low G string resonating too long

joopiterandbeyond

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One of my ukes is a cheap, basic, soprano. I decided to swap its original (high, reentrant) G string with a low G.

The first one the shop recommended was a wound guitar string. It was very squeaky and also continued resonating much longer than the other three original strings. So, a low G note continuing through my subsequent sounds.

Swapped it out for a "nonsqueaky" string -an unwound Aquila. No more squeaking, yay! But that extended resonating happens with this string too.

How do I make a low G string match the resonance time of the others??
 
Smarter people than me will probably have better answers, but the only solution I've found is to try not to attack that string as hard in your strum. Come down softly on it, and increase the attack on the other three strings. I'll be interested to heari other ideas.
 
I've not had this issue as described in 4 yrs since playing uke, however, if you are a newbie to the uke, it is likely more a matter of your technique rather than a defect in the strings or of the uke itself...

Might I suggest you pay closer attention to how you are playing, as per above...and alter the way you approach the strings to lessen the problem...

Adaptation is a worthy skill, and takes some practice. :)
 
I agree with the others. The soprano doesn't have much resonace to start with, especially strung reentrant. Once you add a low G, even on a concert or tenor it changes everything in a dramatic way. The first time I restrung my tenor from reentrant to low G I too was taken back by the difference. You will get use to it and you do need to alter your attack as the others have said. With some practice it is not that hard to master.
 
Low G on a soprano is always going to be a problem because the physics of how a string works say that it can't work very well - the scale is too short, so a string thick enough to get a low G is too thick to work properly.

All you can do is experiment until you find a string that sounds least bad for your playing, and then work out how to play it as best you can. But recognise it could be a hopeless task to get the sound you want.

If you want low G, concert scale works (marginally), tenor scale works fairly well, though even there you have to modify your playing technique.
 
People will say "low G doesn't work on soprano," but then as evidence that it can - Ohta-San.



I play low G mainly on a longneck soprano and I think it sounds pretty good, but it took some experimenting to get there. Fluorocarbon strings? No, too boomy. Squeaky guitar strings or wound Aquila strings? No and no, too squeaky. My string of choice for low G, regardless of size, is the Fremont Soloist "Squeakless." While it may not work on every uke, it's sounded great on every uke I've tried it on, from longneck soprano to tenor.
 
People will say "low G doesn't work on soprano," but then as evidence that it can - Ohta-San.



I play low G mainly on a longneck soprano and I think it sounds pretty good, but it took some experimenting to get there. Fluorocarbon strings? No, too boomy. Squeaky guitar strings or wound Aquila strings? No and no, too squeaky. My string of choice for low G, regardless of size, is the Fremont Soloist "Squeakless." While it may not work on every uke, it's sounded great on every uke I've tried it on, from longneck soprano to tenor.


It's not that low G won't work at all, but it won't work well. But of course, a highly skilled player can compensate for that.

Your longneck soprano has a concert scale (string physics worries about scale length, not body size), and as you say, even at that scale the low G is difficult to make work.

There's no reason why someone shouldn't try low G on a soprano, though of course the nut slot will require widening, but they should be prepared for it to present difficulties.
 
I...(string physics worries about scale length, not body size), and as you say, even at that scale the low G is difficult to make work...

While tension is a factor when considering scale length, how can you ignore the fact that lower frequencies are impeded with a smaller sound box?

To use a speaker analogy, you can't effectively nor efficiently reproduce treble or upper-midrange tones with a subwoofer type of speaker element, and vice versa that the laws of physic will prevent you from effectively reproducing a 150hz tone with a tweeter element.

I don't recall the exact cutoff point for the resonant frequency lower bound for a standard soprano body, but a G3 note (low- G) is going to be significantly lower in amplitude (volume) than a G4 note (high-G) and even so, with the C4 note on the 3rd string on soprano, if an unwound string and of only about 6 lbs of string tension tends to be almost tubby sounding and flubby feeling on most sopranos, hence why lots of players will use a wound classical guitar type string of either 0.026" to 0.028" in diameter for a WOUND C string, in order to get a bit more tension and volume while also getting significant improvements in intonation.

I have tested over 100 different sets of strings, and additionally, about 45 different classical guitar single strings over the past 4 yrs on ukulele, and the above comes from my own hands-on experience.
 
