The Good Ol’ Baritones

The tonewood is a huge factor in determining whether a baritone ukulele sounds like a guitar. I chose a Kala solid acacia over their cedar top model because it gave me that ukulele tropical island sound. I already play guitar and have a few, so I certainly don't need a four string version.

I tried GCEA tuning on my cheapo Rogue bari but really didn't like it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vZzl21haM). The big body with the high pitched voice left me feeling like I had the Mike Tyson of ukuleles (no disrespect, Iron Mike!). I would love to have the octive-lower GCEA, but I see from posts on this forum that the sound quality is muddy.

There are plenty of songs that are much more fun to play on one or the other, but overall I prefer the size, lower tones, and rich deepness of a good baritone over a good tenor. The DGBE tuning also gives me expanded options... if a song is out of my limited vocal range, I can just switch to GCEA fingerings and -- *BOOM* -- I have instant transposition! :)
 
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For a unwound 4th try a set of Worth Brown FAT Tenor hi g strings on you baritone. They are the same as the Brown Baritones but with a thinner D/G string. Or a set of D'Addario EG99 Tenor strings, for dGBE. on my 20 inch bari they sound really nice, no intonation probs at all.
 
Down Up Dick said:
Yeah, DUD1, that Blueridge is what I was lookin at. You like it, huh? :eek:ld:
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It is a fantastic instrument. I had a very good guitar player play it, he owns many expensive guitars, he said it was excellent. If I was left with only the Blueridge to play I would be happy happy. Highly recommend the Blueridge.
 
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Down Up Dick said:
Yeah, Bro, that’s what I meant. Baritones seem to be a new fad on the UU, but the different tuning leads players to retune to GCEA, and then it’s not a baritone any more. The baritone is specifically a low pitched uke tuned DGBE. I realize that folks don’t care about stuff like that, but I just wonder how happy they are with just a bigger GCEA ukulele.

I really like the baritone “as is” a lot. I’ve even been thinking about a tenor guitar. What happened with yours? :eek:ld:
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Just for clarification -- it's not exactly "different tuning." Baritones are just tuned to a different key. GCEA instruments are considered to be tuned in C; baritones are tuned in G. The chord shapes are the same except they have different names. For example, the same chord shape that is a C chord on a GCEA instrument is a G chord on a DGBE instrument, an F chord shape on a GCEA instrument produces a C chord on a DGBE instrument, etc. "Different tuning" suggests a different relationship among the strings, as in saying an instrument is "tuned in fifths," or "tuned in fourths." Playing a baritone does not require learning new SHAPES, as playing a mandolin would. It requires learning new NAMES for shapes you already know.
 
mds725 said:
Just for clarification -- it's not exactly "different tuning." Baritones are just tuned to a different key. GCEA instruments are considered to be tuned in C; baritones are tuned in G. The chord shapes are the same except they have different names. For example, the same chord shape that is a C chord on a GCEA instrument is a G chord on a DGBE instrument, an F chord shape on a GCEA instrument produces a C chord on a DGBE instrument, etc. "Different tuning" suggests a different relationship among the strings, as in saying an instrument is "tuned in fifths," or "tuned in fourths." Playing a baritone does not require learning new SHAPES, as playing a mandolin would. It requires learning new NAMES for shapes you already know.
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Of course you’re correct, and we both understand what you said. However many new baritone ukists seem to be confused by the difference and prefer to retune their baritones to GCEA rather than adjust to the differences.

I just supposed that they will retune or sell their baritones, but I guess there’s absolutely nothing wrong with an extra large uke.
:eek:ld:
 
bariukish said:
Our bari's are tuned linear DGBE with the 3rd and 4th wound. I've never considered trying a reentrant 4th string, What string would you recommend for an unwound 4th?
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I use Worth clear Fats (CF) on my dGBE tenor. I'm not a fan of wound strings and generally use all fluorocarbons. My baritone is strung with a Living Water linear baritone set. Worth Fats or a Living Water reentrant set would probably both be fine and you could replace the G with a wound if you prefer. It's all a matter of personal taste.
 
bariukish said:
Our bari's are tuned linear DGBE with the 3rd and 4th wound. I've never considered trying a reentrant 4th string, What string would you recommend for an unwound 4th?
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As an experiment you can swap out the linear wound D string with a florocarbon of approx. .0260" diameter. I have used the E string from Oasis GPX or Worth CT with good results.
 
DownUpDave said:
As an experiment you can swap out the linear wound D string with a florocarbon of approx. .0260" diameter. I have used the E string from Oasis GPX or Worth CT with good results.
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Great idea, Dave. I've got a drawer full of partial string sets. Time to get out the trusty old micrometer and get busy.
 
Note to fellow feline lovers: "Cat gut" is really most often from sheep. Never to my knowledge is it actually from cats.

bratsche
 
When I bought my baritone I thought about changing it to GCEA, but just played it 'out of key' DGBE for a while. About three weeks in, the D sting broke and I switched to Worth Browns DGBE. Then substituted the D with a Tenor FAT string (0.316") for dGBE. Never had a problem with string breakage.

While wearing out the Aquilas I realized that chord shapes were just shapes and I just learned to shift between "C" and "G" mode in my mind. After about 18 months of Baritone and Bari-Tenor paying I can shift pretty easily. For a while I had one of my tenors tuned eAC#F# and never even worried about the names of the chords, but shifted back to dGBE a couple of weeks ago so I could play that tenor with my Uke Buddy next door. He plays DGBE and it was too weird trying to figure out the shapes for "A" tuning.

About a week ago I decided to get serious about learning to read music and the neck above/below the fourth fret. I've been using my concert to learn to pick the Sailor Hornpipe which is played in the 5-10 frets from D to b3 (?). I may get to be a musician yet.
 
I've been playing recorder a lot longer than I've been playing ukulele and was already used to the idea that the same arrangement of fingers played different notes in differently pitched instruments. When it came to ukulele in different tunings I just worked on the same principle. Same shapes, different chords. Obviously, if you change the pitch relationship between the strings then you have to learn completely new chord shapes.
 
Maybe I'm a bit weird, but I kind of think of my baritones just as bass ukes, I know there are proper 'bass ukes' now, but before them it must surely have had that role in an ensemble(?).

Any way, I like being different. :p
 
JackLuis said:
I like dGBE so my Bari sounds like a Uke. Some day when I learn to pick notes it'll be more fun, but strumming it's nicer Hi d.

Me dos centavos.
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What strings are you using for dGBE?
 
strat4me said:
What strings are you using for dGBE?
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I just use standard Tenor Hi-g Strings, D'Addario Carbons or Fremont Blacklines. I tried a bunch of the 'special' Bari-Tenor strings but EJ-99's are better. Although the Fremont Bari-Tenor black lines were pretty good. I have a set in reserve that I removed in my testing. For a DGBE, Bari-tenor Blacklines and a Fremont soloist work well too. I put a set on my neighbors tenor and he liked them. I reviewed a bunch of strings a few months ago in the Review forum on several different ukes.

Here http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?124671-dGBE-DGBE-for-a-Tenor-Eight-options I did a couple of others too but this one has it all in one place.
 
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I bought some guitar strings to try out on one of mine, but they never saw my baritone, they went onto my laminate tenor, sounded pretty good too.
I used the EADG strings for GCEA originally, but today I swapped it over to using the DGBE as DGBE on the tenor.

Also put some on my laminate long neck soprano, just to see if they would work, & they seem to give it a boost in sound.
Has anyone else tried DGBE on a soprano long neck, or for that matter, a concert uke?
 
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