So the Little Bruce Wei Baritone shows up today

Looks good no smears around the kerfing braces are finished nicely has a little Bruce Wei sticker with date and model # inside. Sooo the question becomes what to string it with? 19 inch scale so should I go with bari or tenor strings for GCEA

Thank you

I have a couple of 19" scale baritones from Bruceweiart. DGBE baritone strings work just fine tuned DGBE. Mind you, you can experiment if you want.

Anthony

Did it come without strings? Outrageous!!!!

Well, congrats on the new little Bari....as Stan says, "no peekchas, it didn't happen." LOL
Can we see it, pretty please? So what if it's stringless....

Ha Ha no she has strings!! But I want to play around with the 19 inch scale and gcea tuning. The uke is way small for a baritone anyway. More like tenor on steroids. I'm looking for string recommendations for a long neck tenor basically

Southcoast Strings all the way. For myself, I found the GCEA tuning didn't drive the soundboard enough and went back with his HL-SW's tuned to G tuning. Just my opinion so others please don't flame me too much.

I've got a set of Dirks Classical Metal strings on my Webber bari. tuned to Bb. The intonation and sustain is incredible. So much so, I have a Griffin tenor I'm picking up Thursday with them on tuned to C. Should sound pretty cool.

Whichever you end up with, I trust the bari will bring you years and years of enjoyment. Congratulations!

Bought one too. It cracked.

Patrick Madsen said:

Southcoast Strings all the way. For myself, I found the GCEA tuning didn't drive the soundboard enough and went back with his HL-SW's tuned to G tuning. Just my opinion so others please don't flame me too much.

I've got a set of Dirks Classical Metal strings on my Webber bari. tuned to Bb. The intonation and sustain is incredible. So much so, I have a Griffin tenor I'm picking up Thursday with them on tuned to C. Should sound pretty cool.

Whichever you end up with, I trust the bari will bring you years and years of enjoyment. Congratulations!

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:agree:.... Not a great uke for dry climates. Humidify religiously if you live in one. I live in FL and haven't had any problems with anything cracking "after" I bought it.

Yeah I've heard all the stories. If it lasts a month it's served it's purpose and if I like it I'll have a 19" scale tenor built. Just an experiment.

Photo please

My wei wei tenor though cracked and stabilized has found a beautiful voice just sitting for a year. The shipping was the bulk of the purchase I want to say the ukulele was under $20 USD maybe $18.50.

Well worth it.

~AL~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXvMXx0tWiE

MyaMoe gives these suggestion for GCEA configuration. Might work on 19" baritone but require some experiment.

-1st String Fluorocarbon .0205
-2nd String Fluorocarbon .0260
-3rd Fluorocarbon .0291
-4th String Wound .029

I live in a moderate climate. Average humidity around here is 40% which is just a little dry for ukulele's. I have not however seen any cracks in the bruceweiart ukulele's that I've bought, unless real abuse was involved. I gave one to my brother who hung it on the wall near a heater throughout winter and it has splintered a little. It still plays just fine however.

So, avoid temperature abuse and provide a little care and they are just fine.

The first ukulele that I bought from bruceweiart is over 5 years old now and still going strong.

Anthony

Winter time in ice cold countries might be a catastrophe for ukulele made in humid area. According to my understanding Bruce Wei still don't have humidity control in his workshop. All my Bruce Wei ukes I bough experienced some shrinking and it took several months for them to settle down in 40% humidity. Yes, I have a humidifier at home to keep level above 40%. Fixed sharp frets and replaced saddles and going strong again.

BUT Lets back to the topic and original question.
Total gauge for regular 17" tenor is around 40 lbs. I did a calculation using D'addario Tension Guide ( http://www.daddario.com/DAstringtensionguide.Page ). For same strings adding two extra inches (19") will cause over 10 lbs extra gauge which mean over 50 lbs gauge (gCEA tuning). The question here is if Bruce's 19" Baritone can take 50 lbs gauge or not. Sounds gambling. I would like to know.

The original scale length for baritone ukulele's as built by Kamaka was 19". There's nothing odd ball about it. I have several bruceweiart baritone ukulele's that handle the string tension of DGBE strings tuned DGBE just fine.

Anthony

Thanks Antony for information. As you said its very natural for baritone uke to handle standard DGBE but how about gCEA or GCEA? Have you tried it? Or do you think it worth to take a risk?

Congi said:

Thanks Antony for information. As you said its very natural for baritone uke to handle standard DGBE but how about gCEA or GCEA? Have you tried it? Or do you think it worth to take a risk?

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Well, my whole rationale for buying a baritone ukulele was to get the DGBE tuning, so to be honest, I haven't tried anything else.

Anthony

Congi said:

Thanks Antony for information. As you said its very natural for baritone uke to handle standard DGBE but how about gCEA or GCEA? Have you tried it? Or do you think it worth to take a risk?

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There is absolutely no risk in tuning a baritone to GCEA if you use the correct strings.

For GCEA tuning on a baritone, take a set of DGBE baritone strings and use the G, B, and E strings from this set for the G, C, and E strings. For the A string, use a Worth .0205".

I think that Southcoast has a set for GCEA tuning on a baritone.

After playing around on my beater Lanikai LU21, with various combinations of an Aquilla low G baritone set (tuned both to low G and tuned down 2 semi-tones to F A# D G which sounds better with that set than the GCEA tuning did); a set of D'Addario Titanium T2 low (tuned to both low and high D using an extra high E string; some D'Addario J68 (two wound) baritone strings tuned low D; and finally a set of D'aDDario high D set Pro Arte hard tension D'addario single strings comprised of 2 - J4601s (high E), 1 - 4602 (E), and one 4603 (G). I have pretty much settled on that last single string set. Your mileage may vary.

That last single string set has no wound strings, and gives you that re-entrant ukulele like sound, only lower, which I like. Best deal I found on them was from Amazon through Music123, where the whole single string set is $3.03 with free delivery. In other words:

j4601 $0.44 each (need 2)
J4602 $1.07
J4603 $1.08

I don't like either of my baritones (Lanika LU21and Mainland cedar top) tuned GCEA. Its not so much that they sound bad tuned GCEA, but I have a tenor and a concert for that high pitched sound. I jam every week with mostly GCEA tuned players and if everybody plays the same thing it just doesn't sound as nice as some playing a different tuned instrument. I also just like the sound of the lower tuning to accoumpany the the songs I like to sing. I don't like the boom that the low D string gives you on most baritones I have played. Going to a high D gave me the sound I was looking for and also enabled me a have a complete non-wound set of strings.

Hikina said:

Ha Ha no she has strings!! But I want to play around with the 19 inch scale and gcea tuning. The uke is way small for a baritone anyway. More like tenor on steroids. I'm looking for string recommendations for a long neck tenor basically

Click to expand...

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