Griffis has a thread asking about string sets to tune a baritone to low G . This of course is the same GCEA low G tuning popular on tenors, concert and sopranos can also be tuned in low G.
His thread got some replies that suprised me. People saying it sounds terrible, don't bother because you will lose all the low end, tension will be too high and on and on. One person said "the relative pitch of having your baritone tuned to GCEA is so terribly low that the tone and the resonance of the instrument is almost a cacophony" This person must have mistakenly tuned down octaves instead of up.
I have restrung and tuned up three different baritones to low G with great results. If you like low G and want more bass, sustain and resonance a baritone is a good way to do it. I use standard low G tenor strings, either South Coast HML-RW or Oasis warms. When tuning "up" you are increasing tension so you decrease string diameter to compensate, it is as simple as that.
Here is a very quick and dirty sound sample recorded on my phone of a baritone with HML-RW tuned up to GCEA. See if you think it is acceptable
https://app.box.com/s/vtu1i0akdnizflqn7hvz0j58wgh86p59
His thread got some replies that suprised me. People saying it sounds terrible, don't bother because you will lose all the low end, tension will be too high and on and on. One person said "the relative pitch of having your baritone tuned to GCEA is so terribly low that the tone and the resonance of the instrument is almost a cacophony" This person must have mistakenly tuned down octaves instead of up.
I have restrung and tuned up three different baritones to low G with great results. If you like low G and want more bass, sustain and resonance a baritone is a good way to do it. I use standard low G tenor strings, either South Coast HML-RW or Oasis warms. When tuning "up" you are increasing tension so you decrease string diameter to compensate, it is as simple as that.
Here is a very quick and dirty sound sample recorded on my phone of a baritone with HML-RW tuned up to GCEA. See if you think it is acceptable
https://app.box.com/s/vtu1i0akdnizflqn7hvz0j58wgh86p59
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