Pirate Jim
Well-known member
So I picked this up secondhand a week or two ago. I've been selling off many ukes (some still to go) to scale down but I developed a hankering for a bigger baritone after my baritone went. I like the deeper sound of a baritone but have found the ones I've played to sound muddy when strummed and I don't like the lower string tension. I've been keeping an eye out for a Pono Big Baritone but they are few and far between over here. I thought I'd give this one, with it's 21.4" scale and larger than usual body, a whirl and see how I felt.
I've strung it with Thomastik-Infeld CF35 and CF30 basses and some clear nylon trebles (guitar G and B for the B and E). The tension is lovely. I've been playing exclusively re-entrant for a while now so it took me a few days to warm back up to linear tuning. But the sound is just great. To the point that I'm now thinking about putting a low G on my tenor. It's clear, it's smooth, it's not muddy and I can really dig in on the strumming and it's got all the headroom for that I need. The trebles ring out really clearly, all the way up the neck. I am impressed. It's also a surprisingly comfortable size - big enough to feel like a guitar (and I am a converted guitarist) whereas some normal baritones have felt a bit neither one thing nor the other to me. This one is a keeper. It also has a MiSi so that's a nice bonus.
I've strung it with Thomastik-Infeld CF35 and CF30 basses and some clear nylon trebles (guitar G and B for the B and E). The tension is lovely. I've been playing exclusively re-entrant for a while now so it took me a few days to warm back up to linear tuning. But the sound is just great. To the point that I'm now thinking about putting a low G on my tenor. It's clear, it's smooth, it's not muddy and I can really dig in on the strumming and it's got all the headroom for that I need. The trebles ring out really clearly, all the way up the neck. I am impressed. It's also a surprisingly comfortable size - big enough to feel like a guitar (and I am a converted guitarist) whereas some normal baritones have felt a bit neither one thing nor the other to me. This one is a keeper. It also has a MiSi so that's a nice bonus.