Lillymo
Well-known member
I just bought a Favilla Soprano in nice condition. I suspected it hadn't been tuned in a very long time so when I put new Martin M600s on it, I initially tuned it to DGBE. Huge surprise: it sounded really great! Lovely tone, lots of volume. The only issue was the sound was a little bit floppy, hardly noticeable. It didn't feel floppy at all and was a pleasure to play.
Over the next couple days, I brought it up to the typical GCEA Soprano range. Nice tone, but not as nice as the lower tuning. Do I have an itty bitty re-entrant baritone on my hands? For comparison I lowered the pitch of my Mainland soprano to DGBE and the tone was bland - clearly this isn't a tuning that would work on every soprano.
I thought I might try thicker OR high density fluorocarbon strings on the Favilla to eliminate the floppy sound. My theory is, because of the lower tuning. the increased tension would be minimized so they wouldn't put undue stress on this little vintage ukulele. I'd stick with a high GCEA set because a high D seems more achievable than a low D on a soprano.
Kooky yes, but I have to ask - anybody ever tune a soprano like a baritone?
Over the next couple days, I brought it up to the typical GCEA Soprano range. Nice tone, but not as nice as the lower tuning. Do I have an itty bitty re-entrant baritone on my hands? For comparison I lowered the pitch of my Mainland soprano to DGBE and the tone was bland - clearly this isn't a tuning that would work on every soprano.
I thought I might try thicker OR high density fluorocarbon strings on the Favilla to eliminate the floppy sound. My theory is, because of the lower tuning. the increased tension would be minimized so they wouldn't put undue stress on this little vintage ukulele. I'd stick with a high GCEA set because a high D seems more achievable than a low D on a soprano.
Kooky yes, but I have to ask - anybody ever tune a soprano like a baritone?
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