Box physics is a problem too, but not the same problem. If you went mad and put a soprano neck on a baritone body you'd still have problems with a low G because the scale length is too short for the string to work effectively.

And conversely, put a baritone neck on a soprano body when the strings will work fine, but the body can't reproduce the sound effectively.

Most people recognise that body size makes a difference, but it's harder to understand intuitively why scale length does too.
 
though of course the nut slot will require widening

Another common misconception! I've put low G on several sopranos and longneck sopranos, and have never had to widen a nut slot. Wound strings tend to work better than fluorocarbons if this is a concern.
 
In addition to the sound advice given above - using less attack on that particular string - there are also techniques to stop the string(s) from ringing, using either your fretting hand or your strumming hand, like putting the palm or a finger on the string(s) or lessening the pressure of your fretting fingers momentarily. There are many types of music which require this sort of playing, especially with fast rhythms and quickly changing chords. An example is featured in this video, starting at about 0:57.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVOKN_5dG_s
 
Wow, very helpful, thanks all!!

Yeah, the original set works great: no squeaks, all resonating for the same length of time.
The first low G was squeaky AND resonating way longer.
The second low G isn't squeaky, but still resonates longer than the three remaining original strings.

The issue doesn't come up in strumming so much as in picking, where three strings stop singing shortly after a pluck, but one just keeps going and going, lol. In strumming, they're all hit over and over again in the same intervals so it sorts itself.

Sounds like there are multiple potential variables, so I'll start checking them out one at a time.
 
I've found that any problem with the equipment, other than something obvious, usually isn't the equipment, but is usually Yours Truly.
 
People will say "low G doesn't work on soprano," but then as evidence that it can - Ohta-San.



Jane, Ohta-San is a tiresome and misleading example that's brought up all the time when this topic comes up. If you want to share your personal experience and tell folks how it's worked in your case, fine, but there are a lot of beginners on this site and you do them a big disservice by not pointing out the obvious in your lead-in.

There's a big, giant electric chord coming out of the bottom of that instrument. Surely you must understand that amplification takes acoustics out of the equation, but not everyone reading your post or listening to that video may grasp that. There's too much misleading information on the internet in general. No need to contribute here with this sort of thing.
 
Jane, Ohta-San is a tiresome and misleading example that's brought up all the time when this topic comes up. If you want to share your personal experience and tell folks how it's worked in your case, fine, but there are a lot of beginners on this site and you do them a big disservice by not pointing out the obvious in your lead-in.

There's a big, giant electric chord coming out of the bottom of that instrument. Surely you must understand that amplification takes acoustics out of the equation, but not everyone reading your post or listening to that video may grasp that. There's too much misleading information on the internet in general. No need to contribute here with this sort of thing.

Agree to disagree here - I think it's fair to present both sides to the story. I was once a beginner too, and struggled to play larger instruments because low G supposedly "didn't work" on soprano. It took me a few years before I had the bright idea of - wow, lightbulb moment! - try it for myself and see.

And you know what? I'm fine with it. I'm not a professional player, I don't play amplified, but it works for me and for the ensemble that I play in. Personally I don't give a hoot about the science behind all of this - I play for fun, and I think that's true for a lot of folks on this forum.

Feel free to ignore me going forward and I'll do the same for you.
 
wow - that went bad pretty quick...

I guess Aloha is forgotten, and tolerance is now lost here.

Sad to say, but it seems to have taken a dark turn...just shaka, for just a moment and take a nice, deep breath, and think how our words and actions can harm other folks...

Compassion can go a long way.

Mahalo.
 
Booli, I don't see it quite as negative. Most of the posts do deal with the original question, give explanations as to where the problem might come from and/or provide advice for how it could be resolved. Rightly connected to this are the facts about physics (body volume and scale length), which I find very interesting and good to know, especially for beginners, along with examples of contradicting personal experience and preferences, which I find informative as well.

What I learned from this discussion is that sheer physics work against the endeavour of having a soprano strung with low G, but that there are plenty of personal arrangements to make it work subjectively for several members of this forum as well as for a respected musician such as Ohta-San. With these arguments in mind, I think anyone can and should go out to find what he or she personally likes.
 
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