Let's Talk Ukulele: Size

The Body

With ukulele there are 4 main sizes of body to choose from.

Soprano, Concert, Tenor, & Bass.

Bass is usually in a different tuning E-A-D-G and the strings required can be nylon or wound metal, but most often polyurethane strings are used.

I had a bass ukulele and the strings felt like playing a rubber band. It would definitely take some getting used to. It has a great sound though and it's so cool how something so small could sound like a real bass.

There's also a baritone which is slightly smaller and a contrabass which is slightly larger.

The biggest difference in sound is that as you go larger, the sound should drop lower. So contrabass should be the lowest produced sound of ukulele. In fact, to hear the lowest note, you really need to amplify a contrabass to even hear it well.

I wouldn't recommend a bass ukulele unless you've tried it out first.

For the main 3: Soprano, Concert & Tenor. This is what I recommend starting out with.

All are generally tuned to the standard G-C-E-A. As mentioned before the biggest difference in size is a mix of what feels comfortable for you to hold and work your fingers up and down, as well as if you want the sound higher (stick with tiny size) or if you want it lower (go to tenor).

There are options to this as well, which I can address later.

Soprano is the smallest main body size. There are smaller sizes like the Sopranino, and the tiniest, Sopranissimo, also called a "pocket" ukulele. The difference between sizes is generally only 1"-2". Generally best for players with smaller hands and body size.

The Concert ukulele is the next size up from Soprano. It's pretty popular as the middle ground in size and sound. Upper tones without being too tin-ny sounding and lower tones without dropping too low. A healthy medium. Good all around.

The Tenor is the largest of the 3 and is often favored by stage performers and advanced to intermediate players because of it's ability to create a deeper, more complex sound. Better for those with bigger hands, like me.

The Neck

Now let's play around with what you just learned...

You could get a standard Concert body with a Concert neck. But what happens when you Frankenstein?

A Concert can have a Tenor neck. And that's called a Super Concert.

(Pineapple Sonny D Curly Mango Super Concert on sale now)

A Soprano can have a Concert neck, and it's called a Super Soprano.

(I'm looking at you Silver Series Ko'aloha...)

So you really can customize it how you like if you get it built from scratch.

I've yet to hear of anyone putting a smaller neck on a body - like a Tenor with a Soprano neck and I'm not sure why anyone would want to do that except for screwing around. With a longer neck on a small body you can get more sound with less tension.

This is ideal because more tension makes it harder to play. Beautiful and easier is the goal. Small body with just a tad bit more neck length gets that goal in reach.

I myself really love my Super Concerts.

If you'd like to get your hands on one, I've got a Super Concert for sale here.

Next time I could talk about strings, like which sets I prefer and how I tune my instruments.