Steel Strings for a soprano Bohemian Ukulele?

So I was given an electric oil can soprano scale ukulele for Christmas. It is made by Bohemian Guitar......and it just arrived this week. Its a cool looking instrument that I have been waiting to play for a long time. Of course as I am tuning it up for the first time.....the "A" string snaps . It came with nickel wound strings on it. Bohemian does not sell sets of ukulele strings (which would be nice) and I can't seem to find replacements anywhere. I have looked at guitar strings and mandolin, but can't find any the same gauge. Any ideas on what I can replace them with? Can I put on just a set of nylon strings? BOHO is very unresponsive with customer service so I am not holding my breath I will ever hear from them

Do you know the gauges? According to this, the A string is 24 gauge: ( 24, 32, 39, 28 )
https://www.bohemianguitars.com/honey-uke-pre-order

You can probably get a single string from a guitar shop. If not, you have to hunt for packs that have the gauge you want. For example, this set has a 24: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EB2223
Also has 32 for your E string.

This set has 28 and 38 which should be close enough for your G and C strings: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EB2220

And it's not an exact science. You can easily go up or down a bit if you want a little tighter/looser feel for a given string.

I would not bother looking for specific ukulele steel strings.. theyre just repackaged electric guitar strings.

DGBE strings from a .009 or .010 gauge electric guitar set tuned up to GCEA (low G) is about right on most steel string electric ukes (Risa, Vorson, Konablaster, Jupiter Creek, etc), soprano or tenor.

26, 17, 13, 10
Or
24, 16, 11, 9



I recommend replacing all the strings for sake of balance

The gauges listed on the website seems awfully thick and high tension...
24, 32, 39, 28 is insanely hard tension.. maybe its why the string snapped. Strings that thick are more suited to tuning re-entrant dgbe... it may be thick enough for even gcea an octave below ukulele tuning :-S

I have a Risa tenor, here are Risa's and D'Addario's recommndations:

heavy gauge (about 20 lbs tension):
high g - .014"
low-G = 0.030" wound
C = 0.023" wound or 0.020" plain
E = 0.016" plain
A = 0.012" plain

light gauge (about 15 lbs tension):
high g = .012
low-G = 0.026" wound
C = 0.017" plain
E = 0.014" plain
A = 0.010" plain

A 0.018" for C is is okay. You can buy a standard electric guitar string
set 0.010" and take the first four strings of this set.

With kind regards
RISA Musical Instruments

And D'Addario's Recommendations:

Unit Weight Scale Length Frequency Gauge Tension
(Lb/in) (in) (Hz) (in) (Lb)
.00001601 19.00 466.20 A# = PL0085 13.00
.00001794 19.00 440.00 A = PL009 12.98
.00003190 19.00 329.60 E = PL012 12.95
.00004984 19.00 261.60 C = PL015 12.75
.00009184 19.00 196.00 G = NW022 13.18
.00001999 17.00 466.20 A# = PL0095 13.00
.00002215 17.00 440.00 A = PL010 12.83
.00004037 17.00 329.60 E = PL0125 13.12
.00006402 17.00 261.60 C = PL017 13.11
.00010857 17.00 196.00 G = NW024 12.48

Or to simplify things.. DGBE strings from any electric guitar set, with the different gauge of the particular set applied to your preferences.

Using a DGBE string from a light gauge guitar set will give you light tension... DGBE from a heavy set will give you heavy tension on an ukulele, tuned up to GCEA... etc

With such a narrow set of guidelines, you need to struggle with buying individual strings. Why make things difficult? An electric uke is just a small electric guitar, and the DGBE gauge strings corresponds perfectly tuned up to GCEA on the ukulele's shorter scale

"I would not bother looking for specific ukulele steel strings.. theyre just repackaged electric guitar strings.

DGBE strings from a .009 or .010 gauge electric guitar set tuned up to GCEA (low G) is about right on most steel string electric ukes (Risa, Vorson, Konablaster, Jupiter Creek, etc), soprano or tenor.

26, 17, 13, 10
Or
24, 16, 11, 9



I recommend replacing all the strings for sake of balance

The gauges listed on the website seems awfully thick and high tension...
24, 32, 39, 28 is insanely hard tension.. maybe its why the string snapped. Strings that thick are more suited to tuning re-entrant dgbe... it may be thick enough for even gcea an octave below ukulele tuning :-S"
Last edited by kissing; Today at 03:36 AM.





Thanks for your reply and yes they are very high tension. In fact, I wrote to them and ask if I am correct tuning to the normal GCEA tuning because there is no give in the strings at all. I originally had it tuned and octave lower but was getting a lot of rattling and felt loose. So I tried tuning up...and snap. The company is on overload though so I don't expect to hear back. I do want to keep a high g tuning on this so I guess I will have to mix n match for now. Thanks so much for your help!

If you want to go re-entrant, you can use the similar or same string for the high-G as the A.

So something like:

10, 17, 13, 10

Should work.

I guess you can make the G a bit thicker like:

11, 17, 13, 10



ie: Use the -GBE strings to tune up to -CEA and get a high-G string separately (such as an 11).

I have the same concern. I bought a Bohenian just before Christmas a few years back, they were on sale as a promotion at the time. I just set it on the shelf, and never tried to play it, that is until yesterday. I tried to tune it, but the strings were just flopping around and wouldn't settle down. The A kept losing pitch, and I kept cranking it up. And, .... well you know, "Snap!" The lower strings weren't right either. They sounded like they were way too loose at pitch. I'm tempted to think that someone at Bohemian slapped the wrong strings on the instrument. I listened to a couple of youtube vids of the Bohemian Ukes being played, and mine never sounded anything like that. So, I'm needing a set of strings. Would someone who actually has a playable Bohemian chime in and tell us about the strings?

I'm late to this thread, but I had this problem when I got my Boho uke from the crowd funded campaign. At the time, I was able to get someone from Bohemian to talk to me and learned a little secret that shouldn't have been secret. They shipped the original Boho Ukes with heavier strings meant to be tuned an octave down!! They of course neglected to tell anyone that, or include the info in the packaging! At one point I restrung with lighter strings and tuned it up to normal uke pitch, I've since returned it to the original heavier string gauges. It has always been difficult to play, the tiniest movement of the tuners results in large changes of pitch. Even when it stays in tune for a few minutes, the intonation is awful. If anyone has any suggestions, tips, tricks to taming this little beast, I'd be grateful to hear them!

Here's a thread that includes the string gauges Bohemian gave me back when I got the instrument.

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?118307-NUD-Boho