Kala KA-SLNG Long Neck Soprano

I'm a bit confused by the whole long-neck soprano idea.
What is the actual point of one?
Surely if you want a longer scale buy a concert or a tenor.
If you want more room on the neck, buy an ukulele with a wider neck.
What is the advantage of having a smaller body with a longer neck? It won't fit in a case properly and wouldn't it be quieter?
Please can somebody explain why manufacturers make these? Is it because people want something a bit different?
I'm not meaning to be obtuse, but it seems like a pointless idea to me.
 
As I have said earlier - the point of having a concert scale on a soprano body is for those people who prefer a concert scale, mainly for the extra frets, but the little bit of extra room on the fretboard is nice to have too, but want a soprano type of sound - it is the same with the tenor scale concert (long neck/ super concert), a preference for that scale whilst having the smaller body - there is also a tenor necked soprano for the same reason. :)

Personally, I find a soprano scale too cramped for me, & that is why I got rid of my sopranos, but kept my long necks. ;)
 
Some soprano cases are a bit longer, and will accomodate a long neck. 2 that I've had include a cheap $25 tweed case off ebay, and an Oahu sop case. Both took long neck sopranos just fine.
 
Maybe I should be asking why concert and tenor ukuleles have bigger bodies.

I’d say that’s a whole thread it itself and then some. What I’ve found is that the size of a Uke is but one of many factors that contribute to how loud it is and what the characteristics of its sound are.

You asked above what the point of a long neck Soprano was. Some people like the characteristic sound typically made by a (figure 8) Soprano body and also want the extra finger space they feel is afforded by a longer scale. I liked the compactness of a long neck Soprano, relative to a Concert Uke, and wanted to try a larger fingerboard. That combination worked quite well for my purposes and I think the SLNG is a step up from the basic KA-S - just one person’s opinion and experience. Tastes vary and hence manufacturers sell alternatives to suit. Hope that helps.
 
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No worries.

It keeps amazing me how 2 people can look at the same ukulele and have totally different opinions of them
I've seen many people on here singing the praises of this particular long-neck soprano, but Bazmaz is totally underwhelmed by it.
as you say, it's all down to personal opinion.
Thank you.
 
No worries.

It keeps amazing me how 2 people can look at the same ukulele and have totally different opinions of them
I've seen many people on here singing the praises of this particular long-neck soprano, but Bazmaz is totally underwhelmed by it.
as you say, it's all down to personal opinion.
Thank you.

I wasn't that underwhelmed to be fair - just a bit - it actually gets a reasonable score on most areas from me. What I didn't get is why they put a longer neck on it but didn't widen the nut. It's a bit lacking in character and sustain, but then it is, all things considered, a pretty entry level ukulele.
 
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Maybe I should be asking why concert and tenor ukuleles have bigger bodies.

Bigger bodies don't necessarily mean more volume, but they do give more resonance as the vibrating top is larger. So they can sound fuller in their range and can have more sustain. Again - the build comes into that a lot too as I have seen top end sopranos with more sustain than cheap badly made tenors. But generally - sopranos have a more staccato snappy sound, tenors are possibly richer and more resonant.

As for the point of the long neck sop - it's about the longer scale - more frets and more space, whilst still sounding like a soprano (that staccato snappy sound). It's part of why I didn't like this one as they bill it as having more space but it has the same string spacing as their regular entry level sopranos.
 
I take it that this uke is just a tad underwhelming....

I commented earlier in the thread and I wasn't overly complimentary, though I love my SLNG, just because I haven't played a lot of other soprano-body ukes to have a baseline for comparison, other than a KA-S I had when I first started playing. To me that KA-S was fine for strumming and chording in first position. Going higher up the fretboard it gets a bit cramped vertically for my hands, so the long-neck scale is a good solution to that problem. Mine was set up by Mim and I find it as easy to play as a regular concert. Not to mention the glossy finish looks a lot classier than its laminate Kala cousins.

I'm a bit confused by the whole long-neck soprano idea.
What is the actual point of one?
Surely if you want a longer scale buy a concert or a tenor.
If you want more room on the neck, buy an ukulele with a wider neck.

Good question, I wondered this myself before buying. I ended up buying it because: 1) as mentioned above I like at least concert scale for the vertical space between frets and 2) I already have a concert and a tenor and wanted to have all 3 body sizes for variety in sounds. I think the longneck soprano sounds closer to a soprano than a concert. A smaller body is also easy to take with you when traveling. There are sizes even smaller than a soprano now but I think longneck soprano is as small as it can comfortably get for my hands personally.

It won't fit in a case properly and wouldn't it be quieter?

Yes this particular uke is probably quieter than a typical concert (might be more because of the thicker laminate), though it is loud enough for my playing environments and is actually comparable in volume to my Pono concert (which is on the quiet side for a concert). I use a gig bag for this long-neck and it fits perfectly into the Chromacast soprano gig bag sold on Amazon at a very reasonable price.
 
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