Strings for Fanner electric baritone

Cat M · May 31, 2019

Hi all --

I just received my new Fanner electric baritone uke. So this is my first time dealing with steel strings.

My main uke is a custom Kimo acoustic-electric bari and I have settled on Galli UX780 for it, after trying quite a few different sets. But I know nothing about steel strings.

Fanner recommends standard electric guitar strings, 10s or 11s (apparently these numbers refer to the gauge of the high E), so I'm going to pick a few sets and experiment.

But... round, half-round, flat, coated, steel, nickel, chrome, balanced... huh?? D'Addario alone has dozens of choices.

I'll be playing some jazz and classic rock, mainly rhythm and chord melodies.

I know there are a lot of guitar + uke players around here so I thought maybe you folks could give me a few suggestions.

Thanks!

Jim Hanks · May 31, 2019

Tuning in to hear other answers. What's the scale length? I have a 19" baritone Konablaster that I have never changed the strings on. It's probably time.

Was thinking about some flat or coated or something but I dunno

What did it come with?

Cat M · May 31, 2019

19". It's the single-cutaway Pixelator model.

I'm not sure what it came with. Steel strings, lol. I should ask. I haven't had much chance to play with it yet due to preparing for an acoustic event, but first impressions are great.

Jim Hanks · May 31, 2019

FWIW, I found my old NUD post and mine came with DGBE tuning with "light" gauge steel strings - .011 .014 .022W .030W
Probably Ernie Ball or similar.

I'd love to hear a sound sample when/if you are able.

I'm also waiting to hear about kohanmike's bass build he is doing with Fanner.

Cat M · May 31, 2019

The Fanner came with DGBE.

One thing I'm noticing right off the bat with my research is that it's cheaper to buy singles than sets, since you only need four and guitar sets are six.

Strings by mail has a good selection of singles and it looks like you save about a third just buying the four lighter gauges as singles. They do a good job of organizing their pages so you can easily find the singles that comprise a particular set.

KohanMike · May 31, 2019

Jim Hanks said:
I'm also waiting to hear about kohanmike's bass build he is doing with Fanner.

Me too, I was just going to post that Fanner is building me 22.8" bass uke. Brian is working on it, but it seems he has a lot of other work, and he said a couple of weeks ago that his computer died and is searching for a new one. He's going to custom make a bridge that looks like the Gibson/Epiphone three point.

The Pixelator is in the style of a Fender Telecaster guitar. I had the same style 22" bass made by Bruce Herron of Blue Star Guitar (Konablaster) in Michigan about 4 years ago.

Fanner Pixelater

My Tele Bass

Fanner bass build style

This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers

Cat M · May 31, 2019

Yeah it's a baby Telly

I'm really looking forward to hearing about your new bass too.

Ordered the Pixelator at Christmas time, ho-ho-ho, and it shipped around mid-April. There was brief delay with the South African postal service. But all in all not a long wait.

Cat M · May 31, 2019

Pics of the new Fanner including a shot next to the Kimo bari. The Kimo still hasn't named itself yet but I think the Fanner wants to go by Pixie since it is a baby Telly they call a Pixelator.

Cat M · May 31, 2019

dang I didn't do the attachments right. Newb.

Jim Hanks · May 31, 2019

two very classy ukes there. From their web sites, I didn't know either Kimo or Fanner did classy.

(not that there's anything wrong with that. :nana: )

Cat M · May 31, 2019

Jim Hanks said:
two very classy ukes there. From their web sites, I didn't know either Kimo or Fanner did classy.
(not that there's anything wrong with that. :nana: )

They do whatever you say

I like woody.

ETA: Actually, they do whatever you pay

KohanMike · May 31, 2019

Cat M said:
dang I didn't do the attachments right. Newb.

You can easily fix that, click Edit Post then simply add 2 carriage returns after Pixelater. to move the attachment below your sentence.

Cat M · May 31, 2019

Bill1 said:
Steel strings are not nylon strings. They settle much faster and wear out faster than nylon. Many players will change the strings for every performance or lesson if they are going to a physical teacher. If you play them hard, you may need a new set every fortnight.
Also you connect the instrument to an amp and pedals.
I tend to go to a shop and buy a lower cost bulk order of 5 - 10 packets of a reasonable light steel strings (0.010" -) and then let the amp and pedals take care of the sound. Effectively the electric uke is very close to being a four string electric guitar, you can get almost any sound you want by twiddling knobs and adding pedals. The strings need to be good, but maybe you don't bother messing around with them as much as nylon strings on a ukulele. The only sounds you can't get are the low notes.
I have a Jupiter Creek Tele Uke, which uses real Telecaster components and was made near Adelaide. The maker has passed away now, he used to sell them on eBay. Its a Tenor scale and it is tuned GCEA using light normal guitar strings.

Thanks for the tips

Cat M · May 31, 2019

kohanmike said:
You can easily fix that, click Edit Post then simply add 2 carriage returns after Pixelater. to move the attachment below your sentence.

I'm trying to learn how to make the images appear within the post.

testing 1-2-3

KohanMike · May 31, 2019

Looks good. I like nice big photos in a post rather than thumbnails.

This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers

Strings for Fanner electric baritone

Cat M

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Jim Hanks

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Cat M

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Jim Hanks

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Cat M

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KohanMike

Los Angeles, Beverly Grove West

Cat M

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Cat M

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Cat M

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Jim Hanks

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Cat M

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KohanMike

Los Angeles, Beverly Grove West

Cat M

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Cat M

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KohanMike

Los Angeles, Beverly Grove West

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