Converting Lfdm tenor to fifths tuning

Barry Canada

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Wondering if any one has done this and if you have been successful what strings do you suggest?
Thanks, Barry
 
Barry, there have been a couple of pretty long discussion threads on this one. I believe one was last year, but I don't recall if it was for tenors or not. I was involved in one of those threads, but it might have been for baritone. If you go into the Search box and type in "fifths tuning" you should come up with them.

The Aquila 31U string set will give you fifths tuning (CGDA). I think they also have a GDAE fifths-tuning set.

I tried fifths tuning on baritone, but didn't care for the sound of it.
 
I just want to take the opportunity to ask, I hear about tuning to fifths quite often. I was at a festival recently and the woman next to me wanted me to know that she was tuned in fifths. I didn't get a chance to talk to her about it. So what is the reason to tune to fifths? Would that require one to use a different fingering for chords? What do you gain by it? What do you have to give up for it? Okay, thanks. I just wondered.
 
I just want to take the opportunity to ask, I hear about tuning to fifths quite often. I was at a festival recently and the woman next to me wanted me to know that she was tuned in fifths. I didn't get a chance to talk to her about it. So what is the reason to tune to fifths? Would that require one to use a different fingering for chords? What do you gain by it? What do you have to give up for it? Okay, thanks. I just wondered.

I play a lot with fiddlers and mandolin players and they are tuned to fifths. So when I bought another concert and I read about the Aquila set I thought it could be a good way to learn about the finger positions that the fiddle and mando people use. It's also a tuning that is used for tenor guitars and tenor banjos and quite a few tabs and songbooks out there. It works quite nicely for chord melody picking and has a lot more bass than regular uke with CGDA. But on my concert that has a tiny little Martin shape the strings are just too floppy for my liking and I have not been motivated this summer to really dig into it. It may be better on a tenor or baritone size, or with an actual tenor banjo.
 
I just want to take the opportunity to ask, I hear about tuning to fifths quite often. I was at a festival recently and the woman next to me wanted me to know that she was tuned in fifths. I didn't get a chance to talk to her about it. So what is the reason to tune to fifths? Would that require one to use a different fingering for chords? What do you gain by it? What do you have to give up for it? Okay, thanks. I just wondered.

Yes, the fingering patterns would be different for chords, because the strings are tuned differently. In fifths tuning, the strings are tuned farther apart from each other ("more notes apart" from each other, not physically farther apart from each other). So the entire set of four strings covers a wider range of notes from low to high. That makes it easier to play some chords, or some types of music. When you play chords it has a different sound than the typical uke/guitar tuning. I play both types of tunings on different instruments. Neither is inherently better than the other, they're just different. My tenor guitar and tenor banjo are tuned in fifths. I tried fifths tuning on my uke and didn't like the sound of it. But of course it's a very personal thing.

Depending on your degree of knowledge about intervals, scales, etc., one could go into much more detail. If you go into a music shop that stocks tenor guitars or tenor banjos and play one, you'll get a sense of what it sounds like. In the classical world, violins, violas and cellos are tuned in fifths.
 
Thanks for all your input. This seems to have inspired lots of discussion and comments.
I am exploring fifth tuning because I have been a mandolin player for a very long time and find it frustrating learning the new fingerings. I play many instruments in Fifth tunings like Mandola, Octave mandolin, tenor banjo and tenor guitar +++.
I find it so easy to switch between these instruments. I like to play jazz standards utilizing typical jazz progressions along with extensions. When I pick up my beautiful sounding tenor LFDM I become impatient and frustrated that I cannot swing this instrument. I then give up and store the Uke once again! I was trained classically on the mandolin as a child and play classical tunes such as Bach Prelude with no problems I do understand changing to fifths would sort of “insult” this beautiful luthier built LFDM tenor ukulele. At least I would use it as more playable voice to be added Tom my toolbox of instruments .
Thanks for all your considerate posts,
Barry
 
Standard mandolin length is between 13" for a bowl back and 13-7/8" for a f style. This would correspond with a soprano ukulele. A mandola the next size up in the mandolin family has a scale length of 16-17" (similar to concert-tenor ukulele scale)and is tuned CGDA which is also tuned in fifths.
 
