I have a soprano, concert or tenor next?

I'm really looking for projection and volume. After a lot of research and help from folks here on the board I've come to the decision of the koa pili koko. It's gotten good reviews and is in a nice place price wise, especially since I'm a total noob. So back to the topic, do the concert and tenor have a huge difference in tone, and am I losing volume or projection going with a concert, and is a tenor just bordering on being a mini guitar. All info is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

I have not played a Koa Pili Koko, so I can't offer any advice on those topics. But I can tell you that I personally don't feel that a tenor is just bordering on being a mini guitar. Of course, everyone's got their opinions on it, but tenors are ukuleles.

They sound like ukuleles to me. Maybe not as ukulele-ish as a soprano, but they still sound like ukuleles.

Have you played a tenor, or will this be a blind purchase? If you've played a tenor before and liked the size, then I'd say forget what people say about tenors and play what you want.

If it's a blind purchase, then I just hope you like tenors as much as I and many others do.

I have not gotten to play a tenor, nor do I really have access to anywhere with any good selection. As I've stated before I don't have any real preconceived notions about ukes, I'm a yankee and a piano player, so I have some serious opinions about pianos, but I'm just in the uke thing for a fun time at the beach/campfire, so if you think a tenor would be good for this then I'm all for it.

Oh and thanks, as always, for the reply.

On the subject of volume and projection -

I played a KoAloha soprano that was just as loud, if not louder, than my Lanikai tenor. It really depends on the ukulele. Volume and projection depends on a lot of factors.

If you're strictly looking at the Koa Pili Koko, you can safely assume that the tenor size will be louder than the concert size of the exact same model.

Here's a review of a soprano Koa Pili Koko:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZs7SEIJGBc

And here's one of a tenor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GYZGv0WXVQ

Thanks a ton Seeso, those videos helped tremendously, the tenor is definitly still very much a ukulele, and the sound it has is really nice.

No problem, dude. Both of those reviewers pop in here at UU.

Julie runs the site UkuleleReview.

Rayan is one of the founders of this site.

You could thank them personally, if you'd like. I just did the linking.

I've personally found that sopranos and concerts have more projection (punch) than their tenor counterparts. I'm talking brand per brand here. I own a couple of KoAloha concerts (see avatar) and a KoAloha soprano. I owned a KoAloha tenor for a little over a year but sold it last fall because I was just playing my sopranos and concerts a lot more and my tenors were living in their cases (I sold a LoPrinzi tenor at the same time). The KoAloha tenor sounded very nice, but it just didn't have that punch that the smaller ones all have. I got bit by the tenor bug again though and bought the Kamaka tenor that was up for sale on this board a couple of weeks ago. It sounds and plays very nicely, but again it just doesn't have the punch that my little Kamaka soprano has. I have to say though, that my Kamaka soprano is the best sounding uke I own, and it's not even a years old yet.

That said, you'll probably just have to experience the sound of a tenor yourself to find out if it's for you. It has a "bigger" sound, yes, but not necessarily more projection, punch, or volume. That's been my experience, anyway.

Oh, and if you're in SE Michigan, how far are you from Elderly? I'm sure you could play a lot of ukes there to find the one for you.