The ukulele was born on 1879. It was an idea of 3 Portuguese luthiers immigrants to Hawaii. Augusto Dias, Jose do Espirito Santo e Manuel Nunes. They created the ukulele combining 2 Portuguese instruments, cavaquinho or braguinha di Madeira, e rajão.
It was the evolution of portoghese cavaquinho. Ukulele means "jumping flea" in hawaiian language, probably refers to the fast times which it is played.
Originally the first uke was the "soprano" model. Today we have other models with different size.
Sopranino: diapason 12" (30,6cm); length(50cm)
Soprano: diapason 13" (33cm); length21" (53cm)
Concert: diapason 15"(38cm); length23"(58cm)
Tenor: diapason 17" (43cm); length 26" (66cm), 1920.
Baritone: diapason 19" (48cm); length30" (76cm), 1940.
