Re-strung, now what?

Rob Roy

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Okay, I did it. It seemed like a no brainer to me, being a sax player who wants to play bass and survive life with an instrument easily at hand. I bought a KALA tenor. My, what a lovely sound.

Unfortunately, right away I accidently broke one of the nylon strings trying to tune it too tight. That's when I decided to replicate my Crafter fretless to string it with as heavy steel string as I could find in my local music store, Baritone Uk strings, in the .32 .33 range.

So now it is EADG. Now, I ask myself: 1) WHere can I get some really heavy strings? 2) If i am not careful, can I break the bridge? Probably not easily because it has a reinforcement but I keep hearing about people bowing guitars. Anybody out there who can offer advice about strings and overdoing it concerns?
 
Don't put steel stings on it, it can't handle the tension. Since you got them from a baritone uke string pack, I'm assuming you mean wound stings, which should be fine. I'm wondering how you got it tuned all the way down to EADG and still be playable though.

You can break the bridge or warp the neck if you put too much tension on it.
 
These sites are for Fools Like Me

First things first, thanks a million for correcting my embarassing error about steel strins. Yes, wound strings. I am sure true steel could tear up this lovely delicate instrument.

To your question 'how you got it tuned all the way down to EADG and still be playable though' are two issues: Stringwise: "Down there" is what I now call the E and A. Wound strings came with the instrument. They fit right in stringwise. Up to my now D and G, the nylon strings had to go. I'm not a nylon kind of guy. THe now G makes almost as nice a sound as the nylon but it is defininetly not strung too tightly.

Yes, the now E is rather slack but each string has it's own personality. Each string tells it's own story, with help from its string friends but not much. I try to tell a story from the perspective of my four friends, the now EADF. I introduce them to the audience. Well, that's the concept.


To me this uku is my test pilot for the Crafter and song construction. I can take it anywhere without people even noticing and certainly not caring. I like that. Plugging it in is fun too but I love the delicate full sound the instrument, acoustically. Even if Edgar (E) and Alice (A) have to be such spoiled rotten children, sonically. tksAgn
 
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