Well, this is a uke that has blown me away. It’s a brilliant little thing. While I am not a natural soprano player (I’m a big fella), every now and again a soprano comes along that makes me wish I was more suited to this scale length. It tends to be a ukulele like this one, a soprano which delivers a much bigger sound than you’d expect.

When I got this uke for the first time, a batch of 12 instruments had come in. These arrived at Southern Ukulele Store. (Although independent, we sometimes do this - my ‘Oli ukes came from them, their Millar ukes come from me, for example). We got down to business to divide up the shipment and I wanted to try a soprano. Although when I heard it was acacia, I wasn’t as enthused. I find that acacia can be a little muted and wondered if the small body coupled with this might be a little underpowered. Basically I didn’t have the highest of hopes. But I was wrong.

What you get here is the warmth of acacia, but the sparkle and zing of a quality x-braced soprano. Crucially the top is nice and thin so it resonates well, teasing every bit of volume out of the acacia - a fairly dense wood. This gives it ample volume, as well as that natural acacia depth and mellow undertones. The sound shimmers, it’s complex, it’s deep. I mean, it’s a ukulele and a soprano one at that, so we’re not talking about a double bass’s depth here! But still, there’s a remarkable fullness and lustre to the sound that has a couple of times meant I’ve checked the tuning, thinking I was down a tone or something. And there’s the sustain which is excellent too. It’s like they’ve built a ukulele that takes everything I like about acacia (the shimmering warmth and mellow lows) and removed the concerns I have about it (lack of volume and shortened sustain). The ‘Oli X2-SA soprano ukulele is a bit of magic!

Then of course, there’s how it looks! It’s another neat, polished and tidy build, for sure, but the main event is that wood. The acacia is absolutely gorgeous, with its grain rippling in waves, which somehow seems to suit the sound - which also comes in shimmering golden waves. (Phew… I know the fancy words are flowing, but honestly, this soprano uke inspires the poetic side!)

There’s attractive maple binding in place, around the body and binding the fingerboard as well. On the top, a delicate layer of black and green purfling complements this, a subtle but beautiful icing on the cake. A chef’s kiss. A cherry on top. And there’s more too, with an ebony soundhole rosette.

There are position markers in ebony on the side of the fretboard, a board that has a slight radius for added comfort when playing barre chords. And at the headstock, an ebony faceplate with an acacia inlay of the kalo plant, a plant with significance in Hawaiian culture and history. If you’re not up on your ancient Hawaiian mythology, fear not… you can just look at it and think, ‘that’s very pretty indeed!’. As the fingerboard meets the body there’s a shaped end, another curved, organic wave, and one which appears like an echo of the shape of the headstock. In short, it looks very, very good!

Of course it’s all very well sounding great (which it does), and looking amazing (another box ticked), but the ‘Oli X2-SA soprano ukulele also plays beautifully too. It’s nice and light - reflecting the thin tonewood used (as acacia is fairly dense) - nicely balanced, and good to play with that radiussed fretboard as well. The nut width is 36mm, which suits the size well. It is fitted with a set of ‘Oli Uke Logic fluorocarbon strings as well, which feel super-smooth and have been developed for these instruments, and a great job they do as well. And you can tune those strings up with Gotoh UPT rear facing geared tuners, which are fantastic in every way. Oh, and protect it in a very nice included hard case.

In the past I have had people try and work out some sort of code with my descriptions. If they’re long and effusive, I must love the ukulele. If they’re a little shorter, I am not so fussed. To be honest, sometimes I have more time. Sometimes it’s late and I am tired and the words don’t flow. So there’s no pattern really. However, in this case, I definitely have gone on and on as I think this instrument is excellent. One of the best soprano ukuleles I have played. And I’ve played a few!

At the bottom of the page you can find some optional extras that can be added to your order, like strap buttons. You’ll see cases there too but the case this one has is great, so don’t worry about that. To be honest, were you to own this ‘Oli X2-SA soprano ukulele, you’d probably not keep it in the case very much - you’d just want to play the thing!

If you click additional info below, there’s a video about this soprano uke. I made it when I got the first one in - a bit of a discussion about it and then some sound samples.