Baritone string question.

Recently i tried a Baritone at a local place and LOVED, it is a KALA ASAC-B. I never thought i would like a bari, i own a Kala Concert and have been looking to buy a high end Tenor, but after trying this bari i may end up buying it, it sounded amazing, my question is, if i wanted to tune the bari to tenor tuning do i need to change strings or can i just tune to conventional tuning GCEA with the same strings? thanks in advance.

No,you will have to use lighter strings. many string makers [Southcoast, Aquilla] make bari strings for both GCEA and gCEA.

Funny my name is Ivan too! hahaha

Anyway, you cannot tune the same strings from DGBE to GCEA.

Aquila makes a GCEA set (23u) that will sound in the same register\pitch as a tenor uke... in fact I have I think two sets that I will not use, if you want to purchase them at a very reasonable price, please send me a PM.

However, you may want to try a low octave GCEA set, they are all wound strings and sound like the bottom register\pitch of a classical guitar.

I actually wrote a review recently about these "Guadalupe" brand strings.. I like the sound which is why I will not be using the Aguila 23U strings.

you can find that thread here: http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...Review-Baritone-GCEA-Guadalupe-Custom-Strings

Ivan M said:

Recently i tried a Baritone at a local place and LOVED, it is a KALA ASAC-B. I never thought i would like a bari, i own a Kala Concert and have been looking to buy a high end Tenor, but after trying this bari i may end up buying it, it sounded amazing, my question is, if i wanted to tune the bari to tenor tuning do i need to change strings or can i just tune to conventional tuning GCEA with the same strings? thanks in advance.

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Ahhh, OK understood. I may have to pass, as i don't know how difficult it is to change Uke strings, i have changed guitar strings many times, but on these Kala ukes at the bottom they are wrapped some crazy way, lololololol. Anyhow now i understand and thank you for the responses. I will think about the Bari purchase.

changing strings is simple, you will have to do it eventually, and maybe right away no matter what size uke you buy,depending on how long the uke has been sitting in the store and what strings are on it. It is actually as easy as tying your shoes [maybe easier than installing new shoe laces]. I actually like tie bridges best, better than fiddling with bridge pins. plenty of you tube vids on how to.

strumsilly said:

changing strings is simple, you will have to do it eventually, and maybe right away no matter what size uke you buy,depending on how long the uke has been sitting in the store and what strings are on it. It is actually as easy as tying your shoes [maybe easier than installing new shoe laces]. I actually like tie bridges best, better than fiddling with bridge pins. plenty of you tube vids on how to.

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Just saw a YOUTUBE video, i agree with you not difficult at all, i will def have to do it a few times! Olarte saw your demo video, AWESOME...I may jump in my Jeep and go buy the bari, you guys are a bad influence, lolololololol!

Thanks Ivan,

did not mean to enable you but hey what can I say the more the merrier

If you do get the Bari and want to try the Aquilas in high g send me your address and I'll send you the pack I opened. I won't use them anyway and if you are new to Ukes at least you'll be playing the same chords as other sizes Ukes. No worries I'll gift them to you.

Ivan M said:

Just saw a YOUTUBE video, i agree with you not difficult at all, i will def have to do it a few times! Olarte saw your demo video, AWESOME...I may jump in my Jeep and go buy the bari, you guys are a bad influence, lolololololol!

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C strings (Low G) strings for Baritone are readily available from Southcoast, among others.

I have a Kala spruce bari that LOVES being tuned to low G, though I usually keep him in the key of A "Low E"

You can also get re-entrant strings for dGBE tuning. I have a Riptide Bari and a Kamoa Tenor. The Bari has been tuned with low D and the Tenor with gCEA. But I'm just starting to experiment with dGBE on the Bari and I like how it sounds. Best thing about it is that I've been learning from some fingerstyle TAB songbooks and with re-entrant tuning on both instruments I can use either one and get the same affect, albeit in a different key. As a bonus, it's been good for my singing practice to sing songs in two different keys.

I bought a Harmonia UKLL2N baritone recently, which is solidly built but heavily laminated and lacquered and has a small voice. (Hey, it was cheap.) The re-entrant anonymous factory string set was just WRONG. I replaced it with a Martin M610 clear fluorocarbon DGBE (low-D) set because 1) the D and G are wrapped for richer tones and 2) fluorocarbons don't take as long as Aquila nylguts to stretch. I'm using that bari as a sort of quiet guitar replacement for practicing at night without disturbing anyone. I'm not sure I like the low-D because the bari *IS* more guitar than 'uke that way, but I'm also not sure the bari is suitable for another tuning just because it *is* so quiet. Well, I'll wear out that wrapped bottom string and replace it with a high-d just for ducks. It'll be going through changes, for sure.