Here I was, wandering around on eBay looking at sopranino ukes as I was curious about them. The prices tho, were out of my budget- smaller than a soprano uke and much higher in price.....when my wandering eye caught a listing for an Ohana O'Nina model in green. I won that baby for opening bid of $49 plus shipping. Which included the gig bag made for this specific uke. (or should I say uke-ette?) When it arrived, it was tuned to GCEA tuning, and I have to say it sounded a little dull. Did some research and found they have their own set of strings and are often tuned A D F# B. (the most popular tuning in the first wave of uke popularity) I restrung my O' Nina with a set of Aquila set 95U which is made for mini ukes. What a difference! The uke suddenly had a beautiful tone and amazing volume for such a small instrument.
First thing I noticed is I had to get used to a smaller fretboard as I was hitting the 4th fret instead of the third, that sort of thing.
I've been seeing videos where people are playing these tiny ukes and I gotta say as far as portability goes, it doesn't get better than this! Only challenge is re learning to play in D tuning, which I haven't messed with in many years. I thought it rather synchronistic that I post this on March 17th as most folks are into the "wearing of the green" today. (personally, I celebrate St Gertrude, the patron Saint of cats, as this is her feast day!)