Anyone ever try a 12 fret+ soprano uke?

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Bao

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I recently received my pay from work and after seeing taisamlu's koa soprano with a slothead, I'm so tempted to buy one! The problem is that I'm an instrumentalist so being limited to the 12th fret is usually a hassle. FORTUNATELY, Taisamlu's soprano ukulele is built with 16 frets!

I mainly want it for the portability. It's really hard bringing my tenors on a busload of people all the time.

Has anyone ever tried a 16 fret soprano? and is it comfortable?
 
Soprano's with more than 12 frets are reasonably normal these days. They're still 12 fret to neck and traditional soprano's stop the frets there but lots of inexpensive soprano's have more frets actually. I've got a solid mahogany Alulu tenor with 16 frets. The notes ring clearly on the upper frets however I don't really play up there anyway. The frets are CLOSE together.

Anthony
 
If I played past the 12th fret my hands would collide :)
 
Playing past 12 on a soprano is done, not much, but it is done. The reasons to play higher on the fretboard on a guitar is the tone is higher, obviously, and on a soprano, you already have that between 1 and 12. The notes get short and muddy past 12, so it's difficult to play clear melodies. Intonation is always an issue as well. Past 12 and you probably shouldn't expect too much in regard to perfect pitch. Playing past that is better, in my experience, on a tenor or a nicely built concert.

Having said that, I prefer my sopranos with 17 frets.
 
I was going to suggest an Ohana SK-30L, a soprano with a tenor neck - but I'm guessing despite the soprano body, the longer neck may hamper your portability.
 
I don't really play past the 12th fret either (Apart from some Jake S tunes) so I think it'll be fine! But I figured that the extra frets do make for extra tones incase :D
 
I do play up there for fiddle tunes and I would not go less than 15. Another idea is a soprano with 14 frets to the body, these make them easier to reach. Kanilea does this, Koaloha will do it on request. However I have gotten used to 12 frets to the body.
 
fernandogardinali said:
My Kamaka pineapple has 15 frets, but I don't play that high
Click to expand...

Mine has 16, and I do :)

I play mainly soprano, and have two - the aforementioned Kamaka, and a custom with 19 frets - and I use them all. But I have little tiny hands, so - your mileage may vary.

Personally I don't understand the point of 12-fret ukes regardless of size - I tend to find myself going to the 14th and 15th frets pretty often.
 
A Lehua soprano is 12 to the body joint with four additional frets beyond. The Long neck soprano is three inches longer. It is 15 to the body joint and 1 four more over the body. The reason guitar and banjo players move up the neck is so normal sized fingers can cover more than two ,or stretching it,three down in Nashville Country (first 5 frets). Naturally every time you cut a string in half it goes up an octave, but the reason is not to play an octave higher but to be able to form the chords not within reach down where the frets are so wide. A long neck soprano still is small enough to go between one's knee and the wall on an airline trip. LNS is my favorite size.
 
A flea soprano has 14. The biggest challenge for me up high is getting a clean barre one the frets with my large fingers and the strings are high due to the proximity of the bridge, making slightly stiffer strings easier to play. I absolutely lose speed and precision. A concert neck certainly helps some if playing up there. Theres no reason a soprano shouldn't intone properly that high up, with slight on the fly adjustments.
 
I play a 15 fret soprano, but almost never play beyond the 12th fret; as other posters have stated, the notes don't ring or intonate very well. Having 17 or more frets would work better on a tenor rather than on a soprano-sized ukulele.
 
bnolsen said:
There's no reason a soprano shouldn't intone properly that high up, with slight on the fly adjustments.
Click to expand...

I have to second that - neither of my sopranos has any intonation issues that I am aware of, although I did once own a concert uke that had intonation issues higher up the neck. Had I kept the uke, a good luthier could have made some improvements, but I didn't want to be bothered.

The biggest problem I've encountered is sustain, rather than intonation - and that's pretty unavoidable but if you play the same uke regularly, you can kind of learn to make accommodations for this by figuring out which strings ring longest and adjusting your technique if necessary.
 
My Martin Style 3, My Gibson Uke 3, and my Kiwaya KTS-7 (which is modeled after a Martin Style 3) all have 19 frets. I can play chords up there, even with my big ol' bass player hands. I don't play up there OFTEN, mind you, but I can. Intonation isn't an issue with those three ukuleles, but the sustain can be (with chords, at least). It's very cool for choppy rhythmic things, and when you just hit a chord up there every now and then for a different voicing.
 
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