Tiny Tenor and high g?

Has anyone any experience stringing the Tiny Tenor with a high g? While I have been mainly sticking with soprano these days, the TT has me intrigued. It is a pretty cool design and the videos I have seen sound great.

I have only played instruments strung with high g as they sound a little more uke-like to my ear, whereas the low G sounds a bit more like a guitar. At the same time, if the instrument was designed with low g in mind, it may be better suited for that.

I am open to exploring something new, but want to keep the option open for the high g as well.

I have the Tiny Tenor XS Soprano in solid Koa. I hated the LaBella strings with the low G. It currently is strung with Living Water hi G. Sounds great.

You know, I'm not crazy about playing in loG, except for one song. But, my wife bought a TT a couple of years ago, strung loG, and I love it. I don't think it sounds guitary at all.

You can't go wrong with a TT, it's REAL hard to find a used one, so you'll probably have to buy new. But get it and try to play it with loG, you might like it. If not, I'm sure it will sound just as pretty in hi g.

Good questions. I think it would be fine. I plan on ordering a TT in January and I will specify High g. I'd still like to be able to switch to low G to try it but all my playing and technique is High g. I will chime in when I get mine but pretty sure from response you will be fine.

Good luck.

Hi, EDW!

The Low G optimized points are shown below.



Sound hole and volume of the body regulates the lowest resonance frequency. It is shown by Helmholtz resonance. If TT is optimized for low G, it is also can use for high G. Straight saddle is good for high G too. We don't need high G compensated saddle in general. I think TT is very good for high G too.

I have the TT in Koa, I searched for a long time, but got lucky and found one that was used in excellent condition. It came strung low g, but after playing it for a while I switched it to high g. It sounds great either way. Generally, I prefer high g tuning on my ukuleles.

Camsuke is absolutely right on about Daniel Ho influence on Tiny Tenor. Daniel Ho is a Low G player. I owned a tiny tenor . The nut width is wider than regular ukulele because it’s designed for finger picking. It is meant for low G but you can still change it to high G if that’s what you like. It’s just not created with high G tuning in mind.
The strings that come with the TT is La Bella nylon. It’s great for finger picking! I still miss my TT! The most comfortable uke I have ever owned!

Personally, I think it would be ideal to have at least 2 different uke's. One for low G and another for high G. I lost the ability to play a few songs when moving to low G, they just didn't sound right. A few songs were unaffected. But I've also come up with a few songs that directly benefit from a low G that wouldn't sound well on a high G. I mostly prefer low G over high G. It gives the uke some extra oompf, and a different sound than the rest of the other players out there. It will change how you play and what you want to play. As someone who plays live for people, that low G gives a sound people aren't used to hearing from uke's. Some people can't even tell it is a uke, or know that there's something different about it. In either case, low G stands out even if people can't quite put their finger on what's different.

You don't necessarily need to play a low G string on every strum either. So you can get that treble in some parts of songs without losing too much range or making the note sound bad, and it adds a nice contrast if you're say, playing a Dm chord with just strumming 3 of the lower strings in different parts of a song.

Low G felt a bit off at first, but after playing for a bit, I don't think I can even go back to high G, unless I had a second instrument.

Yes, it's interesting how some songs just sound "off" with low G, and vice versa, while other songs sound fine in either. I find that there is a much bigger difference when playing fingerstyle.

I've been a high-g player exclusively since the day i picked up the ukulele. The Tiny Tenor changed my view of what a Low-G is capable of completely. I had my doubts about the tuning, but I would say that having at least one of each (high/low g), will benefit your skills and musicianship. Would recommend giving it a try before going back to what's safe.