A soprano ukulele is about thirteen and a half inches of string and, on most of them, twelve frets. The scale is the reason to want one — it is the original size, it is where the bright, boxy sound comes from, and it is the only ukulele that fits in a daypack. The fret count is the part nobody prints on the box, and it is what separates the sopranos below from one another far more than the wood does.
Kala KA-15S
All mahogany, a rosewood fingerboard, and the two parts that decide whether a cheap ukulele plays in tune — a Graph Tech NuBone nut and saddle rather than molded plastic, and Aquila strings from the factory. Kala’s own price list has held this model at the same figure for years while the rest of the line moved, and it is the soprano everything else on this page gets measured against.
The six on one screen
| Ukulele | Scale | Frets | Nut & saddle | Body | Price band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kala KA-15S | 13.625″ | 12 | Graph Tech NuBone | Layered mahogany, 7″ bout | ~$69 |
| Kala KA-SLNG long neck | 15.125″ | 18 | Graph Tech NuBone | Layered mahogany, 6 7/8″ bout | ~$119 |
| Kala KA-P pineapple | 13.5″ | 12 | Graph Tech NuBone | Layered mahogany, no waist | ~$89 |
| Córdoba 15SM | 13.5″ | 17 (12 to the body) | Composite | Layered mahogany, fan braced | ~$100 |
| Makala Dolphin | 13.625″ | 12 | Plastic | Wood top, composite body | ~$59 |
| Enya Nova U Mini | 21″ overall | Not published | Not published | Carbon fiber composite | ~$65 |
A soprano is thirteen and a half inches, and twelve frets
The scale is what you came for
Kala publishes a measurement block for every model, and read across the sizes it says something most buying advice gets backwards. The soprano’s fingerboard is 1.375″ wide at the nut. The concert’s is 1.39″. That is fifteen thousandths of an inch — less than the thickness of a business card — so the strings are not meaningfully closer together on a soprano. What changes is the distance between the frets: 13.625″ of scale against the concert’s 14.875″, so every fret sits about eight percent nearer its neighbor.
That matters because the two complaints people have about sopranos are different problems with different fixes. If your fingers land on two frets at once, that is the scale, and a wider nut will not help. If the strings feel crowded side to side, no ukulele size will fix it, because they are all within a sixteenth of an inch of each other until you reach a baritone. Our guide to choosing a ukulele covers the sizes in full; the short version is that soprano is a fretting-hand decision.
Twelve frets is the ceiling
Kala’s spec sheet gives the KA-15S twelve frets. The same field reads eighteen for the concert and eighteen for the tenor, so it is counting the whole fingerboard rather than the frets clear of the body, and the photograph agrees: the board stops flush where the neck meets the box, with nothing carried over the top toward the soundhole.
Twelve frets gets you exactly one octave above the open A string and no further. For strumming chords that is plenty, and it is why the size has survived a century without anyone minding. It becomes a real limit the moment you want to pick a melody line, play something written above the twelfth fret, or use a capo — clamp at the second fret and a twelve-fret soprano has ten left. Nothing on the instrument warns you, and the listings almost never state the number.
Two of the sopranos here answer that. Córdoba states both figures for the 15SM — twelve frets to the body, seventeen in total — which is the traditional arrangement, the fingerboard continuing over the soundboard on a raised extension. And Kala builds a size specifically for it.
The long neck is the way out
Kala’s catalog lists three separate soprano sizes, and the third one is the most useful instrument on this page. A Long Neck Soprano is a soprano body with a much longer neck on it, and the numbers show exactly what that buys. Body length: 9.5″ on the KA-15S, 9.5″ on the long neck. Lower bout: 7″ against 6 7/8″. Depth: within five hundredths of an inch. It is the same box.
The neck is not. Scale goes from 13.625″ to 15.125″ and the fret count from twelve to eighteen, which is a quarter-inch more scale than Kala’s own concert model, on a body an inch and three-quarters shorter and an inch and three-eighths narrower than that concert. If a soprano sounds right to you and feels cramped, this is the answer, and almost nobody knows the size exists.
