Requinto guitar with low ukulele action

I have a requinto guitar, which is smaller than a guitar, and with the ukulele tuning. I am thinking about having a solid wood requinto constructed by a Luthier. I like the low action and the ability to slide and bend on the Kamaka with the Kamaka nylon strings.

Does anyone know if I can combine the two: have a requinto with the characteristics of the Kamaka uke? Reason: I like the 2.40-2.5 mm string action height at the 12th fret on my tenor uke. I also like the larger uke body of the requinto, as I can rest my arm on it vs struggling with the tenor size uke. I have considered the guitarlele but the strings are too close for my comfort. The music style is different with the requinto playing and actually play Hawaiian- type music on the requinto, and Latin-style music on the uke.

Thanks for any input.

I'm confused . Do you want 4 strings or 6? And what scale length?

valde002 said:

Does anyone know if I can combine the two: have a requinto with the characteristics of the Kamaka uke

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Yes, you can. I love requinto guitar too.
The easiest way to make your Kamaka requinto guitar may be like this below.

• Bring your own requinto to you local guitar tech.
• Ask him that you want lower action on your requinto. Then he will set up (nut and saddle of) the requinto for you in order to get your favourite action. He may suggest different tuning other than ukulele. ukulele tuning is (ADCEA). I actually tune requinto as regular guitar (EADGBE) in order to get lower tension.
• This requinto is prototype of your "Kamaka requinto guitar". If this requinto is good enough for you, bring it to your luthier.
• Ask him solid wood requinto like your prototype.

I understand guitarlele strings are too close for your comfort. Requinto is in-between guitalele and guitar and it may be in your sweet spot.

Jim Hanks said:

I'm confused . Do you want 4 strings or 6? And what scale length?

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Hey Jim, the requinto is a 6 string smaller scale guitar, ~ 540 mm. It is usually part of a Trios Romanticos group, and also was used for the orginal bachata music before the Yamaha APX. To me the uke is more frustrating because of the slippery football situation, with the requinto you just rest your arm on it and play. It is typically tuned the same as the uke. I am wondering if I can get the easy feel of the Kamaka with the larger body of the requinto; it would be larger than the baritone I believe. I wonder if it is possible to have such a lower action with a larger requinto scale, as I know that the higher the scale the more tension the strings have. What draws me to the uke is not the sound, but the easy feel of the Kamaka strings (any other strings that I have tried do not match them, esp the thinner flouro ones). Thanks for your input Jim

zztush said:

Yes, you can. I love requinto guitar too.
The easiest way to make your Kamaka requinto guitar may be like this below.

• Bring your own requinto to you local guitar tech.
• Ask him that you want lower action on your requinto. Then he will set up (nut and saddle of) the requinto for you in order to get your favourite action. He may suggest different tuning other than ukulele. ukulele tuning is (ADCEA). I actually tune requinto as regular guitar (EADGBE) in order to get lower tension.
• This requinto is prototype of your "Kamaka requinto guitar". If this requinto is good enough for you, bring it to your luthier.
• Ask him solid wood requinto like your prototype.

I understand guitarlele strings are too close for your comfort. Requinto is in-between guitalele and guitar and it may be in your sweet spot.

Click to expand...

Hey ZZ, that's great that I found someone with the same interests on this forum! I have been to two local music stores and they have each lowered the requinto down to their comfort levels. It still has a ways to go. I will have to bring it back to one of them; I know that it cannot be EXACTLY like the Kamaka feel, but something close would be awesome!

Thanks for the lowered tuning suggestion. I am learning 90's bachata by ear and currently have it tuned to the normal ADCGEA tunings so that I can reproduce. I have the black nylon Bella requinto strings which are thicker and will try detuning lower to get it to relax. What is your action height set up to? The luthier I am in contact with is in Ecuador, so I would have to describe my situation.

Hi, valde002! You have already lowered action of your requinto. That is very good. The action of my requinto guitar is very low. It is as low as electric guitar, 1.5mm on 6th strings and less than 1.5mm on 1st string.

I love Kamaka's comfortable playability. We need another step for Kamaka requinto. The problem is the tension of requinto guitar. Their scale is about 540cm on the other hand Kamaka tenor is 430cm. And both have same tuning with same strings (same as classcial nylon strings). Reguinto gets higher tension than Kamaka (see the figure below).



We need to lower this tension as long as the action for Kamaka requinto. What I have done is

1. Remove 6th string (See the photo below)
2. Shift 5 strings to the left
3. Put fish line as 1st string

This fish line is fluorocarbon. Duel TB Carbon Schock Leader 25lbs. type 7, 12kg, diameter is 0.435mm. It is very thick compare to common fish line. If you have this one, you can lower tension of any of your ukuleles and nylon strings guitars because this one is thinner than classical 1st strings.



We need two steps one is action one is tension for Kamaka requinto. And now we have Kamaka's comfortability on the comfortable body of requinto. I like to play Trio los Panchos on my requinto.

You rock zztush- haha 'Kamaka requinto'- I love it!

I tried lowering the tuning on it by 2 whole steps and it feels like it is getting close to the Kamaka feel. I can even bend the notes! So I know what you say can be done.

Will look out for the fishing line and let you know how it goes. I was tempted to go to a local Luthier to see if he can maximally lower the nut and bridge, as there does seem to be some more room to lower it. But this might just do the trick! You sure do know your stuff