Restringing and other questions

I have three ukuleles: I wish to experiment with low G tuning.

No name baritone
GH&S Melody junior banjolele (13")
Martin 1T IZ Tenor

Baritone has two wound metallic strings. Is there any reason not to use monofilament for these?

Banjolele: 3rd and 4th strings are the same wire gage monfilament. I took a chance in tuned it to a high G. It worked. Dare I tune it up another 100c(full tone?)bto an A for Formby style tuning or am I pushing my luck?

Martin Tenor:
entire Body is solid quilted mahogany. What does quilted mean in this context?
nut and proportional bridge are tusq. What is tusq?
fretboard is Solid East Indian Rosewood.

I had my uke debut last week. The uke was miked. A friend at the back of the audience couldn't hear the uke very well. This may be due to improper technique on my part or???

String questions:

I am interested in volume and durability at this time. What material of mono-filament do you recommend?

What tool should I use to snip the strings? I have had some problems in this regard with metal and wound strings in the past.

Is there any reason not to reuse the strings? In this instance I am planning to use a low G on the Martin and transfer the High G to the Melody Jr. Then I plan to replace the Low G on the Martin with a High G and maybe re-install the low G to the Melody Jr.

What mono-filament AWG do you recommend for the low G string?

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

Lots of questions, Tusq I would assume is some type of ivory, could be elephant, mammoth or a few other critters that have tusks. Unless it's some sort of manmade material called tusq that I haven't heard of. Ivory is less bright than bone for saddles. It's not what I would use nor would I want to use the tusks of anything other than long dead mammoths.

Worth strings are the strings I usually use on my ukuleles. Brown if you want a little warmer sound, clear for a brighter. The clear come in a good variety of weights and tensions. I don't like playing a wound string. Worth strings are not wound for lowG tenor.

baritone. yes, there is a reason for not using mono for basses on a bari, unless you want a higher tuning. the nonwound strings would have to be too large a diameter. if you want non wound you could tune it GCEA with some strings like southcoast offers.

tusq is a synthetic bone like material. quilted refers to the grain pattern.

miking a uke can be tricky. you have to be really close to some mics and/ or the gain has to be high . maybe you were too far away, or the gain wasn't high enough, or the volume was too low or ...

banjolele- if tuned reentrant, the 1 & 4 string should be similar diameter, not the 3rd &4th, assuming gCEA, you shouldn't have any trouble going up a step, assuming standard strings. [1234- one is closest to floor]

the worth recommendation is good, they are fluorocarbon not monofiliment. . the mono is larger diameter and has a softer feel[for me] I like fluoro , there are lots of good brands, Worth,Oasis, Living waters, etc. you have lots of low G choices. see the strings sticky here on the Forum.

I frequently reuse strings if they are not worn.
I am no expert, others may have better answers.

Tusq:

http://www.graphtech.com/products/brands/tusq

IamNoMan said:

Baritone has two wound metallic strings. Is there any reason not to use monofilament for these?

Click to expand...

I've tried several sets of all plain strings on my Ohana bari. The lower strings (D, G) just seemed too floppy and unresponsive. I like the 2 plain/2 wound configuration much better.

OTOH, I prefer all plains for low G tuning on a tenor. My favorites are Worth browns.

Living water has an all unwound set for DGBE. Worked well on a 20" Lanikai baritone. Might be too floppy on a 19".

D tuning for soprano should be fine but you might want to get strings designed for it like Southcoast Light Medium.

Much obliged Guys.