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Keenouke,
Could you recommend strings which would give me the CGDA tuning on my tenor?
Thanks!
 
Interesting discussion. I’m a simple Uke player but if I were vested in fifths like you are, I’d change the tenor to fifth.
My brother is a big mandolin player. Has all the sizes. He got a Uke, played for the novelty but always went back to mandolins. Also, if you play with fiddle and other instruments in fifths , seems like the way to go. Good luck. Thanks for bringing this topic up. I’ve never considered it. Trying to stay above water make my high g ukes sound musical. LOL
 
I don't fully know. Why not post a thread asking the forum.
 
Keenouke,
Could you recommend strings which would give me the CGDA tuning on my tenor?
Thanks!

Hi I finally discussed this with Matt at Strings by mail. He's suggested the following for a tenor ukulele to be strung in mandolin tuning of g d a e. Please bear in mind I asked him to select strings for standard mandolin tuning. So the G string is the lowest note and the E string is higher than the ukulele strings.

Matt suggested:
NYL019 e
TENSION 13.26357

NYL028 a
TENSION 12.83499859

NYL040 d
TENSION 11.66809664

NYL029W g
TENSION 13.40886619

The link below shows the tuning for a mandolin versus a piano keyboard
http://www.get-tuned.com/mandolin-tuning-piano.php
I'm ordering the strings so I'll let you know. I'm also going to order fifths tuning for Soprano and for the Concert. I'm not sure which I'll try first. :)
 
Well I am finally getting back to this thread. I have really been enjoying my Lfdm tenor with 31u fifth string tuning. Primarily I am an advanced mandolin player and my brain thinks naturally in fifths. Now I could easily play all my chord progressions naturally without having to learn new configurations. I intend to try out different gauges of strings in order to fine tune the tonal quality of my ukulele.
Is anyone familiar with the expected longevity of these Aquila 31u strings? Also any other recommended string gauges for 5ths?
 
I have the Aquila set on my soprano and I can’t say I love the tone, but they are holding up. I’m usually a frequent string changer but am using this uke as a quiet practice mandolin and haven’t bothered with changing them. They’ve been on for over a year now (actually probably closer to two years). I do have a Fremont soloist for the G. I’m curious to see what others are using and need to read the older posts in this thread.
 
My Gold Tone BUT tenor banjolele has Aquila concert, CGDA fifths strings on it. I tuned it down to BbFCG though because they felt too tight to me.

I mostly fingerpick and it sounds and feels okay to me. I seldom play it though, and hardly ever strum much anymore. :eek:ld:
 
Well I am finally getting back to this thread. I have really been enjoying my Lfdm tenor with 31u fifth string tuning. Primarily I am an advanced mandolin player and my brain thinks naturally in fifths. Now I could easily play all my chord progressions naturally without having to learn new configurations. I intend to try out different gauges of strings in order to fine tune the tonal quality of my ukulele.
Is anyone familiar with the expected longevity of these Aquila 31u strings? Also any other recommended string gauges for 5ths?
(
I have had the Aquila 31U on both tenor ukes and both concert ukes for well over a year, and I flat-pick everything. I also use them on my Duke Banjo-Uke, but with a reentrant C (low C just didn't sound thst well on the BU)

Whenever I want to experiment with strings I go to JustStrings.com since they have the string gauges for many makers and types online. That takes out a lot of guesswork. Usually I'll verify the gauges on the 31U set (lousy memory!), then start comparing who has what. Classical guitar strings offer the length and can take the tension, but often it takes getting a couple sets to kluge what I want. Sometimes it works well and I like the sound. Other times I wonder why I spent all that time and end up back with the 31Us.
 
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Barry,
It would be awesome if you could play us a jazz tune on your LDFM in fifth tuning.
 
I have a concert with the Aquila set and have played it for less than an hour as I didnt find the time to invest learning to play in fifths that hoped to have. Within a year the wound strings discolored pretty badly even without playing. I also had a wound Aquila string on another uke and it unravelled after less than 15 hours of playing time. I much prefer the Aquila red strings as I got years of playing from some of them without change of sound. I encouraged Aquila to provide red strings for all of their sets that have wound strings, as I don't find their life expectancy acceptable.
 
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