Find The Right Ukulele Size For You!
In this video, Joe Souza walks us through the different sizes of 'ukulele available to you from Kanile'a 'Ukulele.
Learn from the Master Luthier himself as he guides you through our selection. We have Soprano, Super Soprano, Concert, Tenor, Super Tenor, Super Tenor 19”, Baritone, and Guitarlele.
Transcripts:
hello mai kakou joe souza here right at the kanilea sound studio wanting to share with you a lot about what we do as kanileo ukulele now we always talk about why we do what we do and what we do but in this case this is really the nuts and bolts of ukulele and the different sizes that we build and the different tone that comes from the different size of ukulele and more importantly the right tone for you for whatever you're looking for whatever mood you are as a player and getting that right ukulele just for you so really where it all started for the ukulele was in the soprano size now the soprano ukulele would resemble the closest to its ancestor which of course is the bragenya or what the portuguese had introduced to the hawaiians that ultimately became the ukulele now in this case the soprano hawaiian isles beautiful premium soprano ukulele actually has that classic ukulele sound so if that's the sound you're looking for and you come home from a long day's work and you're looking for that classic uplifting sound that the ukulele provides really the soprano fits it perfectly so let's take a listen [Music] and you can hear how that bright tone would just lift your day and one of the beautiful things that we found with not just the soprano but all the canile ukuleles is that they look beautiful but even more importantly they feel beautiful so in this case we got our uv silk neck which comes on every one of our instruments and it just feels so nice when you play it it's perfect for any playing that you have so the next instrument we're going to take a look at is actually one of our hybrid instruments and in this case we've got that classic soprano sound but we've combined it with a little longer neck or what we call a super soprano and that longer scale one adds more string tension which of course equates to tone also it adds a little bit more ease of playability so as you go to play as either a young adult or even a child it's a lot easier for you to play the instrument because the frets are a little bigger so here we'll take a listen to the super soprano [Music] oh and listen to that sustain unbelievable and that's one of the benefits that you have of playing the super soprano now the bracing on the inside of the instrument is the same but in this case the scale length is a little bit longer so it just helps you with playability and tone the next size that we're going to take a look at is our concert now the concert was really based off of what's called a tarot patch fiddle or something that hawaiians had created to be a little bit different than the traditional soprano well today that evolved into our modern day concert size ukulele now the body is a little bigger than the soprano the scale length in this case is a concert scale length so for playability i think it's the perfect size for a young adult or even for myself i played a concert right into adulthood the tone of the concert is so unique so let's hear a sound [Music] beautiful sustain here too so this is one of our kpa concerts and the tone of the concert is so unique it's very special next i'm going to share a little bit about our super concert now again we got that traditional concert body but we went ahead and put on a little longer scale length in this case it's a tenor scale length and many would say that the tenor scale length is the most comfortable for an adult player's hand in this case this is a custom super concert which the tone of the instrument changes because of the longer scale length so that traditional concert sound right into a tenor scale and in fact here's a little fyi the first ukulele that i've ever built was a super concert or what today we call a super concert and what i was really looking for was that classic concert sound with a tenor scale so let's take a listen [Music] here we go [Music] wow beautiful sound so the super concert really kind of started to carve our way not just as a builder but really as an industry to show that this hybrid way of building with a concert body and tenor scale is actually something that is super special and it gives a unique tone to each of our instruments next we're going to step into the tenor now the tenor of course today is arguably the modern day standard and what makes the tenor so special of course is the size of the body and the size of the scale length so of course it's a bigger body bigger scale which in turn gives more string energy here to the bridge and then of course creates the tone now the tenor of course in this case our k110 or deluxe is really our benchmark ukulele that we build because it has a beautiful tone beautiful looks and of course is competitively priced so when we get to hear the sound of this instrument oh my goodness now i'm starting to feel at home as a modern day player with a tenor [Music] nice beautiful bright tone classic tenor sound but just amazing tone now we're going to step into what we call a super tenor now in this case we actually did something really unique with our super tenor we created a body shape that was a little bigger than the traditional tenor and by creating that bigger body of course what are we getting bigger sound and that's what really we're looking for is something with a little bit more robust sound something that's a little bit more rich and more warm in tone so with this this is a d-shaped super tenor and the first thing you'll notice is that lower bout here is wider yeah and that is for tone one of the unique components about the d shape also is in the bracing system it's based off of our 2020 platinum which in turn allowed us to get a little bit more sound out of the instrument so let's take a listen oh wow now i'm really feeling at home d-shaped tenor [Music] oh my goodness now that is some amazing sounding super tenor next we did something again as like a hybrid we got that super tenor body but we added a longer