Soprano, concert or tenor?

callmemario

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 20, 2011
Messages
201
Reaction score
3
Location
Montréal, (Québec) Canada
Hey everyone,

WHAT ever happened to the "original" ukulele...The soprano's ukes that crossed the sea all the way to America from Portugal?

Now we're seeing all kinds of different sizes. Aren't we getting away here from "the real thing?..." (No offense to anyone who owns anything else BUT a Soprano). I guess I'm just troubled that we are not seeing more men and women playing a Soprano ukulele anymore.

WHAT do you think? :)

Cheers!

Mario
 
Tone is all about preference. For most people, the goal isn't to make a traditional ukulele sound, it's to make a sound that they enjoy. Some people enjoy the more guitar-like tone of a tenor, some prefer the plinky sound of a soprano. And a concert (my current favorite) is nice because it splits the difference.

In any case, the original ukulele is itself a non-traditional cavaquinho, so change and evolution of instruments is pretty much the norm.
 
I guess I am a traditionalist.....I love the sound and simplicity....of the soprano.. but I am satisfied with any uke to be honest..but prefer the old style..isn't that what's it all about...for me at least
that is...Happy Strummings....
 
Super-concert here. My first week was on a soprano. It seemed too small so when I bought one I got a concert. Then I upped it to a super-concert. It's all personal preference really.
 
I have at least one of each. As you can see from my sig I've found I prefer the soprano. Being a converted guitar player, I find myself figuring out fingerings on the tenor or concert where the spacings are a bit more comfortable then end up 'perfecting' it on the sopranos. For overall tone I found I like the soprano pineapple although I think my next uke may be a concert pineapple.
 
I'm a Soprano girl myself...all my Ukes are Soprano sized, concert etc feel too big for me, and I love the soprano size and the ones I have so I'm happy :D

Joey :music:
 
Agree it's preference especially dictated by what type of music you typically play. With that being said, I like the Low G string, which wouldn't be considered traditional either.
 
I don't think it's a "delicate issue." As has been pointed out, the uke was developed from another instrument. It is my understanding that taropatches may have been somewhere between the cavaquinhos and the soprano uke, so why have we "reduced" the strings to 4? Why on earth would we want to limit it to one size? The Model T Ford was a relatively small vehicle, our pioneers lived in relatively small cabins, some people are big, some people are little, etc. etc.
 
Tradition- it is what it is.
I would be interested to see just how many ukulele players play traditional Hawaiian music, and how many of the practitioners of that style actually play Soprano. Pretty sure Ohta San and Eddie Kamae have a pretty good idea of what traditional Hawaiian music ought to sound like, and most the pictures I have seen of Ohta are on tenor, Eddie on the step-child...the unwanted Ukulele, the Baritone (my favorite).
I guess the point here is that an instrument like the guitar goes back 3300 years. It has rules (though we tend to love those musicians who break them) and it has shapes that are long-standing conventions. Not that I am a fan of anything conventional- the Ukulele is only a little older than 100 years. While Soprano is the "original" shape, I think "the real thing" is still in a transit stage, waiting to be defined by great artists who play them. . Ukulele is simply not old enough to have a cut-in-stone tradition, as evidenced by all the amazing discoveries being made with new tone-woods as the price of Koa keeps going up, and good stuff becomes harder to find. I figure at 120 years- well, there is not so much tradition but excepted convention- there are people on this board who have roofs on the houses that are older than that I am sure.
Course, I love me a Soprano sometimes...but certainly no reason to shun the rest.
 
Hey Dave,
Actually Ohta san plays mainly sopranos...iit looks big because he's a small guy...have you ever seen a style 3 concert ot tenor..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FpLkguY_bg
As ukuleles evolve, sure people follow the trend, but a few keep the old tradition alive and going... simple cheap ukes is what they had in the past...an experienced player can make
the old sopranos sing... of course you can buy the newer ukes and it will be easier to sound good and play....
 
Super-concert here. My first week was on a soprano. It seemed too small so when I bought one I got a concert. Then I upped it to a super-concert. It's all personal preference really.
__________________________________________________________________
A "super concert?!..." WHAT is that?. You must mean a Tenor?
 
Why limit yourself to just one size? My Moore Better soprano is my best sounding ukulele, and my only one having a
soundport so i get to enjoy that tone all the "moore"! hehe The uke has gotten even better sounding the more i work
with it,....something to be said for the opening up process. Didn't take long,....about 200 hours play time perhaps.
The newer Aquila's (smoother finish) helped a bit too i suppose.

