Millar make excellent long neck sopranos, and this one, the CP-210L, in an all solid cypress model that continues they’re extremely varied line of instruments in this format. With a soprano body, for that traditional and lively sound, but paired with a concert neck, for those who feel more comfortable with a bit of a longer scale.

It’s the sort of thing that you think ‘why?’, until you play one and even if the answer doesn’t come immediately, then you’re too busy enjoying playing a lovely instrument to worry about the question anyway! The Millar CP-210L is vibrant, loud, bright, zesty and yet, with the Worth Brown strings and all solid cypress body, there’s just enough softness at the edge of the sound to balance out in a lovely way.

Cypress is to the Taiwanese, what oak is to England and redwood is to the US… I don’t know if such a thing as a ‘national wood’ exists, but if it does, this would be it. These models are handmade in the small Millar family workshop and they take such pride in their work, and it shows.

The uke itself is fairly plain, with only the cypress grain adding some flair - and actually, in places it looks like countours on a map, which I like (I am a map nerd). The fingerboard and bridge are rosewood and rear facing geared tuners are fitted. These are Der Jung models that look like friction pegs but work with gears - a bit of a best of both worlds option.

Millar’s long neck soprano ukes have their standard 35mm nut with a nicely shaped satin finish neck, which has a slightly flattened portion where the neck and headstock meet, which forms a nice anchor point for your thumb. It’s nice to play as a result - and while that little flattened section isn’t essential (after all, I don’t know of anything else with one, and I can play everything else fine too), it does show some thought has gone into it.

For common extras and accessories, like strap buttons and low G fitting, scroll to the bottom of the page. As this is a long neck, the shape is a little awkward, so if you add a gig bag it’ll be a concert bag that it has to go into.

For a video demo of the Millar CP-210L in action, click additional info below.