Low G on a travel soprano?

fretie

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I prefer sopranos and I prefer ‘em to be reentrant tuning.

BUT, I am taking my Kala thinline soprano on an upcoming trip and I should be practicing the low G pieces that I am working on for the newly forming ensemble group in metro Vancouver. (I normally practice the ensemble music with my lovely and very sexy Lone Tree tenor uke, strung, of course, low G.)

SO, I’ve never strung a soprano with a low G and I am wondering if I should go with a wound low G or a fatty fluorocarbon low G.

NOW, please share your experience and/or point of view on a wee soprano about to be sportin’ a low’ish Gee.
 
I am a soprano fan (see sig!) and have tried Low G on every scale size going,and
just for what it's worth, I have NEVER found Low G to work on soprano. It sounds
good on Baritone, brilliant on Tenor,and I have got away with it on Concert,once;
but to my ears, it simply does not work on Soprano scale.God luck with your own
experiment though, please report back and let us know how it worked out!
 
I would advise against a wound low G on a small body, I used to have fluorocarbon low G on mine, (when I had a soprano, but I no longer have one as the scale doesn't suit me).
 
A friend of mine uses tenor strings on some of his sopranos and quite likes the slightly higher tension - so you might be able to get acceptable low-g experience with a tenor low-g string on your soprano.
In any case YMMV and all is of course at your own risk....

Technically I believe that soprano bodies are simply too small to properly resonate the low g frequencies.
 
I am a soprano fan (see sig!) and have tried Low G on every scale size going,and
just for what it's worth, I have NEVER found Low G to work on soprano......

I suppose you could do it for practice purposes if needed. FWIW-I recall reading something written by a fine luthier years ago who said that the body of a soprano was not large enough to resonate low G properly.
 
I prefer sopranos and I prefer ‘em to be reentrant tuning.

BUT, I am taking my Kala thinline soprano on an upcoming trip and I should be practicing the low G pieces that I am working on for the newly forming ensemble group in metro Vancouver. (I normally practice the ensemble music with my lovely and very sexy Lone Tree tenor uke, strung, of course, low G.)

SO, I’ve never strung a soprano with a low G and I am wondering if I should go with a wound low G or a fatty fluorocarbon low G.

NOW, please share your experience and/or point of view on a wee soprano about to be sportin’ a low’ish Gee.

I’m inclined to accept that the standard Soprano body isn’t well suited to the low g, but less than perfection might be ok for your purpose. This chap has an interesting video and in your position I’d more likely than not try out his ‘solution’ : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E8xeoEii7DQ .
 
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Yes you can put a low G on a soprano, it won't sound as good as on a tenor, but this is for practice purposes. Fremont Soloist squeakless wound low G is a good way to go, they are suited for all scale lengths. Fremont states it on the package, see picture. I have one an an Enya X1 pineapple soprano and it sounds pretty good exactly.

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Thanks for your replies, guys.

Graham, thanks for that video link...I found it interesting...the dude did a good job on his comparisons and, hey, that 8 stringer that he created...cool!

Dave, yes, I actually picked up one of those wound low G Fremonts yesterday while at my local music store. I currently have a wound low G on my Lone Tree tenor and though it’s my first time playing a wound low G I am really enjoying it. I think I’ll try the Fremont on the travel soprano and, as another UU member suggested in a PM, I can always take along a spare high G in case my Kala thinline doesn’t look too happy under the tension of a low G.
 
Romero Creations XS Soprano comes standard with a Low G. I had one for a while and thought it worked well.

Mitch
 
The tension will be very different so I would consult with the string manufacturers to find a diameter that works with shorter scale. Also I find that a soprano is optimized for D tuning and this may work well for using a low A.
 
Good idea. Some sopranos don't really resonate well enough with a low G. Perhaps low A in D tuning might be a good solution.
 
I put a wound low g on one of my sopranos this weekend for exactly your reason--minus the travel. I just wanted a smaller uke than my tenor to practice certain pieces with occasionally. I used a string I already had (Oasis) and I am happy with the results. In fact, I think it sounds good. Certainly good enough for the intended use. Go for it! I would have had to widen the slots to use unwound, so I didn't. Also, my uke has a compensated saddle, and that's fine. Intonation is good.
 
How well it works will depend one the instrument. I keep one soprano, my Cherry 3 Martin strung with a Fremont Soloist and it is very balanced. For travel practice, you can probably get away with less than perfect, but I would still go with the Fremont Soloist. I use the same low G on one of my tenors as well. It is an excellent string, and inexpensive too.
 
Yeah, it worked out well for me using an low G Worth string on my thinlin Kala soprano uke. No big deal, easy peasy and I had what I needed for practicing while sitting under the shade of a palm tree at the beach.
 
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