The pineapple costs nothing extra
A pineapple ukulele is a soprano with the waist left out — an oval body instead of a figure eight. It is worth knowing that Kala’s measurement block for the pineapple has no waist row and no upper-bout row at all, because there is nothing to measure, and that its lower bout is 6 11/16″ against the figure-eight soprano’s 7″. The pineapple is not a bigger body. It is a fuller one with less cut away, which is where the rounder, slightly louder sound comes from.
It costs the same. Kala’s bound Satin Mahogany line lists the pineapple and its conventionally shaped sibling at the identical figure, so the shape is free and the twenty dollars over the KA-15S buys the cream binding around the edge. That is not nothing — binding protects the most vulnerable joint on a ukulele — but it is worth knowing that is what you are paying for.
The six worth buying
Kala KA-15S Satin Mahogany Soprano
- Layered mahogany top, back, sides and neck
- 13.625″ scale, 1 3/8″ at the nut
- Rosewood fingerboard, 12 frets
- Graph Tech NuBone nut and saddle
- Aquila Super Nylgut strings
- Satin finish, one strap button
- Around $69
The soprano to buy unless one of the others below describes you specifically. What makes it the default is not the mahogany — every ukulele in this price range is layered mahogany — but the nut and the saddle. Kala fits Graph Tech NuBone where nearly everything cheaper uses molded plastic, and those two small pieces are what a badly intonated ukulele usually needs replacing. Aquila strings from the factory are the other component owners of cheaper instruments end up buying anyway.
The reservation is the twelve frets, and it is the same reservation as most of this page. If you only ever want to strum chords you will never find the end of the fingerboard. If you have any intention of picking out tunes, read the long neck entry below before you buy this one.
- NuBone nut and saddle, not molded plastic
- Aquila strings fitted from new
- Layered wood, so humidity is a non-issue
- The cheapest instrument here from a maker that publishes a full spec sheet
- Twelve frets, and no fingerboard extension
- No binding at the edges — the $89 models in the same line have it
- Nothing in the box but the ukulele
- Satin finish marks more readily than gloss
Kala KA-SLNG Mahogany Long Neck Soprano
- Layered mahogany, gloss finish, cream binding
- 15.125″ scale — longer than Kala’s concert, on a soprano body
- Rosewood fingerboard, 18 frets
- Graph Tech NuBone nut and saddle
- Aquila Super Nylgut strings
- 22 3/4″ overall, 9 1/2″ body
- Around $119
The most interesting instrument on this page and the one hardly anyone considers, because the size barely appears in ukulele buying advice at all. Kala’s own measurements make the case better than any description: the body is the same length as the KA-15S to the tenth of an inch and the bout is an eighth narrower, so it sounds like a soprano and packs like one. The neck is not: an inch and a half more scale and six more frets, and at 15.125″ it is a quarter of an inch longer in the string than Kala’s own concert.
If you came to the soprano because you liked the sound and left because your fingers would not fit between the frets, this is what you were looking for. It is also the honest answer for anyone arriving from guitar. The gloss finish and cream binding are why it costs fifty dollars more than the KA-15S rather than the extra fretwire.
- More fret spacing than a concert, without a concert-sized body
- Eighteen frets against the usual twelve
- NuBone nut and saddle, Aquila strings
- Bound edges and a gloss finish at this price
- Nearly twice the price of the KA-15S
- Gloss shows fingerprints in a way satin does not
- Fewest ratings of anything here, because the size is obscure
- Takes concert strings, not soprano ones — measure the scale before you reorder
Kala KA-P Satin Mahogany Pineapple
- Layered mahogany, satin finish, cream binding
- 13.5″ scale, 1 3/8″ at the nut
- Rosewood fingerboard, 12 frets
- Graph Tech NuBone nut and saddle
- 6 11/16″ across the lower bout, no waist
- Around $89
Kala files this under its own size heading — Pineapple Soprano — and prices it identically to the conventionally shaped model from the same bound line, which settles the only real question about it. The oval shape is a free choice, not a novelty surcharge, and the twenty dollars over the KA-15S buys the cream binding that both of the $89 models carry.
