Dropped G on Concert size

kafkapenguin

kafkapenguin

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 27, 2014
Messages
75
Reaction score
0
Location
High in the Rockies Co
I was just wondering how many of you out there drop the G on your Concerts. And if you do, do you use a wound G? Dropped G tuning just seems the most mellifluous sounding to my ears. Maybe because I like darker tones being a Violist. I tried dropping the G on my Kala Concert, but the string was too flabby. I ordered a wound G to try out. Just curious.


cheers
 
Most folks clicking on the title of this thread are going to be confused by it.

To relieve anyone else of the burden, I'll be 'that guy' LOL...

Conventionally, what you are referring to is called 'linear' tuning, with a low-G, as opposed to 're-entrant' tuning with a high-G.

Coming from being formerly guitarded until I was 'saved' by ukulele, if instead you tell me about a 'Dropped Tuning' this means something a bit different.

There have been dozens of deep threads on low-G string choices over the past year alone.

Might you search for 'Oasis', Fremont 'Soloist' or 'Thomastik' you will locate them, and by reading therein, achieve a massive understanding of the choices available to you, and the way to best apply those choices to your own playing.

Good luck on your journey! :music:
 
Nearly all the ukes I play regularly are low G, with Living Water flourocarbon low G concert string sets, that's tenors, & concerts, (plus I used to have them on soprano as well).
 
I'll agree with Booli re the confusion ;)

Nevertheless, my Kala concert has a set of Aquila "reds" with a low-G, Aquila code 86U. In my set the fourth (G) string was plain, ie not wound, viz. http://www.stringsandbeyond.com/aq86uredseco.html but I see from some advertisements that this code is also used for a set of strings with a wound fourth ... probably worth double checking what you're actually getting before you buy ;)

Despite the various reports of problems with Aquila "reds" snapping prematurely, I've got these strings, in various sizes, fitted on three instruments and have yet to have a problem :)

YMMV :music:
 
My new Ohana Cedar toppedTenor refuses to accept a Low G. I've tried several different string types and even used a E string (0.027") to try to get a Low G on it but all have had a boom that overrides the other strings. I even have had trouble with the C string in Hi-g C6 tuning until I used a PhD E string for a C. Even then it has a slight boom.

My Ohana Spruce topped Concert takes a Low G with just a slight boom though? My Caramel Zebra wood Laminate concert likes a Low G just fine and I only use unwound Fluorocarbons.
 
I use linear (low g) on many of my concert size ukes. I've found Fremont Soloist works well.
 
JackLuis said:
My new Ohana Cedar toppedTenor refuses to accept a Low G. I've tried several different string types and even used a E string (0.027") to try to get a Low G on it but all have had a boom that overrides the other strings. I even have had trouble with the C string in Hi-g C6 tuning until I used a PhD E string for a C. Even then it has a slight boom.

My Ohana Spruce topped Concert takes a Low G with just a slight boom though? My Caramel Zebra wood Laminate concert likes a Low G just fine and I only use unwound Fluorocarbons.
Click to expand...
So you are using a fluoro 0.027" 'E' string which is intended for the E4 note on tenor, as a low-G, i.e. G3 string. which is 9 semitones LOWER than intended? Um, the BOOM is created by too low string tension and likely your intonation is shot with such low tension.

An UNWOUND low-G on every set or as a single that I have seen for sale if fluoro is either an 0.0358" or 0.0413", like from Worths, Fremont, PhD, and Living Water.

Try using a proper gauge string for the low G since low-G fluoro singles are sold in the brands I mentioned above for about $4 each. Otherwise, you are fighting physics to use an 0.027" unwound fluoro string.
 
And just in case you already forgot about it: for a quick try you could of course simply rearrange and retune your existing re-entrant strings.

Rearrange from GCEA to CEGA and use linear tuning. Might be a bit floppy, but gives you an impression at absolutely no cost at all.
 
I was wondering if dropped G meant taking off the G string?! :rolleyes:
 
Yep, I was confused by the "dropped" G - never heard it put that way before, only "low G" or "linear."

I play low G on concert scale, and love the sound - but when I first tried it I *hated* the sound as well as the floppy feel of non-wound low G strings. I probably tried every non-wound low G out there and found them all equally awful. Then I tried a wound classical guitar D string, and loved the sound - but wasn't super fond of the squeak. I lived with it until Fremont came out with their Soloist "squeakless" wound low G, and - it was a match made in heaven! Personally I wouldn't bother with anything else.
 
