New baritone choices

amiedel said:

Unfortunately my abilities do not justify that expensive of a uke.

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Hogwash. If you can afford it, enjoy it. Most of us don't need more than a smart car, but we drive cars far beyond what we need or can fully utilize. Same thing with watches, golf clubs, etc. I'm in no way suggesting you spend money you shouldn't, but not being good enough is really not a reason.

Ukulele Eddie said:

Hogwash. If you can afford it, enjoy it. Most of us don't need more than a smart car, but we drive cars far beyond what we need or can fully utilize. Same thing with watches, golf clubs, etc. I'm in no way suggesting you spend money you shouldn't, but not being good enough is really not a reason.

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+1........If I had to pass a proficiency test all my ukes would be confiscated. If you can afford it buy the instrument that turns your crank and lights your fire. You will never regret playing a great sounding instrument.

I own a
Kala KA-SMHB all solid mahogany
It's a great uke for the price.
You will not be disappointed!

SoloRule said:

I own a
Kala KA-SMHB all solid mahogany
It's a great uke for the price.
You will not be disappointed!

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Ditto . . . !

uke1950 said:

...(I don't need to worry, so I'm told, because our climate is damp, here in England.)

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Damp climate is often what the weatherman says on TV and usually has little to do with the ACTUAL relative himidity (RH%) that is INSIDE your house, which especially when running the heat in winter is likely to be significantly different from your local weather report, UNLESS you have lots of open windows in the winter and dont mind dealing with frozen/burst water pipes...

A decent hygrometer can be had for about $25USD in the Caliber IV and you keep it either in your music room, or inside the case if you have only a single instrument.

Otherwise, to go rogue and just go by what the weatherman says is likely asking for problems. Ignoring the indoor RH% does not make the problem go away nor resolve itself.

A current discussion on hygrometers is happening RIGHT now here on UU:

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?124638-How-reliable-are-hygrometers

My ukes are in gig bags in my bedroom, which has 'drafty' windows, so is constantly getting the air refreshed, but other than that, I do tend to open them every now & again just to refresh the air, so I think I'll be OK - I'll let you know come Spring!

Ha! Can you talk to my wife for me!

Actually, the Pono AB listed in the marketplace here I keep thinking about more and more. It's a good deal. The only soundclip I could find is on youtube from ukerepublic. It sounds hollow and tinny to me but it is set up with some hawaiin-souding brand of strings. The Kala all acacia that Mim plays sounds much better to my ear but it is set up with Aquilas. So maybe the strings are the main difference and the Pono AB would sound better to me with Aquilas or D'Addaria pro arte strings. Would that help me get a deper, more mellow sound?

amiedel said:

Actually, the Pono AB listed in the marketplace here I keep thinking about more and more. It's a good deal. The only soundclip I could find is on youtube from ukerepublic. It sounds hollow and tinny to me but it is set up with some hawaiin-souding brand of strings. The Kala all acacia that Mim plays sounds much better to my ear but it is set up with Aquilas. So maybe the strings are the main difference and the Pono AB would sound better to me with Aquilas or D'Addaria pro arte strings. Would that help me get a deper, more mellow sound?

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It's almost impossible to compare soundclips from different sources, since most microphones will add some sort of coloring to the sound. The only true benchmark are the videos from HMS AKA The Ukulele Site, as they have as little alteration as possible, and thousands of demos to compare on Vimeo. Here are the ones featuring the Pono AB:

https://vimeo.com/164330703

https://vimeo.com/38719753

https://vimeo.com/40205774

And here is a demo from them comparing several Kala baritone models:

https://vimeo.com/88742623

You're right, the choice of strings does make a big difference, and that's one easy and cheap way to adapt a uke to the sound you prefer. Try Aquila strings and see if you like them on your instrument. If not, try a different brand. The only thing I'm not too fond of with Pono is their stock strings. I prefer Southcoast, Oasis, or Worth.

thanks

Rakelele said:

It's almost impossible to compare soundclips from different sources, since most microphones will add some sort of coloring to the sound. The only true benchmark are the videos from HMS AKA The Ukulele Site, as they have as little alteration as possible, and thousands of demos to compare on Vimeo. Here are the ones featuring the Pono AB:

https://vimeo.com/164330703

https://vimeo.com/38719753

https://vimeo.com/40205774

And here is a demo from them comparing several Kala baritone models:

https://vimeo.com/88742623

You're right, the choice of strings does make a big difference, and that's one easy and cheap way to adapt a uke to the sound you prefer. Try Aquila strings and see if you like them on your instrument. If not, try a different brand. The only thing I'm not too fond of with Pono is their stock strings. I prefer Southcoast, Oasis, or Worth.