What it actually does: with no waist cut out of the sides, more of the soundboard is free to move, and the result is rounder and a little louder than a figure-eight soprano of the same size. Whether that is better is a taste question. Whether it is different is not. It is also easier to hold against your body without a strap, which on an instrument this small is worth more than it sounds.
- Same price as the equivalent figure-eight model
- Rounder, fuller voice than a waisted soprano
- NuBone nut and saddle, cream binding
- Sits against the body more comfortably than a small figure eight
- Twelve frets, like the KA-15S
- Twenty dollars more than the KA-15S for binding you may not want
- Narrower lower bout than the figure-eight soprano, not wider
- The shape divides people, and you cannot try it first
Córdoba 15SM Soprano
- Layered mahogany top, back and sides
- 13 1/2″ scale, 1 3/8″ (35 mm) at the nut
- Pau ferro fingerboard, 17 frets, 12 to the body
- Composite nut and saddle
- Fan bracing, abalone rosette, cream binding
- Made in China, per Córdoba’s own spec sheet
- Around $100
The cheapest way onto a soprano fingerboard that does not stop at the body. Córdoba states the two fret figures separately — twelve clear of the box, seventeen altogether — so the board runs on over the soundboard on a raised extension in the traditional way, and the top five frets are there if you want them. Against the long neck it saves twenty dollars and keeps true soprano fret spacing, which is the right trade if the frets were never the problem.
The unflattering part is the nut and the saddle. Córdoba’s own spec sheet says composite for both, where the Kala thirty dollars cheaper says Graph Tech NuBone. Those are the parts that hold your intonation, and it is an odd place for the dearer instrument to save money. Worth adding that Córdoba records this model’s construction as layered, so the description of a mahogany top means a mahogany veneer, the same as everything else at this price.
- Seventeen frets, the most of any true soprano here
- Pau ferro board and an abalone rosette at the price
- Córdoba publishes a full spec sheet down to the bracing pattern
- Bound top and back
- Composite nut and saddle on a $100 instrument
- Layered, despite descriptions that read as solid mahogany
- Thirty dollars more than the Kala for worse hardware
- Nothing in the box
Kala Makala Dolphin Soprano
- Wood top over a composite body
- 13 5/8″ scale, 1 3/8″ at the nut
- Rosewood fingerboard, 12 frets
- Plastic nut and saddle
- Geared tuners, dolphin bridge, gig bag included
- Around $59
Kala’s budget label, and the line where the company draws its own boundary in writing: the Makala models get a plastic nut and saddle where the KA-15 line gets NuBone. Ten dollars separates them. That is the clearest statement anyone in this market makes about what the cheap end costs you, and it comes from the maker rather than from us.
Below this the sopranos stop being instruments, so treat the Dolphin as the floor rather than a bargain. It has geared tuners, which is the single thing that decides whether a beginner’s ukulele stays in tune, and the gig bag is included. It comes in a dozen colors, which is not a serious reason to buy one and is the reason most people do. Our guide to ukuleles for kids goes further into the choice at this end.
- Geared tuners at under sixty dollars
- Gig bag in the box
- Kala’s spec sheet, warranty and parts behind it
- Colors, which matter more than adults admit
- Plastic nut and saddle — the KA-15S is ten dollars away
- Composite back and sides
- Twelve frets
- Kala’s own records disagree about the top wood, so treat any claim about it carefully
Enya Nova U Mini
- Carbon fiber composite, one piece
- 21″ overall — soprano length
- 0.9 lb
- Case, strap, capo and spare strings included
- Nut and saddle material not published
- Around $65
Not a wooden ukulele and not pretending to be. The whole body is a carbon fiber composite, which means no seasonal cracking, no re-tuning after a temperature swing, and no reason to be careful with it. At under a pound it is the lightest thing here by a distance, and the case, strap, capo and spare set are in the box rather than on a separate receipt.
