Different type of 5 string ukulele

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Piecomics

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I'm familiar with the five string ukuleles with the octave G. I wonder if There are custom ukulele with five strings equally spaced with the lowest string tuned lower than a low G?

What got me thinking about this was listening to some Charlie Hunter music, he is a jazz musician who has an added string or two on his guitar to play bass lines.

And you never heard of anything like this?
 
If I recall correctly, the late, great John King used to play a 5-string ukulele with no doubled courses, but I don't know how it was tuned. And I believe he eventually transitioned to a more traditional four-string uke. Of course, you just add two bass strings to a regular uke, and you've got a guitarlele. There are a lot of those.
 
I've always wanted a five string uke that has the 2 G strings but I would like the low G to be on the top and be evenly spaced apart. That way I could mute it with my thumb when I wanted to play a traditional Hawaiian song and have the bass line when I wanted it :)
 
We just got in a custom 5 string (Hi Lo G) ukulele. It is made from premium Koa that is gorgeous. The brand is KeKahuna and the builder is George Bence of Kona Hawaii. I knew nothing about brand or builder but after raising the question on UU I found out the brand is familiar to Hawaiians and played by professionals in Hawaii. Here is a link to YouTube, the player with the ukulele is playing a KeKahuna. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I_0JoPupU8 Here are pics of the KeKahuna we have.
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Rob Collins of Tin Guitar has a lovely sounding baritone 5 string (DGBE) on his blog page http://tinguitar.com/tinguitar-blog/ & I read about a Japanese ukulele a while ago (I think it was a Shimo ukulele) which allowed the player to hook either the high or low G strings to one side so it could be played with both G strings or as a high G or a low G tenor.
 
Bosko of Bosko & Honey has a Barron River concert with 5 strings. It's not evenly spaced, and there are two G strings, but it's about the closest thing I can think of to a 5 string uke like you're thinking of, as the spacing between the G strings is wider than the usual double courses.
http://boskoandhoney.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Boskos-5-String-Concert-1.jpg

Then there are of course guileles or guitarleles, which are ukes with 6 evenly spaced strings tuned like a guitar. From that you could have any tuning you'd like.
 
wayfarer75 said:
Bosko of Bosko & Honey has a Barron River concert with 5 strings. It's not evenly spaced, and there are two G strings, but it's about the closest thing I can think of to a 5 string uke like you're thinking of, as the spacing between the G strings is wider than the usual double courses.
http://boskoandhoney.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Boskos-5-String-Concert-1.jpg

Then there are of course guileles or guitarleles, which are ukes with 6 evenly spaced strings tuned like a guitar. From that you could have any tuning you'd like.
Click to expand...
I tried a guitarelele and had trouble playing it. the strings have to be spaced closer together and the neck is wider. I found a traditional 6 string more to my liking.I think a 5 string with octave G strings would be even better .
 
Who has thought of taking a guitarlele that fits their criterion for neck thickness and width, and merely making the G as a reentrant tuning so there are two bass strings....or maybe even dgGCEA?

I have three of them in inventory .. two with an arched fingerboard and one slot head. I think I'll try dgGCEA. I may even drop it to baritone adDGBE or THANK YOU DIRK !!! for introducing me to cuatro tuning with a dropped 1st string. That would allow three bass strings and three treble rather than just two, as on a 4 stringed instrument
 
Back to the OP's post...

I think we're talking about something like a rajao: http://www.southcoastukes.com/soprano largo 2.htm
It's five single courses, around modern Concert/Tenor size, and can technically be tuned dgc'e'a' even though the standard isn't so. That hooking low/high G ukulele is REALLY interesting though... great find and input!!
 
Yes, I think that's the closest instrument so far. I think we uke players aren't familiar with them.
 
The joaofrazao looks good. If only it were acoustic. But, wait a minute, if I bought a different kind of instrument....OMG...I wouldn't be a UKE player!!!! LOL
 
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