Review: Baritone GCEA Guadalupe Custom Strings.

Check out these unique and excellent strings from Guadalupe Custom Strings.

They are so good i had to share my findings with you...

If you have a Baritone but do not use it much because of the alternate DGBE tuning, then you are in luck! Not only did I find a set of strings in the standard GCEA tuning that we are all used to, but they are EXCELLENT strings that sound a lot like the beautiful sound of the low strings on a classical guitar and are very affordable at $12 a set.

I love these so much that I have been playing my Baritone Uke this week more than I have played it in the 4 years since I bought it. Having been a classical guitarist for several years I Also love the feel and sound of these strings.

Not only do these strings give you the familiar GCEA tuning but they go 4 tones lower (G) than the standard DGBE baritone sound!!! Providing a rich low bass line register similar to a classical guitar to any ukulele arrangement.


So as it was a rainy day, and as I like to share what I find with the Ukulele community I have written a review and did a one take video demo of these wonderful strings. You can find the links to these and to Guadalupe Custom Strings below.


Written Review

Video Review

Guadalupe Custom Strings

Cool! Sounds very "spanish guitar like" only not as "complex" perhaps(?) - not really the word I'm looking for but hopefully you get what I'm saying - you hear the individual 4 notes more than with a 6 string.

What is the scale of your uke and how would you describe the tension - high, medium, or low?

I know exactly what you mean. I play classical guitar and it sounds a lot like that a rich deep full sound.

This was played on a standard Lanikai baritone which I think the cake is about 23"'

Tension again is like a classical guitar bass strings. A bit lower tension. But not floppy at all just deep and full. This makes the baritone a Uke I will certainly use a lot on recordings to complement and provide a low register line to any Uke arrangement.

Jim Hanks said:

Cool! Sounds very "spanish guitar like" only not as "complex" perhaps(?) - not really the word I'm looking for but hopefully you get what I'm saying - you hear the individual 4 notes more than with a 6 string.

What is the scale of your uke and how would you describe the tension - high, medium, or low?

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Thanks for the review Ivan, these strings sound similar in design to the John L Pearse - Thomastik Folk strings.
http://www.thomastik-infeld.com/family-detail/John Pearse folk

Interesting I use Thomasik strings on one of my violins. I could not find any strings on the limk you provided. But in any case I'm amazed at how much I like the Guadalupe strings

Camsuke said:

Thanks for the review Ivan, these strings sound similar in design to the John L Pearse - Thomastik Folk strings.
http://www.thomastik-infeld.com/family-detail/John Pearse folk

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Wow yes it sounds Spanish. Is their Tenor set also an octave lower? I am very interesting to try.

Thanks for the vid & review.

Thanks,

I think their tenor is the standard pitch but you should contact them, after all custom strings is their specialty...

I just read that one of the company's founders is from the group Los Lobos. No wonder fheir strings are so good...

If you like that sound you will find that there are a lot of inexpensive baritones ukuleles out there...

Hammond said:

Wow yes it sounds Spanish. Is their Tenor set also an octave lower? I am very interesting to try.

Thanks for the vid & review.

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Great video Ivan. Really enjoyed it and you play very well. Guadalupe is going into my mental database of things to try.

Also wanted to give a cheer for Los Lobos. David Hidalgo is the man. Like you say if they're involved with these strings, they must be good.

Thank you!

Yes I too filed th name away. I found about Guadalupe from a thread here from 2011!

So glad I tried them. Thanks to uu I found them so I wanted to pay it forward.

And yes the icing on the cake is the Los Lobos connection. I loved their stuff growing up and me being Colombian a lot of their music sounds like Colombian folk music some of which is loosely based on Mexican rancheras.

Next for me is to learn to play to play the pan flute. Talk about exploring my roots hehe

bonesoup said:

Great video Ivan. Really enjoyed it and you play very well. Guadalupe is going into my mental database of things to try.

Also wanted to give a cheer for Los Lobos. David Hidalgo is the man. Like you say if they're involved with these strings, they must be good.

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Olarte said:

there are a lot of inexpensive baritones ukuleles out there...

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Doh....... Ok now I am web surfing for baritone ukes

A quick search on Evilbay shows a few Lanikai Baris for less than $100. :shaka:

These are great strings, the tuning is especially good for ensemble play. I found they can sometimes fail when they are first installed, the nylon winding will come unraveled.
Once they are on, they last forever. I am a big fan of their Tenor sets as well. Wound nylon on nylon takes some getting used to, but sounds so nice.
Thanks for the video.
The tiny storefront is not always open. Last time I went there, there was a female mariachi band rehearsing. They gave me the strings I needed, but there was no-one to ring me up, so I mailed in a check with a note. Very family run!

Olarte said:

A quick search on Evilbay shows a few Lanikai Baris for less than $100. :shaka:

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Maybe they won't all be snapped-up before I can replenish my budget! I can't sneak another US$100 buy past the finance manager right away. Time to sell some stuff, alas.

The strings sound better than my current bari deserves. It's a cheap Chinese-made Harmonia I got a week ago, very thin and quiet -- and factory-equipped with mismatched strings! (Or well-matched -- top and bottom are both 25 gage and the middle two are both 33 gage. Ay yi yi. Some Martin flurocarbons will arive soon for it.) Thing is, it's *so* quiet that it's perfect for practicing late at night and not awakening the finance manager. So to get the most from Guadalupe strings, I'll need a bigger-voiced bari. Yeah, it's time to restart my eBay sales. Analog synths, tube-type shortwave receivers, and a whole bunch of camera lenses.