C string sounds dead on many of the tenor ukes I have listened to.

Bill makes very valid points which I agree with mostly. I'd love to say there's a threshold where you are guaranteed there will be no weird notes if you spend a certain amount of money but even on high expensive customs you'll hear it and Bills point that it's ok is excellent. My ML has this thing with the pitch F, the sustain is just a little shorter, but it's such a subtle nick picky thing it's not even worth sweating.

String changed can help, one of the reasons I've loved oasis is that for whatever reason, that one idiosyncrasy I do have on my ML tenor the oasis string seems to have diminished to a point of non-existence.

I believe there's an interview with Jake where he hears and knows where all the weird spots are on his custom kamakas and has just learned to go with it and adapt to it as needed.

So outside of experimenting with strings, it's good perspective to know how the physics of such a small fretted instrument really are quite limiting and one should enjoy and maximize the fun factor within that threshold.
 
Interesting topic. I've noticed this too when listening to sound samples of various ukes. I have a Myrtle Mya Moe on the way, so I'm curious about your theory of it being related to Koa versus just strings. I haven't tried any wound C strings yet, but I've been thinking about picking up a set to try on my Kamaka.

FYI - One of my Mya Moe tenors is all Myrtle, and it does not have this specific C string issue being discussed.

I agree with both Bill and Ryan - Ultimately no instrument is perfect. It probably won't stop some of us from seeking the instruments that are most perfect to our specific tastes though :)
 
After a recent post about dead notes on Opio Tenors, I pulled out my Opio and all of my other tenors. All are fluorocarbon or Aquila strings. Every one had a less "lively" note on the third string, all at C#/Db.

Then Andrew at HMS verified the Opio "issue" which seems to be inherent on all of my tenor ukuleles (Kala, Outdoor Ukulele, and Lanikai). At this point, my hypothesis is that there is a less lively place on every Tenor scale instrument in that general area. More reading has informed me that there are less lively places on every instrument, but right now that C String is getting the attention.

A wound string might help the issue...I am not going to do that.

I'm the one who started the Opio discussion, and I've verified it on concerts, too. And very, very, very expensive tenors. Because I can't travel the country looking for unicorns, I decided, sadly, to lower my expectations. And increase my string budget. Wound C string sets are hard to find. Not looking forward to going boutique on strings, but I think wound strings last longer? Hope so.
 
I can only tell you what I have experienced on my own instruments, with my own ears. If you play every note on every string on my tenors (particularly the top 5 frets) and compare sustain, there is a difference on the 3rd string around the 3rd fret. I didn't even notice until the Opio thread occured. That could steal my joy in the instrument, but it hasn't.

It doesn't mean that you won't get any sustain..even my Opio has sustain on the C#. But the amount of that sustain in that C#/Db range (sometimes a half-step above or below) on every one of my instruments is less on that string on that fret. That doesn't mean that it is a completely dead note...there is just less sustain. And it makes sense to me, as if all the instruments share a common scale length, that strings would have a similar reaction at a specific frequency.

I'm not looking to pick a fight (I never do) but I'm invested enough in it to do a YouTube study with accompanying frequency analysis (I did this years ago with metronome apps for iPhone and made many app developers angry).

If your Breedlove Tenor has perfect sustain and intonation on every note...that's wonderful. My brother-in-law just picked up a Breedlove Guitar from an auction site for a great price. I know that they make great instruments.

By all means, do a test on YouTube! I will be your biggest fan.
 
Wound C string sets are hard to find. Not looking forward to going boutique on strings, but I think wound strings last longer? Hope so.

Wound strings wear out faster than fluorocarbon and nylon strings. Some break down quickly, others last much longer. You can buy individual guitar strings as singles, so the total cost aren't all that much higher than for a set of four strings. Ken Middleton also sold me a set of two As and two Es when I asked him.

A wound C isn't always the solution for a better sound. I've come to realize, it really depends on the instrument on hand. One of my tenors boomed too much with it, so I went back to a fluorocarbon C with a Fremont Soloist for a low-G (for now anyway; I seem to like it better than a single Thomastik-Infeld CF30), which overall works better for that particular tenor. I think my eventual solution will be to get a Blackbird Farallon and side-step issues with real wood instruments, but that is an expensive approach.
 