The trade is tone. A composite soprano is brighter and more even than a mahogany one and has less of the woody rattle that people like sopranos for in the first place, so if the sound is why you are here, buy the Kala. If the ukulele is going in a rucksack, on a boat, or somewhere with a radiator, this is the only sensible answer on the page. Enya publishes no nut or saddle material, which is the one specification worth knowing and the one they leave out.
- Genuinely weatherproof — no humidity or temperature care at all
- Under a pound
- Case, strap, capo and spare strings included
- Best-reviewed instrument on this page by a wide margin
- Brighter and less woody than mahogany
- Nut and saddle material unpublished
- Fret count unpublished
- Composite instruments hold their look but not their resale
The one thing to buy with it
Snark SN6X Clip-On Ukulele Tuner
A soprano is the ukulele most likely to be somebody’s only instrument, which means there is nothing else in the house to tune it against. It is also the size fitted with the lightest strings, and a new set of Aquilas stretches for a fortnight before it settles — expect to tune it several times a day at first and then hardly ever. The SN6X reads the vibration through the headstock rather than listening, so it works in a room with other people in it.
Around eighteen dollars, and the alternative is a phone app that needs silence and a free hand.
Questions worth settling first
Is a soprano the right size for an adult?
Usually, yes. The soprano is the original ukulele and most of the recorded ukulele music you have ever heard was played on one. The size is not a children’s version of anything. Where it genuinely does not work is for large hands playing chords high up the neck, and the fix for that is the long neck above rather than a concert. If you want the comparison in full, our beginner guide takes the sizes one at a time.
How is a soprano tuned?
G-C-E-A, with the G an octave up, so the strings do not run low to high — that re-entrant top string is where the sound comes from. There is one trap when you buy strings: a small number of soprano sets are still made for the old A-D-F♯-B tuning a tone higher, and D’Addario states it plainly on the packet for the ones that are. Fitted to a ukulele in standard tuning they sit slack and buzz. Our guide to ukulele strings covers which sets are which.
How much should a first soprano cost?
Between sixty and seventy dollars, and the reason is specific rather than general: that is the band in which Kala’s own spec sheets change from a plastic nut and saddle to Graph Tech NuBone. Below it you are buying an instrument whose intonation you will eventually pay someone to fix. Above about $120 a soprano stops getting better and starts getting prettier, unless what you are buying is the long neck, which is a different instrument rather than a nicer one. If your ceiling is lower, our cheap ukulele guide works out what the money buys under $75.
Pineapple or figure eight?
On price, it makes no difference — Kala charges the same for both in its bound line. On sound, the pineapple is rounder and slightly louder because there is no waist taken out of the soundboard. On playing, the pineapple sits against your ribs more securely, which on an instrument this light is a genuine advantage. Pick the one you would rather look at.
Does a new soprano need a setup?
Rarely, at these prices, and less often than the internet suggests. What a cheap ukulele actually needs is a decent nut and saddle, which is why they are the specification worth chasing — a properly cut NuBone saddle is most of what a setup would have bought you. If a soprano frets sharp everywhere above the fifth fret, that is the saddle, and on an instrument costing $60 it is usually cheaper to have bought the one with the better parts.
Which brand?
Kala, for one reason that has nothing to do with tone: they publish the whole spec sheet, including the nut material, the fret count and the body dimensions, for every model they build. Most of this page was written out of that document. Córdoba does the same and goes further on the fret count. Everyone else in this price range publishes marketing copy, and that is a real difference between a company you can hold to something and one you cannot. Our brand guide takes it further.
Where to land
Buy the Kala KA-15S at around $69 unless one thing on this page has already changed your mind. If your hands are large, or you can see yourself picking melodies rather than strumming chords, spend the extra on the long neck and get eighteen frets and more room between them than a concert, without a bigger box. If the ukulele is going to live in a bag rather than on a stand, take the Enya. And if what you want is the shape, the pineapple costs the same as the round one, which is the last thing most people expect.
Once you have one, our strumming guide is the next thing, and the concert and tenor comparison is there for when you decide you want a second.