Free for everyone
Every size and style from the 1880s Hawaiian original to today's electrics, what each one sounds like, which woods and strings matter, how to look after it — and where to find one near you.
Type your town or postcode (or let the browser fill it in) and we'll open the search for you. Any buying, meeting and paying is between you and the seller — we're just pointing the way.
Pictures are illustrations of each shape, not photos of a particular brand. Prices are typical new street prices in US dollars and move around with brand, wood and where you buy. The shop buttons on each card open a search for that exact type — we don't sell instruments and earn nothing from them.
Novelty size, popular since the 1990s · scale ~11 in / 28 cm · gCEA, sometimes a step higher
Tiny, chirpy, very quiet with almost no sustain.
Best for: Travel and children's hands. Frets are cramped for adults.
Typically $30 – $120 new
Where to buy one
The original Hawaiian size, 1880s onward · scale 13 in / 33 cm · gCEA (high G)
That classic bright plinky voice everybody pictures.
Best for: Traditional Hawaiian music, singalongs, anyone wanting the authentic sound.
Typically $50 – $400 (fine koa $700+) new
Where to buy one
Introduced in the 1920s boom · scale 15 in / 38 cm · gCEA or GCEA (low G)
A bit louder and fuller than soprano, still unmistakably a uke.
Best for: Most beginners — roomier frets without losing the character.
Typically $70 – $500 new
Where to buy one
1920s, now the pro standard · scale 17 in / 43 cm · gCEA or low-G GCEA
Warm, loud, long sustain. Handles single-note playing beautifully.
Best for: Fingerstyle, performing, players with bigger hands.
Typically $120 – $900 (handmade $1,500+) new
Where to buy one
Late 1940s · scale 19 in / 48 cm · DGBE — a guitar's top four strings
Mellow and guitar-like, almost a small acoustic.
Best for: Guitarists crossing over, and singers who want a lower register.
Typically $130 – $700 new
Where to buy one
2009 onward · scale 20–21 in / 51–53 cm · EADG, bass pitches
Thick rubbery upright-bass thump from polyurethane strings.
Best for: Uke groups needing a bottom end without hauling a double bass.
Typically $250 – $700 new
Where to buy one
1917–1930s vaudeville, George Formby's instrument · scale Soprano or concert · gCEA
Loud, cutting, percussive — a banjo head with uke strings.
Best for: Cutting through a band acoustically, old-time and music-hall styles.
Typically $150 – $600 (vintage $800+) new
Where to buy one
1920s–30s, revived today · scale Concert or tenor · gCEA
Metallic bark with real projection; excellent for slide.
Best for: Blues, slide playing, busking.
Typically $200 – $650 new
Where to buy one
Kamaka, 1928 · scale Usually soprano · gCEA
Rounder and warmer than a figure-eight body of the same size.
Best for: Players who want a softer, boxier tone — and a great-looking instrument.
Typically $60 – $450 new
Where to buy one
Modern · scale Concert to tenor · gCEA
Whatever your amp says — clean, driven, effected.
Best for: Bands, silent practice with headphones, effects experiments.
Typically $180 – $800 new
Where to buy one
Modern standard · scale Any size · gCEA / DGBE
Its own acoustic voice with a pickup for the PA.
Best for: Gigging without a microphone in front of you.
Typically $150 – $900 new
Where to buy one
Traditional Hawaiian variants · scale Tenor mostly · gCEA with doubled or octave courses
Shimmering and chorus-like from the paired strings.
Best for: Big strummed rhythm parts and Hawaiian ensemble playing.
Typically $250 – $1,200 new
Where to buy one
Portuguese immigrants from Madeira arrived in Hawaii in 1879 carrying the machete and the cavaquinho. Hawaiian makers — Manuel Nunes, Augusto Dias and José do Espírito Santo — adapted them into the ukulele, and King Kalākaua put it at the centre of court music.
The 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco introduced it to the mainland, and the 1920s made it a craze: Martin built superb mahogany and koa instruments, and every parlour had one. Vaudeville added the loud banjo uke.
A second boom came with television in the 1950s — Arthur Godfrey and cheap plastic Maccaferri ukuleles put millions into circulation. Interest faded through the rock era, then returned in the 1990s and 2000s with Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's medley of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Jake Shimabukuro's virtuoso playing, and Hawaii's own K-brands: Kamaka, KoAloha, Kanile'a and Ko'olau.
Solid wood beats laminate for tone and improves with age; laminate wins on price and durability. Geared tuners hold pitch better than friction pegs, and a well-cut nut matters more than the badge on the headstock.