Budget ukuleles for big-handed beginners

Hi there. I was wondering anyone could identify any budget Concert or Tenor-scale ukuleles with a 1.5"+ width nut?

I'm struggling for room on my Makala Waterman. I know there's a school of thought that says, "Get on with it. Some of the best players in the world are big-fingered and handle Sopranos fine." - Consider me already well chided on that front. I just want to enjoy learning a bit more.

[EDIT: Thanks @ukingViking - I've finished the sentence below that got cut off]

Is there anything worthwhile that is available in the UK for under 80 pounds?

EDIT 2 - Just to post the frontrunner from the thread (subject to updates)

Currently the Flight NUC200 Concert which is available at GBP40

Since your post got cut off, I assume you had a pound-sign in there. This forum doesnt cope well with pound or euro signs.
Anyway, I suggest that you contact Southern Ukulele Store and/or World of Ukes and ask what they offer. They are both UK based ukulele shops with good reputation, and I believe they would suggest some ukes for you.

UkingViking said:

Since your post got cut off, I assume you had a pound-sign in there. This forum doesnt cope well with pound or euro signs.
Anyway, I suggest that you contact Southern Ukulele Store and/or World of Ukes and ask what they offer. They are both UK based ukulele shops with good reputation, and I believe they would suggest some ukes for you.

Click to expand...

Thanks UkingViking. I don't really want to take up their time because I've already benefited a lot from SUS's excellent videos, and World of Ukes seem amazing for their kindness in response to Covid, and I'm worried I'll be a bit of a tyre-kicker. They have lovely ukuleles but they're beyond my price range at the moment. I'd rather buy cheap online, and have no qualms about returning a poor product.

The Baton Rouge V2-SW Sun Soprano they both stock is definitely on my radar, for if/when my playing improves and I can justify a larger outlay but I'm after a Concert ideally, or a Tenor.

I don't think that you will find wider nut widths in the lower ranges, even some that claim a 1.5 nut width have the strings with the same spacing as regular nut widths.

My suggestion would be to get a Makala Tenor, it's what I started out on, going through soprano, concert, then long neck soprano, in that order, & the long neck soprano became a favourite with me.

After several years, I ended up with tenor scale, but mainly with smaller than normal bodies, of which my best is a KoAloha solid acacia tenor neck/concert body - but I still regularly(?) pick up my concert neck/soprano body ukes when just trying something out.

I have fairly large fingers, but got used to playing the regular nut width; you will too.

Croaky Keith said:

I don't think that you will find wider nut widths in the lower ranges, even some that claim a 1.5 nut width have the strings with the same spacing as regular nut widths.

My suggestion would be to get a Makala Tenor, it's what I started out on, going through soprano, concert, then long neck soprano, in that order, & the long neck soprano became a favourite with me.

After several years, I ended up with tenor scale, but mainly with smaller than normal bodies, of which my best is a KoAloha solid acacia tenor neck/concert body - but I still regularly(?) pick up my concert neck/soprano body ukes when just trying something out.

I have fairly large fingers, but got used to playing the regular nut width; you will too.

Click to expand...

Thanks Keith. The Makala Tenor seems like a very good suggestion - I see that it has a slightly wider, 1.4375" (36.5mm) nut width, and can be got for around GBP60-65.

[EDIT: I see, also, that the Makala Concert has the same nut width and is similar money to (/ a few quid less than) the Tenor, so that might actually be my preference currently]

I appreciate what you're saying about getting used to the narrow width, and I'm sure you're right. I just want to know about wider neck options at the mo.

At that price point you’ll struggle to find much that’s worth having. I think that Mahalo do something but IIRC the particular models are best avoided - I’m not a Uke snob and have an old Mahalo U30 Soprano that I love.

I played a Makala Concert for a while (my second Uke) and was very pleased with it. IIRC I didn’t replaced the nut on that one but have made new nuts from bone blanks for a few Ukes, when I make a nut I space the string slots wider apart and that’s really helped me.

Baton Rouge (spelling?) do a couple of wider neck Ukes and they are borderline on the OP’s budget. After that Islanders are wide necks but approaching double the OP’s budget. I have an as new Concert Islander that I keep meaning to post on eBay, they’re good but I mostly play Soprano.

An elderly friend of mine has a well set-up Aria Concert gathering dust (she prefers Soprano) and that had wider (than normal) spaced strings, in normal times I’d put it on eBay for her but we’ve not met since March ‘20. It would have been a good starter for the OP.

There’s a few alternatives around, perhaps a second hand Makala Concert might turn up somewhere. If you have a good span on your hand then consider a Tenor too.

