Am I the only 6-string tenor picker around here?

SteveZ said:

Six strings are indeed fun. Just cut this sound sample (iPad Mini with Voice Recorder app) with the Lanikai LU-6 tuned cgGDaA: https://soundcloud.com/steveztv/lanikai-lu-6-one-particular

Click to expand...

Darn, now I'll have to post some sound samples. Not today, but the clip-on pickups should arrive soon. [/me grasps for excuses to procrastinate] And I'll wait till the neighbor has finished with her chainsaw. We don't need the noise pollution recorded for posterity.

But really, it'll be interesting to compare similar passages on my tenor-size 'uke-tuned axes: Alvarez 4-string 'uke (gCEA), Kala 6-string 'uke (g-cC-E-Aa), O.Schmidt 8-string 'uke (gG-cC-EE-AA), Martin 10-string tiple (gG-cCc-eEe-AA), and Virtuosa 12-string cuatro-menor (GGG-CCC-EEE-AAA or GgG-cCc-EEE-AAA). Well, I'd cheat a little with the Mexican Virtuosa -- it's actually concert-size, scale-wise. But its sound fits and will make a nice comparison. (If I can fix the intonation...)

At the risk of heresy: although a re-entrant 4-string 'uke smaller than a baritone sounds most like a 'uke, and the 6-string 'uke and 10-string tiple in standard tunings sound most unbalanced as solo instruments (fine for accompaniment or ensembles though), I really like the lush sounds of double- and triple-course axes. Double courses in octaves have bite. Double and triple courses in unison have shimmer. Triples with combined unisons and octaves... well, they're hard to keep in tune, but they sure sound authoritative!

I also picked up a Lanikai LU-6 the other day and I'm starting to suspect that I may be completely hooked on multi-course ukes. I tend to fingerpick a lot on standard ukes and have found that if use more of my fingertips my nails catch the strings a little better. I'm still working on refining this but I feel like I'm on the right track. Right nowt plucked Travis picking also seems to sound best to me (pluck the G & A simutaneously then 3-2-4-1).