I have a Kamaka tenor as well as a Kanilea. Both are a little dead on the C string. It's more pronounced on the Kanilea. Weight wise, the Kanilea is lighter. I use the Kanilea more for pieces I strum on and the Kamaka for finger picking. I use Fremont Black Line on both. Both are also reentrant.
 
I think my eventual solution will be to get a Blackbird Farallon and side-step issues with real wood instruments, but that is an expensive approach.

Even with the Farallon, the issue of "thuddiness" on the C persists. It's not an issue of wood or not wood -- as far as I can tell, it has to do with the resonant frequency of the material. When the string and the body resonate at close to the same frequency, it can result in a premature dampening of the resonance -- which gets a bit heavy and thuddy, with less sustain.

If a body resonates, there will a frequency that cancels out the vibrations. Ideally that frequency is somewhere above or below the range of the instrument (or between frets), but on tenors it seems to be on the C string (2nd or 3rd frets, often). String changes help (think thinner), but if you're listening for it, you'll likely hear it.

As others have mentioned, the Tiny Tenor is the closest to a "unicorn" I've found--no thuddiness anywhere, and essentially perfect intonation across the board (even on the $259 economy version)!
 
Even with the Farallon, the issue of "thuddiness" on the C persists. It's not an issue of wood or not wood -- as far as I can tell, it has to do with the resonant frequency of the material. When the string and the body resonate at close to the same frequency, it can result in a premature dampening of the resonance -- which gets a bit heavy and thuddy, with less sustain.

If a body resonates, there will a frequency that cancels out the vibrations. Ideally that frequency is somewhere above or below the range of the instrument (or between frets), but on tenors it seems to be on the C string (2nd or 3rd frets, often). String changes help (think thinner), but if you're listening for it, you'll likely hear it.

As others have mentioned, the Tiny Tenor is the closest to a "unicorn" I've found--no thuddiness anywhere, and essentially perfect intonation across the board (even on the $259 economy version)!
That's precisely the unicorn I'm trying to resist. I think someone said it has a thick neck though? If so, resistance is possible.
 
That's precisely the unicorn I'm trying to resist. I think someone said it has a thick neck though? If so, resistance is possible.

We have one, and if the neck were think, I wouldn't bother picking it up. And yes, the C string is NOT thuddy or muddy. It has the original strings, except for the A, which broke, so we stuck an Aquila on that was lying around here. No problems!
I highly recommend a Tiny Tenor, it's the best of both worlds, and to me, the tone matches any uke I've heard at twice the cost.
 
We have one, and if the neck were think, I wouldn't bother picking it up. And yes, the C string is NOT thuddy or muddy. It has the original strings, except for the A, which broke, so we stuck an Aquila on that was lying around here. No problems!
I highly recommend a Tiny Tenor, it's the best of both worlds, and to me, the tone matches any uke I've heard at twice the cost.

I don't know whether to be happy about this or not, but I'm glad to hear it from you because I think our preferences in ukes are similar.
 
Funny you brought this up Mezcalero, it was something I noticed on some Ukes with warmer tone woods and nylon strings, and it sent me on a string shopping frenzy in search of a set that made C more lively... ;)

I found for the most part Aquila Nylgut seem to make a lot of Ukes project that thuddy sound too... :)
 
This is my experience with Kala KA-CEM, concert size model, my first uke.
I bought in in mid August (this year) and always wondered why the C-string sounded so dead, even imagined some defect with my uke bridge gluing etc.

So today I changed the strings to same kind Aquila New Nylgut strings and I am happy to say that I seemed to have had a faulty C-string from the factory stringed one. (They were all nicely tied together at the bridge, now not after my stringing of course. I would not bother myself about such superficial looking stuff.)
Anyways now C-string sounds longer instead dies soon and I can also check the tuning on upper frets on that string. I am so happy now.
 
I noticed the thudiness on the C string on 8 string when I changed the C course to unison from octaves by replacing the high C. I liked the tuning better but the C strings bothered me so restrung th uke with fluorocarbons (which I would have done anyway eventually) and wow! The difference. The uke really came alive.
 
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