Posting on here can prove difficult. Always copy your text to the clipboard before posting.

I have a HanoHano long neck soprano that has a super wide fretboard and is very easy to play. Picked it up for $80 in a music store and it even sounds great. They share office with Leolani brand that also makes a long neck soprano and may be easier to find.

Graham Greenbag said:

At that price point you’ll struggle to find much that’s worth having. I think that Mahalo do something but IIRC the particular models are best avoided - I’m not a Uke snob and have an old Mahalo U30 Soprano that I love.

I played a Makala Concert for a while (my second Uke) and was very pleased with it. IIRC I didn’t replaced the nut on that one but have made new nuts from bone blanks for a few Ukes, when I make a nut I space the string slots wider apart and that’s really helped me.

Baton Rouge (spelling?) do a couple of wider neck Ukes and they are borderline on the OP’s budget. After that Islanders are wide necks but approaching double the OP’s budget. I have an as new Concert Islander that I keep meaning to post on eBay, they’re good but I mostly play Soprano.

An elderly friend of mine has a well set-up Aria Concert gathering dust (she prefers Soprano) and that had wider (than normal) spaced strings, in normal times I’d put it on eBay for her but we’ve not met since March ‘20. It would have been a good starter for the OP.

There’s a few alternatives around, perhaps a second hand Makala Concert might turn up somewhere. If you have a good span on your hand then consider a Tenor too.

Posting on here can prove difficult. Always copy your text to the clipboard before posting.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for such a detailed reply, Graham. Even though you warned me I still managed to fall foul of the Forum posting curse! Hey ho. Let's try that a second time...

I actually considered quoting a post of yours about the Mahalo I think you're talking about - in this thread here:-

https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?117190-Mahalo-2500-Kahiko-Soprano-REVIEW

I came away from Barry's review with the same impression that you initially had - that with a string change, the Kahiko might be a decent little budget option. That was appealing because they do a Mahalo MK1PWTBR M1 Kahiko Plus Wide Neck Soprano which is available for GBP20 making it a really wallet-friendly option.

The posts between you and Barry put me off that idea!

I think I may have found a good alternative though...

merlin666 said:

I have a HanoHano long neck soprano that has a super wide fretboard and is very easy to play. Picked it up for $80 in a music store and it even sounds great. They share office with Leolani brand that also makes a long neck soprano and may be easier to find.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot Merlin. They look nice, but (as I think you may have suspected in giving me an alternative company name to search for) I can't see either companies' ukuleles available in the UK.

Ukecaster said:

Kanilea Islander

Click to expand...

Beuatiful but beyond my budget at this moment in time, unfortunately!

I think I've found a good option though...

Flight's "Natural Series" NUT310 Tenor has a nut width of 38mm. I just took delivery of a Flight NUC310 Concert (which came up in a very good deal and which I bought with a view to giving to our children to practice on. Now it's arrived, it's far too nice to let them abuse!) It seems really well made and (to my subjective eye) is really nice to look at. The Tenor is reduced in a local shop - currently GBP65 - and that seems to meet all my criteria...

EDIT: I've just found that quite a lot of Flight's models have 38mm wide nuts, including their Natural Series NUC200 Concert which can be had for GBP40.

The 200 range is a bit more basic than the 310 range - it is made from laminated teak (as opposed to laminated sapele on the 310), the bridge and fretboard are Nandu (as opposed to walnut) and the nut and saddle are PPS (as opposed to bone) but in terms of hitting the brief the NUC200 looks like it ticks all the boxes and has to be the frontrunner.

If you are just playing by yourself, then maybe try a capo on , say, the 3rd fret? That'll increase the string-to-string distance while not decrease the fret-to-fret distance too much.

... Double post

clear said:

If you are just playing by yourself, then maybe try a capo on , say, the 3rd fret? That'll increase the string-to-string distance while not decrease the fret-to-fret distance too much.

Click to expand...

Oh wow, that's an awesome tip. Thanks a lot.

(And, yes - I'm just playing alone. Nobody need be subjected to my efforts just yet.)

Just about any Enya tenor will do the trick. I have an Enya MAD tenor that's got a 38mm nut width and is about 30mm G-to-A.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned an Islander. I don't know UK prices, but you surely can get one used for that amount.

I think that the Islander ukes have a relatively wide nut/fretboard and they are relatively low priced.

Your experience on the soprano echoes my first impression when my wife got her soprano. My starter uke is a tenor, and on the soprano hard chords changed to impossible chords and I said forget this thing (well, I'm paraphrasing but it is a public forum). Then I had a thought, hmmmm, maybe the soprano would be like "training camp." Sure enough, I found that if I could hit a clean D chord on the soprano then it seemed really easier on the tenor. Now I like to practice on the soprano as I think it helps my overall technique -- I can't be as sloppy on it as I can be on the tenor.