It's also the one that while my fingertips were firming up i went to the most. The shorter scale means less string tension (Aquila regular C set), so i could still practice while i was still a bit sore. It's also the most comfortable size to play sitting in my reclining chair, especially having a comfortable armrest. Still not willing to use it standing as it's
tough to play fingerstlyle solos and keep a firm grasp on the tiny "mermaid". (when i get a uke-leash that may change)

The one downside is that in the fingerstyle pieces i'm currently working on ("Crazy Ukulele Waltz" & "Angels We Have Heard On High"), have a few sections where the bars and fingerings are a bit tight. My fingers are thinner than what
appeared to be stubby little buggers on John King,....still amazed at some of his work on his usual soprano choice. (RIP John)

My Bluegrass Ukuleles all curly koa tenor (by Tom Guy), is the easiest to work tough fingerings with, sounds great and
has been mellowed out a bit by my addition of a ebony saddle to match the ebony nut the uke came with. I set
it up to my preferences of a bit more saddle height also, to extract the most volumn and remain buzz free with hard
strumming. Still super easy to play, but i'm really liking the "woody-ness" imparted by the ebony saddle.

The pieces are a little easier to finger on my Cordoba 25CK Concert, although not as tonally satisfying.
Anyway, i was looking for a tone upgrade on a concert sized ukeulele until a Moore Betta becomes available, so last
night i bought a Ron Saul koa/spruce Concert that had an exceptionally long 15-5/16 " scale. I should have it in 2 days,
and the scale is about 3/8 inch longer than my Cordoba 25CK uke that i already noticed an easier playability with.
(The Cordoba 25CK has a 14 7/8" scale) This is the longest "Concert" scale uke i have found, not counting the concert
sized bodies with a tenor neck.

Recently i decided to purchase a Ron Saul koa/spruce concert that has a 15 1/4 inch scale, which is about 3/8 inch
longer than the Cordoba 25CK model's 14 7/8 inch scale. This is about the longest concert scale i have seen used,
not counting a concert body with a tenor neck i've seen. One builder did have a 16" scale concert for sale awhile back,
but that is enough of an increase over the usual concert scale that i'd call it a short tenor really.

Not sure how long the link will last, but here's what's coming in 2 days: http://elderly.com//vintage/items/180U-1010.htm

All in all a lot of reasons to have more than one choice available,.....
 
Last edited:
I stand corrected- looking at all these pictures, you are right- he is either holding a Soprano or Concert in most. Watched that video a thousand times and had a style three sitting right here and never put that together...he is a very small person for sure.
Oh well- point remains. 120 years, no solid rules other than having a good time doing what your doing, and spreading a little Aloha if ya can.

Hey Dave,
Actually Ohta san plays mainly sopranos...iit looks big because he's a small guy...have you ever seen a style 3 concert ot tenor..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FpLkguY_bg
As ukuleles evolve, sure people follow the trend, but a few keep the old tradition alive and going... simple cheap ukes is what they had in the past...an experienced player can make
the old sopranos sing... of course you can buy the newer ukes and it will be easier to sound good and play....
 
I've been a soprano guy so far. First, second, third, ... , seventh ukes all sopranos. Love the size, the sound, the history, love sopranos!

A Moore Bettah tenor did stay at my house for a weekend recently; that's got me thinking about a tenor of my own someday. Maybe as a reward for getting to Hawaii for a visit?
 
Hey everyone,
WHAT ever happened to the "original" ukulele...The soprano's ukes that crossed the sea all the way to America from Portugal?
Aren't we getting away here from "the real thing?..." I guess I'm just troubled that we are not seeing more men and women playing a Soprano ukulele anymore...

That "original" ukulele was also called the "standard ukulele". I"ll have to agree with what a number of others have said - there's not much concern these days for the old standard.

Even Soprano players have largely dropped the original "standard tuning" for concert tuning. Once you do that, you're not too "original" anymore.
 
Last edited:
I'm rather new to the ukulele. I have a Kala and Fluke concert, and a Ohana Soprano. I prefer the soprano over the concerts. However, all sound great. There's just something about the sound that comes out of my Ohana that puts a smile on my face.
 
Soprano ukes are just too small for my massive hands. My concert is just the right mix between cutesy and playable. Although, I would love to try out some tenors as soon as possible.
 
Top Bottom