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Thanks for those links. Very helpful.

Pomo nui

amiedel said:

I'm am looking to buy a new baritone uke. I have a laminate mahogany Kala soprano and a Gretsch solid top mahogany tenor, and I'm having a lot of fun. I think I have some kind of uke bug, so now I'm looking at baritones. I think I would like a $200 to $300 bari that sounds as much like a classical guitar as I can get. I have mostly been looking at:

Kala KA-SMHB all solid mahogany
Ohana BK20 or 35
Kala ABP-CTG cedar top/acacia sides and back
Ohana BK70

I don't find much about the last two on the list, but wow are they beautiful! I don't have local stores to check out, so I will likely be ordering from Ukerepublic, Elderly, Mim, or HWS. My first two purchases were from Elderly and HWS and both seemed great.

If you've tried any of the baritones on the list (especially the Kala cedar top) or have other suggestions I would love to hear form you. Thanks so much.

Happy holidays!

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After more investigating I came across the Pono Nui jumbo baritone. It's more than I was hoping to spend but what a beautiful sound. I think it will come down to that vs the Kala smbh all solid mahogany.

vcs700s said:

Kala KA-SMHB all solid mahogany

Own it and a few other baritones. It is my favorite by far.

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@Vic - You've practically sold me on the Kala mahogany baritone! (P.S. I love your videos! What a great vlog.) Can I ask what sort of pickup you're using w/ your baritone? I understand you're using it for leading worship, so surely you've got a pickup on it. Thanks so much!

_Silly_Me_Sitting_Here_ said:

@Vic - You've practically sold me on the Kala mahogany baritone! (P.S. I love your videos! What a great vlog.) Can I ask what sort of pickup you're using w/ your baritone? I understand you're using it for leading worship, so surely you've got a pickup on it. Thanks so much!

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Glad you re enjoying the videos. No pickup in the baritone.:-(

I am considering selling the travel Kala and/or the Cordoba 24B.

Check out the videos, think about it and PM me if interested.

Got a baritone! I found a 1year old Kala SMHB with hard case on Ebay at a good price. It was purchased at HMS, and it's still spotless. Wow does it sound nice. Now I just have to learn new chord shapes, but the tone is wonderful.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I think it really helped me make a good choice!

amiedel said:

Got a baritone! I found a 1year old Kala SMHB with hard case on Ebay at a good price. It was purchased at HMS, and it's still spotless. Wow does it sound nice. Now I just have to learn new chord shapes, but the tone is wonderful.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I think it really helped me make a good choice!

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Yay! I'm also still loving the tone of my SMHB too

amiedel said:

Got a baritone! I found a 1year old Kala SMHB with hard case on Ebay at a good price. It was purchased at HMS, and it's still spotless. Wow does it sound nice. Now I just have to learn new chord shapes, but the tone is wonderful.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I think it really helped me make a good choice!

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Great choice!

amiedel said:

Got a baritone! I found a 1year old Kala SMHB with hard case on Ebay at a good price. It was purchased at HMS, and it's still spotless. Wow does it sound nice. Now I just have to learn new chord shapes, but the tone is wonderful.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I think it really helped me make a good choice!

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umm...maybe you dont realize it yet, but ALL the chord shapes are EXACTLY the same.

The only different is that the baritone is tuned to G6 tuning and smaller ukes are typically tuned to C6 tuning, which simply means that all your chords on baritone are NAMED differently.

If you look at a standard uke chord chart for the C chord which is 0003, and then a bari chord chart you will see that you can still finger 0003, but NOW it is 'called' a G chord.

Might seem convoluted at first, but with practice you get to 'think in C' or 'think in G' without much effort, but practice and an investment of time are necessary for it all to become second nature...

Adding to this insanity, I also now have a few ukes in FIFTHS TUNING like a mandolin GDAE and mandola CGDA so after about 6 months now, I can just pick up and play and dont really have to think about any of it any more, it just 'happens'...

yes I have a baritone each in linear DGBE and re-entrant dGBE 'G6' tunings as well :music:

Booli said:

umm...maybe you dont realize it yet, but ALL the chord shapes are EXACTLY the same.

