k0k0peli
Well-known member
I've recently mentioned and discussed some 5ths tunings. Here are some of my thoughts thereon, if anyone cares.
I've been playing guitar for 50 years and noodling at mandos for 30 years; I am much more of a guitar-chord guy. I love playing melodies on mandolin but have a hard time with chords because my hands ain't small, and mandolin necks are narrow. I've explored options. I restrung a fretted Cumbus o'ud in 5ths as a sort of banjo-cittern, and I recently bought a mandola. WIth both, the chord forms make my hands stretch more than comfortable, maybe because the necks are about 1.5in / 38mm wide at the nut. (Guitars are only a bit wider.) What to do?
My mandolin necks are about 1in / 25mm wide. My soprano 'ukes' necks are about 1.25in / 32mm wide, a nice comfortable size for me. (My concert is 35mm.) Sopranos and mandolins are both around 14-inch scale length. Put those together, and Voila! I restrung a soprano with the Aquila 30U Soprano Fifths set. (They also have the 31U Concert Fifths set available.) After those Nylguts stretched a while they played nicely but I don't know how long the thin top and wound bottom strings will last.
Member SteveZ had a solution: use 20-pound test fishline for the top string and re-purpose a standard GCEA low-G set with the G and C reversed and the E detuned to D. This gives a re-entrant mando tuning. I took that idea one step beyond, heh heh. Yesterday, on another soprano, I just reversed its strings! I set them to a#-F-C-G (brighter than a-E-B-F#) for a re-entrant tuning that lets me play mando chord forms with a truly 'uke sound. That tuning makes for weird fingerpicking but nice strumming, sort of like my Kala 6-string tenor with octave-doubled 1st and 3rd courses.
The effect? The uke with the Aquila Fifths set is like fingering a quiet, easily-handled mando. It's great for practicing melodic playing. The uke with the reversed strings is quite strummable with easily-formed mando chords. It's great for working on the mando chord forms I've neglected for so long. They both work for me.
Besides SteveZ, who all else here uses 5ths stringings?
I've been playing guitar for 50 years and noodling at mandos for 30 years; I am much more of a guitar-chord guy. I love playing melodies on mandolin but have a hard time with chords because my hands ain't small, and mandolin necks are narrow. I've explored options. I restrung a fretted Cumbus o'ud in 5ths as a sort of banjo-cittern, and I recently bought a mandola. WIth both, the chord forms make my hands stretch more than comfortable, maybe because the necks are about 1.5in / 38mm wide at the nut. (Guitars are only a bit wider.) What to do?
My mandolin necks are about 1in / 25mm wide. My soprano 'ukes' necks are about 1.25in / 32mm wide, a nice comfortable size for me. (My concert is 35mm.) Sopranos and mandolins are both around 14-inch scale length. Put those together, and Voila! I restrung a soprano with the Aquila 30U Soprano Fifths set. (They also have the 31U Concert Fifths set available.) After those Nylguts stretched a while they played nicely but I don't know how long the thin top and wound bottom strings will last.
Member SteveZ had a solution: use 20-pound test fishline for the top string and re-purpose a standard GCEA low-G set with the G and C reversed and the E detuned to D. This gives a re-entrant mando tuning. I took that idea one step beyond, heh heh. Yesterday, on another soprano, I just reversed its strings! I set them to a#-F-C-G (brighter than a-E-B-F#) for a re-entrant tuning that lets me play mando chord forms with a truly 'uke sound. That tuning makes for weird fingerpicking but nice strumming, sort of like my Kala 6-string tenor with octave-doubled 1st and 3rd courses.
The effect? The uke with the Aquila Fifths set is like fingering a quiet, easily-handled mando. It's great for practicing melodic playing. The uke with the reversed strings is quite strummable with easily-formed mando chords. It's great for working on the mando chord forms I've neglected for so long. They both work for me.
Besides SteveZ, who all else here uses 5ths stringings?