• banjo
• cigarbox ukulele
• harp ukulele
• resonator

The range of a soprano ukulele with 12 frets in reentrant tuning ranges from C₄ to A₅ and thus corresponds exactly to the pitch of the human soprano. At linear tuning, the lowest tone is G₃), which is the same as the human alto. Larger instruments have up to 18 frets, reaching tones up to D₆), whereas baritone ukuleles are tuned a fourth or octave lower and are thus at the height of the human baritone (G₂–D₅).

Manuel Nunes, one of the first Ukulele builders, was long thought to also be its inventor, but the story is more complicated.

The ukulele is a curious hybrid of two Madeiran instruments — the machete and the rajão — and so the notion of invention has some legitimacy although 'adaptation' would perhaps be more accurate.³⁾

Nunes and his pals had taken the “My Dog Has Fleas„ sound of the G, C, E and A strings of the rajão, and put them on the body of the smaller braguinha. The braghuinha is the father of the ukulele and gave it its size, but the rajão is the mother that gave it it heart and voice.⁴⁾

The guitar is a „multicultural“ instrument, and its development towards the Ukulele is quite intricate. When in the early 18th c. the courtly culture of Hanover arrived in England (when Hanover became heirs to the English throne), they brought with them a particular kind of guitar (guittar) later known as English guitar.⁵⁾ In contrast to the Baroque guitar, it was played with steel strings and tuned rather simply (C²–E²–G²G²–C³C³–E³E³–G³G³). Therefore, it was commonly used for playing parallel thirds, and its lowest tone was C². British merchants brought the English guitar (which was also often played with the help of a capo) to Portugal and to Portuguese Madeira.⁶⁾ From there, the Madeiran guitars accompanied the Portuguese immigrants to South America and Hawaii, where finally the Ukulele was born.

Uku-lele (ú-ku-lé-le)–a flea; a sort of guitar introduced by the Portuguese.¹⁴⁾
The boys in a certain district school on Hawaii call the weekly head inspection „playing the ukulele“ in allusion to the literal interpretation of the name for the native banjo¹⁵⁾

In 1879 Mrs. Emerson, then a young woman, came from Europe to pay a visit to some English friends named Purvis, then living in Hawaii, or the Sandwich Islands. … At the time of Mrs. Emerson's arrival in 1879, the Portuguese were just beginning to come to the islands in fair numbers, and had brought with them three stringed musical instruments, of which the smallest was the model for the now famous ukulele. Those were the days of King Kalakaua, that jovial monarch who gathered around him all the wit and charm in his kingdom. The young army officer, Edward W. Purvis, aside from a natural charm of manner and much social experience, was a gifted musician with a genuine curiosity about, and love of, customs of the folk among whom he found himself. Not only was he a favourite at the king's court, but he became his chamberlain, and was much loved by the Hawaiians. Almost at once he manifested an interest in the quaint little stringed instrument which the Portuguese had, and which, probably because it was small, easily handled, and relatively inexpensive, was becoming popular with all classes. He soon became adept with it, and was always in demand among the Hawaiians to add his music to their fun. In fact, so devoted did he become to his little “guitar” that he was seldom seen without it under his arm.
He was slight and agile, in which respect he offered rather a contrast to the tall, heavy, slow-moving Hawaiians with whom he was so often in company. Humorously and affectionately they nick-named him uku-lele, literally „jumping flea,“ a name which stayed with him until his death and which, readily enough, became associated with his beloved little instrument in the minds of all his friends, and has perpetuated his memory.¹⁶⁾

Apparently fleas were introduced from European or American ships sometime before 1809, during the reign of Kamehameha I. [60]
Examination of the word 'uku and its combinations leads us to the conclusion that the word for flea, 'uku-lele, is of post-contact origin. (…) The word 'uku-lele, after it was fixed for reference to household fleas, was adopted as the name of the small 4-string guitar that became a popular musical instrument soon after arrival of Portuguese contract laborers in 1878. The usually accepted version of this adoption, as stated by Webster's dictionaries, is that the rapid movements of the fingers in playing the instrument resemble the leaping of fleas. However, Pukui and Elbert suggest the interesting alternative probability that the ukulele was named for Edward “'Uku-lele„ Purvis, a small, nimble entertainer who was greatly responsible for popularizing this instrument in Hawaii. [61]¹⁷⁾

• Elbert, Samuel H.; Knowlton, Edgar C.: „?Ukulele“. In: American Speech 1957 Bd. 32. H. 4, S. 307–310.

• King, John: Machetes And Rajoes And Taropatches, Oh, My! THE UKULELE AND ITS PREDECESSORS IN LATE-NINETEENTH CENTURY HAWAIIAN MUSIC