The only different is that the baritone is tuned to G6 tuning and smaller ukes are typically tuned to C6 tuning, which simply means that all your chords on baritone are NAMED differently.

If you look at a standard uke chord chart for the C chord which is 0003, and then a bari chord chart you will see that you can still finger 0003, but NOW it is 'called' a G chord.

Might seem convoluted at first, but with practice you get to 'think in C' or 'think in G' without much effort, but practice and an investment of time are necessary for it all to become second nature...

Adding to this insanity, I also now have a few ukes in FIFTHS TUNING
like a mandolin GDAE and mandola CGDA so after about 6 months now, I can just pick up and play and dont really have to think about any of it any more, it just 'happens'...

yes I have a baritone each in linear DGBE and re-entrant dGBE 'G6' tunings as well :music:

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I misspoke. You're right. I meant I need to remember what chords my old chord shapes have become. When I play on my own, it doesn't matter so much, but when I accompany the kids on violin I have to pay attention to that.

amiedel said:

I misspoke. You're right. I meant I need to remember what chords my old chord shapes have become. When I play on my own, it doesn't matter so much, but when I accompany the kids on violin I have to pay attention to that.

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Coming from guitar, when I first started on the uke, it was a real struggle for me to unlearn the chord names and just focus on the shapes, and then the names came later.

I must confess that when I play on baritone or other ukes not tuned GCEA but with the same modified-fourths tunings, which I do mainly to change the key for my baritone vocal range, I dont transpose at all, if the music calls for a C chord and I am tuned down 2 semitones to the Bb tuning (F-Bb-D-G) I dont bother to notice that the SHAPE of the C chord is actually a Bb, but if you 'ask' me, I can tell you it is later on...

I do the same thing with music written for GCEA with the baritone tuned in DGBE, it is just a 5th lower, and many other folks here on UU have also confessed to doing the same. If you are playing solo most of the time, it's not an issue, but of course like you said, if you play with others, you need to transpose in your head and realize that the GCEA 'C-chord shape' is now a 'G-chord shape' if you are tuned to DGBE in G6 tuning, etc...

Now without much hesitation, and based almost completely on my 30+ yrs of guitar I can 'think in G6' when I play baritone since it's the same as an E-A-D-G-B-E tuned guitar without strings 5 and 6, so really a G chord on baritone is the same as a G chord on guitar, just without the lower bass strings...

Eventually it all becomes kind of automatic. I focus more on the experience of the sound and physical technique rather than naming all the notes on the fretboard, or knowing all of the modal scales in all 12 keys. I rarely use it, and when songwriting, if a minor scale is not what my muse wants, sometimes it is 'melodic minor' or 'harmonic minor' and those I can find by ear to go with the chords...

But do not worry if this all sounds complicated, it will come in time, and the uke and playing music should be a source of joy and not feel like hard work. Music Theory can come later if you prefer, and it's really all up to you to find your best path.

amiedel said:

Got a baritone! I found a 1year old Kala SMHB with hard case on Ebay at a good price. It was purchased at HMS, and it's still spotless. Wow does it sound nice. Now I just have to learn new chord shapes, but the tone is wonderful.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I think it really helped me make a good choice!

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Congratulations on a wonderful baritone. The fact that you got it used, at a good price and it originally came for HMS is like winning the trifecta.

Fifths tuning

Booli said:

Adding to this insanity, I also now have a few ukes in FIFTHS TUNING like a mandolin GDAE and mandola CGDA so after about 6 months now, I can just pick up and play and dont really have to think about any of it any more, it just 'happens'...

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Haha, I'm new here and just put "fifths tuning" in the search engine, and your post came up. I was wondering if anyone here did that! GDAE is what I plan to tune my baritone to (when I get it - bought it on eBay, and it's still enroute!) I've been haunted by a fascinating thread on MandolinCafe almost 4 years ago on "tuning a baritone ukulele as an octave mandolin", and am finally taking the plunge! Normally I play mandola and viola (definition of my screen name), so learning a tuning other than fifths is not appealing at my age. I suppose that if I really love it, I will eventually want to get a tenor as well, and tune it CGDA.

bratsche