How can this happen?

Icelander53

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I have a Gretsch Mahogany Tenor that I'm fond of in spite of the fact that it really can't compete with some of my other ukes. You know how that is. Anyway it's been getting a lot of string changes to try to bring it up to a level where I will want to play it more often. It really is an easy uke to play for my hands. Anywho, I got this idea to put South Coast low G strings on it and so I did. I was hoping for a minor miracle and what I got seems so strange that I wanted to post about this. First off I don't like the sound produced, OK that's what happens, BUT there was a, to my ear, monstrous increase in volume. I've never experienced anything like it. Have you?
 
That does sound strange. Could it be the badness of the sound seems amplified a bit because you dislike it so much?
 
I bought an Eddy Finn bamboo concert ukulele because I think everyone should own a bamboo instrument. After the purchase I thought it didn't sound as good as my other ukes. It hung on the wall for a couple of months until I decided to put a low G string on it. The sound coming from this uke is now nice and loud and its my daily player due to changing just 1 string. The string was a Fremont Soloist.
 
Was the Southcoast Low G a wound string? Wound strings that are very low tension will sound really loud and/or boomy.
 
It might be a due to the change of the season ad humidity levels. I have ukes that explode in the summer and go dead in the winter, no matter how I humidify them.
But I have seen volume increase and decrease with strings. the best example is with my first uke. I have an Oscar Schmidt OU-2 that I put worth clears on forever, then I decided to try worth clear high tension (Stupid thick neck and the bridge is glues and screwed). The high tension are super quiet, and the worth clears are super loud. I tried aquilas (Like those on some ukes) and it is middle of the road.
 
Had the same experience when I put Aquila nylguts on my Oscar Schmidt OU5, except that while still not loud as loud ukes go, it is also sweet sounding.
 
Likely due to differences in string tension. That is why different strings sound different on different ukuleles. Most instruments will have a sweet spot where just the right tension will really drive the top. Looks like you found it for your Gretsch!
 
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