Low G without drone

Terry7

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My Romero Tiny Tenor (spruce/rosewood) sounds great with low G. My Cordoba 35T is good. But my Pono AT resonates with low G to the point of droning. I've tried different wound low G strings, but my one year-old Pono seems to be droning more over time as it opens up.

Do other resonant tenors drone with low G (e.g., Kanile'a or Romero Grand)?

Have you had good low G luck with other small body ukuleles similar to the Romero Tiny Tenor? Maybe pineapples or Kanile'a Super Concert?

Maybe alternate designs such as Blackbirds?
 
Sounds like you might be hearing the sustain of the note, I don't like wound strings, so I have fluorocarbons on my good ukes, maybe try a set on it. :)
 
I have a Pono cedar top; low G with all unwound or wound 4th was quite drone-y, I recently put on wound 3rd and wound 4th and that really balanced it out for me. I am using the Thomastiks plus Oasis Warm for the trebles

Andy
 
My TT had that drone problem with low g (wound) so i switched to Worth. Problem solved!
 
I have a Pono cedar top; low G with all unwound or wound 4th was quite drone-y, I recently put on wound 3rd and wound 4th and that really balanced it out for me. I am using the Thomastiks plus Oasis Warm for the trebles

Andy

If you like wound strings I second this recommendation. I have wound 3rd and 4th on all my tenors, usually South Coast. I have found the Thomastik to have the least tendency to drone.
 
If it were me then I would pick the instrument that was droning as the good one with sustain and I would be disappointed that the others lacked sustain.:rolleyes:

Everyone to their own.
 
If by "drone" you mean a Wolf Note on the open string, then there may not be much you can do. Trying different strings may help, but if the resonance of that particular uke is right on the low G note then stringing re-entrant is the only remedy.
 
What strings do you have on it? To me, one of the best, most balanced low G strings is still the Fremont Soloist which you can buy as a single.

Non-wound sets such as Worth are normally said to drone more at low G, but you could give it a try just to go in a totally different direction. My Pono AT is strung with Worth Brown in low G, and every time I play it, I think it sounds better than just about any other uke I've owned.

As to your question regarding other tenors' tendency to drone: I would say that this is quite a common phenomenon and neither tied to one single brand of ukes nor strings. What I do is to take this into account with my playing style, hitting the fourth string "softer".
 
If, by "resonates", you mean it sustains too long (a good thing in my view), just touch it with a finger or thumb (of either hand). It will stop. If you mean it sounds too loud, the answer is technique; pick that string with less force. If you mean the sound is out of balance in tonal quality, you have experimentation to perform that only you can do; try different low G's AND different treble strings. With experimentation like this, technique is always an important factor to include.
 
If by "drone" you mean a Wolf Note on the open string, then there may not be much you can do. Trying different strings may help, but if the resonance of that particular uke is right on the low G note then stringing re-entrant is the only remedy.

I've experienced wolf notes, or the opposite, dead notes, and remedied it by tuning the whole uke down a half step or whole step. I've been pleasantly surprised to find how good certain ukes sound detuned.. I realize that may create a new set of problems, if you're playing with others and don't want to transpose.
 
I have Aquila Nylgut low g on a concert Flea, and it sounds really good.
 
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