.

I played and still do from time to time a dreadnaught acoustic guitar. Sits in its case most of the time. When I do take it out it seems laughably big.

However a concert ukulele is my size choice. I did spend a year with a tenor but still prefer concert.
 
I cannot answer the poll, since I now often rotate a uke of each scale length except soprano (or smaller, too small for my hands, causes cramps) and several different guitars, about every other day. Been doing this for about 6 months now.
 
Likewise, I can't really give an accurate answer, because my latest aquisitions are tenor necked concert & soprano, which are getting equal amounts of play, whilst my concert necked soprano is still my go to 'pickup' for experimenting with new material. :)

If we go by type of scale length, then I would say tenor is my most played presently, (so I voted tenor, as in scale length). ;)

EDIT: I expect men mainly tenor, & the ladies mostly concert - we shall see. :D
 
Last edited:
Tenor for me all the way....followed closely by the baritone. It is a combination of a deeper fuller sound and playability of the longer fret spacing.
 
Anything larger than a soprano is cheating.
 
Tenor is the most obvious choice for me too, but I voted for Baritone as I find myself gravitating towards instruments that are somewhere in between Ukulele and Guitar. I really like my Pono Baritone Nui as well as their Steel String Uku Li'i (UL4), and I'm craving for a high quality Guitalele.
 
I favored tenors after I became serious about playing uke, but after buying a few, I find I'm playing my first ukulele, a concert, almost all of the time. So now I have 3 tenors feeling very sad.
 
This is kinda like asking people to vote on which of their children they prefer.
 
It really buggers me that soprano is at all a popular size, given its limitations and the overly scrunchy hand positions, but to each his own tassels.

I think some of these limitations can be overcome with practice (skill) and the right instrument. Quality differences between sopranos can be huge. George Elmes and WS64 (not to mention John King or Roy Smeck) show what can be done on a soprano. Then again, when I watch videos like this one, I realize that you neither need an expensive instrument nor play up the neck to make the most beautiful music. In most amateur/hobbyist videos I see, tenor players don't go beyond 7 or 9 frets, either.

Soprano size is the original ukulele size, so why wouldn't it be at least somewhat popular? I prefer the bell-like sound of the small size, and the challenge of playing it well. I do like my tenor(s) also, but whenever I watch videos of excellent players, the soprano performances impress me more.
 
Last edited:
I favor my tenor but mostly because it's a lot nicer uke.
I still play my concert but it's not a very great sounding uke - I need to upgrade that one sometime.
I voted tenor but, it's a close call.

I have just never felt comfortable on a soprano but I have nothing against it. I just never play my soprano because it feels too small for my big hands.
I play just for fun so, I play what is the most fun for me.
 
I started with a tenor, but now play concerts. I find them much easier for the 5-fret stretches required in some arrangements by John King and Daniel Ho. Some of the John King classical arrangements go to the 12th fret and beyond. I don't have hands the size of hams, so I don't find the fretboard to be particularly confining.

KoAloha concerts also have a wider than average nut.
 
Soprano for me. It is where my muscle memory takes me. I have to think when I play my tenors or concert.
 
Well, because I HAD TO PICK JUST ONE (grrrrr....), I voted for tenor. Tenor is what my heart tells me I would want if all other sizes of ukulele were to disappear from the planet. I own all except super soprano and super tenor, and love them all for different reasons. I've toyed with the idea of going exclusively tenor and I can't.

So don't make me! LOL
 
Top Bottom