Pono UL-4 Goes Nylon

DownUpDave

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In the large thread about the new Pono UL4 steel string baritone/tenor guitar someone asked about stringing it with nylon. As a number of smarter people than me pointed out this instrument is braced and voiced for steel strings. Patrick even quoted from the Pono website stating "UL-4 will not work well with nylon strings. They won't drive the soundboard".

Well that was enough to force me to try nylon strings. I knew the lower tension would cause no problems other then the sound possibly being soft, dead and muted. I just had to give it a go.........I couldn't help myself. I ordered Oasis high tension fluorocarbon GPX classical guitar strings. I ordered single strings from Strings By Mail.

We are going to have some fun. The first sound sample is the Pono UL4-20 doing some Pink Floyd. This will give you the chance to make up your mind as to whether the floro strings "drive the sound board" or not.

The second sample is a blind shoot out. We have the Pono UL4-20 and two normal baritone ukuleles. All three are strung linear with wound 4th and 3rd and florocarbon 2nd & 1st strings.

See if you can identify the supposedly poor, weak sounding 'Tenor Guitar with Nylons", compared to the proper big brawny baritones. Recorded raw and unedited on my Samsung Galaxy S4 phone


Wish You Were Here......shortened version

https://app.box.com/s/9pe5p8z8hnllofq9swg8a3ag7mvffkoo

Blind baritone shoot out

https://app.box.com/s/ywrdpp8fpcqbiq558a6np1s1tm3jiwvw
 
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Sounds mighty good to me with the fluoro strings combo. But wot do I know?

Thanks for sharing :)
 
Thanks for the sound clips........I think the Pono sounds very good strung with the fluoro strings. With the addition of an MISI under saddle pickup I believe I would have the perfect combination of size, a mellow attack and enough projection to make me happy. Thanks for conducting this experiment.
 
I think instrument 3 is the Pono . It has a slightly more guitarish sound to me. I could be wrong though.
 
Now I'm wondering how the fluorocarbon guitar strings might work on a baritone uke for a more "guitar like" sound?
 
I think the Pono UL40 is the third example.

I use fluorocarbon Worth Clear Strings on my RBSCH Spruce top Pono Pro Classic with a wound 4th. It sounds awesome.
 
Thanks for the sound clips........I think the Pono sounds very good strung with the fluoro strings. With the addition of an MISI under saddle pickup I believe I would have the perfect combination of size, a mellow attack and enough projection to make me happy. Thanks for conducting this experiment.

You are very welcome. Your inquiry about nylon strings on this instrument was what gave me the motivation to give it a try. I am quite pleased with the results and if I did not already own two very good baritones I would be happy with this strung with florocarbon strings.
 
Fun stuff, D-U-D! I'm surprised the strings work as well as they do, so very cool that you tried it. Would be cool to hear a direct comparo with steel strings and nylon on the UL-4.

Even after several listenings with headphones, it is not obvious to my ear which one is the UL-4 in the "shoot out." Which is to say, point made! ;-)

Thanks for sharing/educating!
 
Very interesting Dave. Thanks for doing this.

Numbers 2 & 3 were crisper than number1. Number 3 was my favorite.
 
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Really nice. Thank you for sharing/posting!
 
Sounds like #3 to me also Dave. No comparison to your UL with steels strings; it's almost like the life was taken out of it.. To me it doesn't have the drive with nylon on. Even if I didn't have other baris with nylon, no way would I change the lively steel string sound of the UL.

It may be I've been looking so long and spent thousands of dollars looking for the sound the UL has that I'm not about to change it lol. I'll stick with my Webber and Chennell for nylon.

I have steel on the Chennell archtop now and am getting ready to take it back to my luthier to have a new nut made and restringing back to fluros. Will also put in a passive pickup of some kind to get that nylon jazz sound again. It doesn't have a lot of volume even with steel on. I wonder if the f holes in a smaller body bari vs guitar body mutes the sound. A pickup should fix that; I hope.

Great job experimenting. It seems to be a continued journey chasing for that special sound. Trustfully, my UAS is over after getting the UL4-40; well, at least until I sell my '62 Martin bari ..... Now, like you did, the search for the right steel string combo has begun.
 
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Great job, thanks for doing the research for all of us, Dave! All three sound so close to each other, you have easily proved that the UL4 works well enough with nylon strings instead of steel. Just for fun, I'm leaning out the window and go ahead speculating that #1 is Kamaka, #2 is your regular Pono baritone, and #3 is the UL4. Just a wild guess, as #3 sounded a little harsher to me than the other two.

Looking forward to the solution and to hearing what you think: Does the UL4 with nylon/fluorocaron strings sound better than a regular baritone, about the same, or a bit tighter?

I'll keep my UL4 strung with steel for now, as it is my most favorite go-to instrument ever since I got it. Perfect size, and so wonderfully vivid sounding.
 
Hey Rainer I am happy to have done this, it was fun. I agree with both you and Patrick about keeping the UL4 strung up with steel. It is a great sound and what I was absolutely looking for when we approached Pono about building this type of instrument.

You remembered the baritones I own, very impressive memory. I will wait until tonight or tomorrow morning for the big reveal so others can have some fun guessing.
 
Fun stuff, D-U-D! I'm surprised the strings work as well as they do, so very cool that you tried it. Would be cool to hear a direct comparo with steel strings and nylon on the UL-4.

Even after several listenings with headphones, it is not obvious to my ear which one is the UL-4 in the "shoot out." Which is to say, point made! ;-)

Thanks for sharing/educating!

Eddie your wish is my command. Back in June I sent Patrick a recording of the UL4-20 strung with medium heavy gauge Elixrs. That piece was Hotel California. We are all gonna get sick of this song but it was what I did for Patrick in June, so sorry :p I have just recorded another sample with the fluorocarbons, playing the same length of time as the prior steel string sample.

Nylon version
https://app.box.com/s/97drl52zrx8b31144mn5jnffc4ozmzmc

Steel string version
https://app.box.com/s/hnp54oir8vl3in97ykqub402c51k9cis
 
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Eddie your wish is my command. Back in June I sent Patrick a recording of the UL4-20 strung with medium heavy gauge Elixrs. That piece was Hotel California. We are all gonna get sick of this song but it was what I did for Patrick in June, so sorry :p I have just recorded another sample with the fluorocarbons, playing the same length of time as the prior steel string sample.

Nylon version
https://app.box.com/s/97drl52zrx8b31144mn5jnffc4ozmzmc

Steel string version
https://app.box.com/s/hnp54oir8vl3in97ykqub402c51k9cis

Thanks Dave. Great direct comparison.

Your UL4 sounded good in either nylon or steel strings, but I definitely prefer the steel strings on it.
 
It's difficult to tell which is which.
They all sound loud , clear and pretty. I see that You have been practicing hard !
Is that why you did not offer to re-string my Koolou ? :rolleyes:

Thanks Brenda

One word why I did not offer to restring your Ko'olau...........REDS :mad::mad::.......:biglaugh:
 
Nice comparison Dave. The UL sounds better steel but has a much "bigger" sound than a regular bari with fluros on. Will have to try a set out on the next string change. Looking on the HMS site, they only have two left.
 
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