Pono UL-4 Goes Nylon

Doc_J said:

Thanks Dave. Great direct comparison.

Your UL4 sounded good in either nylon or steel strings, but I definitely prefer the steel strings on it.

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Ditto!

Thanks again for doing this!

Ukulele Eddie said:

Ditto!

Thanks again for doing this!

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I agree. A bit more depth with the steel strings. It almost sounds like too low tension with the nylon, but it's hard to tell- both sounded good. I love these blind comparisons. Thanks for posting Dave.

When does the strip tease end and you post the true identity of Uke 1, 2 or 3? Lol

sam13 said:

When does the strip tease end and you post the true identity of Uke 1, 2 or 3?

Lol

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Spoken like a true gear head.......stop the fluff and give us the goods, lol.

I will do the big reveal tomorrow morning. That way people in Europe, the west coast, Australia etc still have a chance to make a guess.

As a hint the two baritones were a Kamaka and a Pono with Spruce top and mahogany back and sides. See if you can guess which is #1, #2 & #3

Thanks to everybody for the nice words and compliments , these threads are always a lot of fun.

DownUpDave said:

...

I will do the big reveal tomorrow morning. That way people in Europe, the west coast, Australia etc still have a chance to make a guess.

As a hint the two baritones were a Kamaka and a Pono with Spruce top and mahogany back and sides. See if you can guess which is #1, #2 & #3

Click to expand...

DownUpDave said:

...
The second sample is a blind shoot out. We have the Pono UL4-20 and two normal baritone ukuleles. All three are strung linear with wound 4th and 3rd and florocarbon 2nd & 1st strings.

See if you can identify the supposedly poor, weak sounding 'Tenor Guitar with Nylons", compared to the proper big brawny baritones. Recorded raw and unedited on my Samsung Galaxy S4 phone
...
Blind baritone shoot out

https://app.box.com/s/ywrdpp8fpcqbiq558a6np1s1tm3jiwvw

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My revised guess is 1= Kamaka, 2= Pono with Spruce top, 3= Pono UL4 .
(Actually, I have no idea. )

We have a number of people with very good ears around here. The results are as follows

#1 was the Kamaka baritone

#2 was the Pono MBD-SP baritone, spruce top mahogany back and side

#3 was the Pono UL4-20, cedar top mahogany back and sides

I think the UL-4 sounds just fine with florocarbon strings considering it is designed for steel. I went with Oasis GPX high tension classical guitar strings because of this fact. With further experimentation one might find a floro string even better suited for this instrument. It really does shine with steel strings though so I will be switching back.

For those interested the diameter of these florocarbon strings are .025", 028", .031", .037

Nailed it!

While I think the UL40 sounds good with the nylon strings. It is fabulous with the steel strings.

Can you do instrument 4 too ?
I know you have a forth since you started the thread
I think they all sound mighty good and crystal clear but need to compare with #4 as well

DownUpDave said:

Eddie your wish is my command. Back in June I sent Patrick a recording of the UL4-20 strung with medium heavy gauge Elixrs. That piece was Hotel California. We are all gonna get sick of this song but it was what I did for Patrick in June, so sorry I have just recorded another sample with the fluorocarbons, playing the same length of time as the prior steel string sample.

Nylon version
https://app.box.com/s/97drl52zrx8b31144mn5jnffc4ozmzmc

Steel string version
https://app.box.com/s/hnp54oir8vl3in97ykqub402c51k9cis

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Honestly, in these two links, they both sound great, but I actually prefer the nylon sound. Thanks for doing this.