scale and really in this case the 19 inch super tenor it's kind of going into a place that nobody had ever really gone at least in the ukulele world which was creating a little longer scale of course our super tender body and combining that to create what we call a super tenor 19 19-inch now of course this is an example of one of our uncle willie k models which is a five-string super tenor 19-inch but it's also available as a four-string too the tone of this instrument to me second to none really oh man let's take a listen to this [Music] [Music] wow it's like a choir singing so this of course is a super tenor 19 inch scale next we're going to step into the baritone and really the baritone is the biggest of the ukulele family and what makes the baritone so unique besides its size and its scale length is now the tuning is different right so now the tuning is more like the four first courses on a guitar or d g b e now in this case this is one of our classic baritone k1s baritone body baritone scale length which is a 20 inch scale length and what's so unique about our baritone and what so many people tell us is when they first play one of our baritones the tone the sound of our baritone is so amazing so i'm going to play the same strum and the same chords but in this case we're not in the key of c we're actually in the key of g and i'm going to do the vamp so here we go [Music] amazing beautiful tone very warm very rich and in fact you know for all you ukulele club members if you have your baritone and you come to the ukulele club and you're sharing music baritone just kind of creates its own tone within the sea of ukuleles and that's why i love the baritone i love playing a baritone from a player's point of view it makes you think a little bit as far as your chords and your progressions but ultimately the tone that you're able to create and really how to feel the music is just amazing now last but not least is what we call a guitar lele or gl6 now here we're really stepping into a whole nother realm and the reason why is it's six strings with six individual courses i can explain if you look at this instrument and you see all these strings you think is it a guitar well in actuality it's a guitar lele so it's tuned a to a or like a guitar capable at the fifth fret so for you ukulele players out there this is still c yeah if you're a guitar player you might hold the shape a little differently like this [Music] and that's c just like your ukulele this of course is g7 so it's really more like an ukulele but with two extra strings so for a guitar player perfect now they can play their guitar chord sheet they can have the portability of the ukulele and take it everywhere that they want to go but still have the tone and the playability that they're looking for as far as a guitar player now for myself i'm not a guitar player but when i do play the guitar lele i end up just playing ukulele chords and i have so much fun because it has so much tone so you can play it and you can enjoy it and really bring the portability of the ukulele to somebody who's very familiar with the guitar [Music] so in review what we've just seen is all of the different size ukulele and all of the different tones really that each of those ukulele have and basically it's based off of the scale length and the length of the body so each kanile ukulele of course has an inch and a half string spacing at the nut now when we look at the scale length we're looking at from the nut to the saddle and then when we're looking at the body length we're looking from the neck and the body to what's called the tail block or the length of our body so when we see our soprano which of course is our predecessor to the ukulele from the portuguese made bragenya that traditional ukulele sound is a 13 inch scale with a 10 inch body when we look at the super soprano now we have a 10 inch body with a 15 inch scale or a little longer neck and each of those frets are actually getting bigger as we start to move up on the scale length now we look at the concert and in this case we have an 11 inch body with a 15 inch scale length and as we step into the super concert we have that 11 inch body but with a tenor or 17 inch scale length now that tenor scale length is the real popular one for us today as far as playability we're going to step into the tenor size ukulele in this case is a 12 inch body with a 17 inch scale classic tenor scale now when we see our super tenor it has that wider lower bout but it's also a 12 inch body with a 17 inch scale tenor now the super 10 or 19 inch is where we start to look at a longer scale length the body of course has that wider lower about 12 inch in length but the total length in the scale is 19 inches which makes those frets really really wide and a lot easier to play especially somebody who's coming over from the guitar world now as we look at the baritone the baritone is really in in a league of its own as far as tone tuning and size so in this case the tuning is dgbe the body length is 14 inches the scale length is 20 inches and that thing is a really big scale length which plays perfect for our guitar lele or gl6 now we have that super tenor body 12 inch body in length wider lower about but it has a 20 inch scale or that really long neck which in turn allows for the gl6 to have the sound of its own also the nut spacing on the gl6 is two inches because it's got two extra strings so all of these wonderful ukuleles and all of the tone that you can get from these wonderful ukuleles can all be yours all you have to do is pick one up and play that's the main thing from a builder's point of view is that you play and you enjoy your ukulele i welcome you to come and visit us right here at our kanilya showroom and of course our canelia sound studio or if you have time come by the factory do the factory tour get insight to how we build these wonderful playable masterpieces and if you're ever in town don't hesitate reach out you have any questions drop us an email visit us on our website we actually look forward to seeing you again so thank you again for coming and spending time with us we appreciate you stay safe and aloha .
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