I've used the wound Fremont Soloist and an unwound PhD for low G on a concert. I prefer the sound of the PhDs on my KoAloha to the Fremont Soloist + Blacklines on my Pono, but I've never done a direct comparison of string sets on one of the ukes. The PhD low G doesn't seem floppy to me.
 
I use oasis warm strings with their smooth wound low G - but that is on my Clara, which is particularly low-G friendly for a concert.
 
Booli said:
So you are using a fluoro 0.027" 'E' string which is intended for the E4 note on tenor, as a low-G, i.e. G3 string. which is 9 semitones LOWER than intended? Um, the BOOM is created by too low string tension and likely your intonation is shot with such low tension.

An UNWOUND low-G on every set or as a single that I have seen for sale if fluoro is either an 0.0358" or 0.0413", like from Worths, Fremont, PhD, and Living Water.

Try using a proper gauge string for the low G since low-G fluoro singles are sold in the brands I mentioned above for about $4 each. Otherwise, you are fighting physics to use an 0.027" unwound fluoro string.
Click to expand...

Actually the E string is a PHD, which has a bit more density than FC and was the closest string I had under 0.030", or as close as I could come. It actually worked pretty well for a Sunday afternoon McGiver. Intonation is almost perfect using it as a 3rd in C6. My TK-50G is very sensitive and the C string boomed pretty badly in C at 0.0319". I found the mass of the string makes this lightly built Cedar top pretty sensitive. I've given up trying dGBE on it for now, I have two other tenors to play dGBE so have resigned myself to C6 for "Rosy".

I put a D'Addario Low G set on it and the G 0.0413" was horrid, I switched to a D'A C (0.0319") and it was better but still boomed as it did as C! I picked the 0.027" PhD and put it in 3rd and it works pretty well. Comparable tension and only one mark flat at E on my Snark and dead on everywhere down to 12. "Rosy" is a very particular Uke. I can't explain it by theory but she likes it?
 
I had forgotten, so thanks! Although I think my cedar-topped uke would not like it, either, I may get the urge to try.

Louis0815 said:
And just in case you already forgot about it: for a quick try you could of course simply rearrange and retune your existing re-entrant strings.

Rearrange from GCEA to CEGA and use linear tuning. Might be a bit floppy, but gives you an impression at absolutely no cost at all.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks to Derrick at South Coast Strings, I have become aware of not just GCEA and gCEA, but a tuning which predates the uukulele as gCEa put a low G on both outsides and pull the a string up a full tone. I have three of the same ukuleles with the thre different tunings . An alternative to the ones with lowered G is to drop down to fCFa or fCFA.
 
kafkapenguin said:
do you use a wound G?
Click to expand...
Coming back to that part of the OP: I don't like wound strings at all, whenever I tried I found them way too boomy and overpowering the non-wound strings.
I am using Living Water and ukuMele (small german online vendor, doesn't ship abroad) unwound string sets and happy. And I loved the linear Worth BM on my Mainland concert.
 
I play only concerts and I go both ways. On my Low G instruments, I always use a wound 4th string.
 
I re-read your original post. Sounds like you lowered the tension on your High G string to try out the linear tuning. In case that's what you tried, it doesn't work that way. That string will not do under any circumstances. Although I prefer wound a Low G, you can get a non-wound that will work, as several others have said..
 
I have a tenor with a ringy low G as well (same string type, but I bought it and added it later). I noticed that the coils are higher than the string on all the others, but my coils are underneath the low G that I strung. Could this be why it is ringy??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
FOR SALE: Kanile'a K-1 Koa Concert (Price Dropped)
Replies
7
Views
916
Ziret
Ziret
KohanMike
Dropped 24 bass ukes, added one.
Replies
12
Views
676
perep
P
Hanna2233
Please, help! I dropped my iPhone in water.
Replies
7
Views
344
VegasGeorge
VegasGeorge
Wooville
Just Dropped In
Replies
8
Views
442
Wooville
Wooville
rainbow21
Tiny Tenor Spalted Mango - my jaw dropped when I saw this
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
rainbow21
rainbow21
Top Bottom