Vintage Baritone questions

tkthompson

Active member
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
37
Reaction score
0
Location
Western Massachusetts
By way of introduction: my name is Todd, I'm a newbie to this forum, and I'm really impressed by the wealth of info on this board and the generosity of the members. I was hoping some of the vintage baritone owners could clear up some questions I had.

A year ago (before I discovered this site) I picked up one of the "gamblers special" Lanakai baritones. Aside from some fretboard discoloration (wood filler?) and a high nut and action (2mm at nut; 1.5mm at 1st fret, 3mm at 12th), hard to complain. Any suggestions on how to go about lowering the action?

The LU-21B was my gateway drug; a few weeks ago I won an Ebay estate auction for a late-vintage Harmony that had spent the last 50 years in someone's closet. I got lucky: it cleaned up beautifully, has a sweet action, accurate tone, and sounds amazing (esp in lower tunings). And I really love the 19" scale. Any recommendations for strings and tunings on the Harmony? The D'Addario Nyltech's sound great in the linear G (DGBE), A, and Bb tunings. But I was curious if, as a rule it was better to shy away from higher tension strings/tunings with vintage ukes (in which case I'll look to tune down to Bb rather than up).

Also, I tried out the high G Aquila baritone set; the tone was nice but the volume was surprisingly constrained (less than my KPK concert with Worth clears). Any string recommendations for high G and/or high D tunings?

Finally, while I'm smitten with the Harmony, I'm looking to find her a reasonably-priced 19" companion (Favilla, Vega, ??) with a slightly wider nut and string spacing. The Harmony has a 1 1/4" nut and the string spacing is 33.5mm at the 12th fret). I understand the Favilla nut is 1 3/8". Can anyone report on the Favilla string spacing @ the 12th fret and/or bridge? Also, what's a fair price for a Favilla in good shape?

The Vegas also sound interesting but I've read conflicting reports on nut sizing and scale across the various makes/models. Does anyone happen to know what the nut and string spacing is on the model with "Boston 16" blue label and the plain "Arthur Godrey Baritone Ukulele VEGA" headstock (no "Standard" or "De Luxe")?

You can probably see where this is going... I'd welcome any recommendations on vintage makes and models. And if anyone is looking for a caring home for a vintage 19" bari with 1 3/8+" nut, I'm in the market.
 
I also have an old Harmony bari. They're incredibly sturdy so I feel they can handle fairly high tension. I also have it strung up with D'Addarios but have used standard Aquila Reds tenor scale strings to do reentrant G tuning on her. I found it had a lot more volume and definition with the Reds. The only reason I took them off was because I needed them for another uke.
 
Haha! LU21B was my gateway drug too. After that one I got a 19" Bruko bari, and just recently got a new 19" bari from Ono. I'm done now. I swear. :)

I shy away from higher tension strings anyway. The Ono currently is strung with the Living Water low d set but the low D is not an ideal match for the short scale. I have mine tuned up to Ab tuning and it sounds great as long as you stay below the 12th fret. Living Water has a high d set that I think would be a better match but I haven't tried it as I'm keeping this one linear.

For Bb, I'm planning on trying a custom Living Water set I ordered with the low D. The standard tenor low G set actually works well for A tuning on the bari (I had that on the Bruko) and would probably be ok at Bb. Another low tension Bb option I want to try is Southcoast LML-NW.
 
Welcome, Todd!

A decent Favilla baritone is typically in the $300-$400 range.

I recently bought a vintage Kamaka baritone here (likely made in the 70's). Only mentioning it because I was surprised its scale length is 19" and if that's your focus, there's another one to look for (they don't come up as often and cost will likely be in the $800+ range).
 
I got a solid mahogany 1950's Silvertone for $113usd on ebay in Feb of this year. The Brazilian rosewood is stunning and plays as good or better than the ebony fret board on the Pono MTD I once owned.
Amazing uke with lots of volume. Currently, strung with Martin Fluorocarbon D,G,B,E.
I waited two months for mine: looking, missing out on a few(per too high), reviewing, listening, posting questions, etc.
My two cents, wait for that one that "speaks to you". And buy/bid responsibly.

here is the one I scored:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-SIL...yNxcNaB9%2BDjUki%2B8k%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
 
I have an old 1970's Giannini laminate baritone. I have it strung with Southcoast low all non-wound strings (can't recall exactly which ones). They're quite nice despite the premium price. I have those tuned low Bb tuning now (down a step from low GCEA). I have also tried and like Living Water's re-entrant dGBE (high D) tuning. Some people hate the Martin strings (2 wound/ 2 fluoro) but I didn't mind those either. Baritone strings have a ton of tuning options, which is a big plus for baritones compared to most other sizes.
 
A few weeks ago I picked up an old Harmony baritone. It has Aquila Nylgut, low D, but it doesn't have baritone strings. I think they are a soprano set as there is only a single wound string. I'm not saying these are better than what others have suggested, but they seem to work well on the baritone I have.

John
 
Top Bottom