Soprano or Concert?

This will be my first ukulele, and I'm not sure which size to go with.
Actually it will be my second, but the one I have is a horribly cheap no brand, so it's more of a first half decent ukulele.

The kala concert mahogany looks to be my first choice, however a mahalo soprano has caught my attention mainly because it's electric, however when trying it out I couldn't help but notice the intonation is a little out on it, something the man at the store tried his best to rectify. Although there may some minor problems with the intonation, I'm still divided between this and the kala. Are there any cheap pickups that could be installed in the kala?

My main question here is which size? The cheap/nasty I have at the moment is a soprano. Might a kala soprano be more suitable as a beginner's instrument? Am I right in thinking that by "mahogany" it means solid wood?

Cheers

The Mahalo can be a decent uke for little money, but as you discovered, they are best bought by "ear". A friend of mine bought one of the "Les Paul" styled Mahalos by mail order, and the bridge was badly mis-placed. It was about half an inch out, which rendered it completely unplayable. Another friend has one, and it is quite satisfacory.

If it doesn't say "solid" you cannot assume it is. In fact it would be safe to assume that it IS'NT. However, one of my favourite ukes has laminated wood back and sides, and a solid spruce front. Laminated wooden ukes vary very widely. Some are good, some are not.

Concert size is a good starting point. It is only slightly bigger than a soprano, but many beginners find them easier to manage.

John Colter.

I would also say: Start with the concert sized
because you can do everything with the concert that you can do with a soprano.

If you start with the soprano (maybe 13 frets) you will see that you can't use a lot of different uke lessons on the web which are using also higher frets for their instrumentals/solo.

I've had a soprano for 46 years but when I started really playing 6 years ago I got a concert to start on. I think concert would be the best choice to start on. Now I play mostly the soprano mainly because it in hanging next to my chair in the living room. Doug

Are the frets spaced wider on a concert than they are on a soprano?

A lot of people seem talk about there being more frets on a concert, but there is not much discussion about the distance between frets.

Any thoughts about the sizes in terms of distance between frets?

spots said:

Are the frets spaced wider on a concert than they are on a soprano?

A lot of people seem talk about there being more frets on a concert, but there is not much discussion about the distance between frets.

Any thoughts about the sizes in terms of distance between frets?

Click to expand...

Yes, the frets on a concert uke are spaced wider, particularly up toward the headstock. For guys with clumsy hands and pudgy fingers (like me), it makes a concert neck much easier to play than a soprano.

I own soprano, concert, and tenor ukes, and I find the concert the most comfortable to play. The tenor (which is spaced even wider than the concert) comes in second, and the soprano last. But that's just me, and I do have clumsy hands.