Hi folks, I love the bright sound of machete. Can a soprano such as an Ohana SK -28 vintage handle being tune an octave higher? If so, what strings would work?
One word of caution, though. I put those strings on my very light weight, beautifully constructed KoAloha soprano. They sound great on a quality instrument like that, but on a cheap instrument, I wouldn't be so sure. That isn't meant to sound snobbish, it's just that I think a cheap, heavily made uke won't have the sensitivity needed to really let these thin strings resonate well.
Next, you'll need to get some good music for that tuning. Southcoast offers a free online copy of a Nunes book that uses that tuning. There used to be a bunch of free 19th century machete music available online. Or you could try to get a copy of Manuel Morais' bilingual Port./Eng book of machete music which was originally published in 1846. The music is wonderful and varies from easy to quite challenging.
I have a $15 Hanknn Uke strung up with south coast dgbe, high, same notes as the 7 th fret on a gcea tuned uke.
Magic sweet sound even though the uke is low cost.
The treble note is the same as a mandolin or fiddle, so a length of 0.015" fishing line would be fine for the top string on a soprano ukulele at a push, should be straightforward enough to extrapolate the rest of the strings ... an excuse for another instrument