The Baton Rouge wide nut soprano seems is available in the UK for 79 pounds, and was well-reviewed. It is just about in your budget.

MikeSRC said:

Just about any Enya tenor will do the trick. I have an Enya MAD tenor that's got a 38mm nut width and is about 30mm G-to-A.

Click to expand...

Thanks Mike. The Enyas seem to start at around GBP130 which is beyond me currently. They do look good though.

scarver said:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned an Islander. I don't know UK prices, but you surely can get one used for that amount.

Click to expand...

Thanks Scarver. A few of the others have suggested the Islander. Looking on eBay they rarely seem to come up and go for between GBP180—200 second hand, which is more than double the upper end of my budget.

tm3 said:

I think that the Islander ukes have a relatively wide nut/fretboard and they are relatively low priced.

Your experience on the soprano echoes my first impression when my wife got her soprano. My starter uke is a tenor, and on the soprano hard chords changed to impossible chords and I said forget this thing (well, I'm paraphrasing but it is a public forum). Then I had a thought, hmmmm, maybe the soprano would be like "training camp." Sure enough, I found that if I could hit a clean D chord on the soprano then it seemed really easier on the tenor. Now I like to practice on the soprano as I think it helps my overall technique -- I can't be as sloppy on it as I can be on the tenor.

Click to expand...

That makes sense, thanks. I've never learned any instrument before, and I just fancy being able to get a tune out of something!

dr_mitch said:

The Baton Rouge wide nut soprano seems is available in the UK for 79 pounds, and was well-reviewed. It is just about in your budget.

Click to expand...

I've had that on my radar. It looks very nice, but it's at the top end of my budget, and I'd prefer a Concert or a Tenor scale ukulele if possible.

Recent Lanikai ukuleles have a 37.4mm nut width (1.47 inches). Prices start at about $90 in the USA. I don't know what availability and pricing is like in the UK.

I own a Flight TUSL ukulele that cost me about US$55. Nut width is advertised at 36.6mm (1.44 inches). UK price should be less than GBP45.

man0a said:

Recent Lanikai ukuleles have a 37.4mm nut width (1.47 inches). Prices start at about $90 in the USA. I don't know what availability and pricing is like in the UK.

I own a Flight TUSL ukulele that cost me about US$55. Nut width is advertised at 36.6mm (1.44 inches). UK price should be less than GBP45.

Click to expand...

Thanks Man0a. Lanikai look lovely but they're about 50% more in the UK it seems (not sure if that's just shipping costs, or connected with our recent vote to inflict trade sanctions on ourselves)

All the Flight Travel Series seem to have that 36.6mm nut width so that's a good call. In terms of a larger scale the TUSL concert-scale sopranos and the TUC concerts all fit the bill and it looks like they start from around GBP40.

I really like the look of the mango wood version.

My suggestion for someone with wide finger tip pads is to look first at an islander. An mc4 or mt4. Don't go for the super wide nut, I tried one of those ukes I forget that has a stupid wide nut (oscar schmidt ou6w) and it felt terrible.

Nothing I'm aware of. TBH I would not trust the neck width measurements on any cheap ukes on a big website. Someone will put a different number into the CNC router one day and they will all be different.

You say you're a beginner - have you ever played a uke which has a really wide nut? What is your reasoning behind wanting one?

I've been buying and playing ukes for years and I can honestly say I never thought about nut width or heard anyone much talking about nut width until about 18 months ago. There were some ukes I liked playing, and some I didn't.

The two ukes I played last (which I know because they are both out of their cases in front of me) are a Stuart Longridge soprano and an Argapa sopranino. Out of curiosity I measured them; the Argapa is 35mm and the Longridge is 38mm. I can tell the difference between them but I don't think one is better than the other. They're just different.

It's disrespectful of me to say it is all in your head, but here is a video of Ian Emerson playing a Tiny Tangi.



Ian has really big hands. An extreme example, of course, but I think it goes to show you just adapt your technique for different instruments.

Saying that, a Waterman is not necessarily a good choice of uke. I have played a couple of those and some are definitely an impediment to progress. Still, don't get hung up on spending a lot of money on a collection of mediocre instruments. Get one really good instrument (you can buy a good instrument for not much money if you're careful), and stick with that until you find another one you like.

If you live near Derby and want to try playing a selection of my ukuleles with varying nut widths, you are welcome to come to my house and try a couple. They range from very cheap to very high end. I suspect you would change your mind about what you wanted afterwards.