String tension and uke size

kissing

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I'm having a bit of trouble grasping whether string gauges increase or decrease with the size of a uke.

I tried putting Tenor strings on a Baritone... but the tension was far too great and inappropriate.
But when I put Baritone DGBE strings on Tenor, they were far too loose and impractical.

Today I put Baritone GCEA strings (Aquila) on my Tenor, and they seem to be OK. The tension feels a bit tighter, but not so tight that it's unplayable.

But could I be possibly doing my Tenor damage with these strings? They do feel a bit tighter than what I'm used to (unless the previous strings on my Tenor were simply worn)
 
I know the Worth site actually list their gauges, which is probably going to give a rough idea of what others do.
 
My ukulele says that "high tension" strings violate my warranty. They don't specify what counts as high tension but I believe they are talking about Aquilas.
 
My ukulele says that "high tension" strings violate my warranty. They don't specify what counts as high tension but I believe they are talking about Aquilas.

What ukulele do you own?
 
The Aquila Baritone and Concert are the same guage according to the literature I have. The Tenors are a heavier guage.
I put some concerts on a tenor, they are lighter and not as loud, but seem ok.
 
The Aquila Baritone and Concert are the same guage according to the literature I have. The Tenors are a heavier guage.
I put some concerts on a tenor, they are lighter and not as loud, but seem ok.

Now this confuses me.. Why are the baritone and concert strings the same, when there is a Tenor size in between.
So this means that you can put baritone strings on a concert, and it would be exactly the same thing?

And does putting the baritone GCEA string on a Tenor give it more or less tension that the Tenor GCEA string would have. (aquilas)
I'm so very confused lol.
 
A further confusing thing to me is that strings get thicker the bigger the uke, yet the tuning remains the same. This means that a string tuned to C on a concert is going to have more tension if that same string is tuned to that same pitch on a longer scaled tenor. Now add thickness to a "tenor" string and tune it to the same pitch and the tension is even higher. (Did that make sense?) Theoretically, the strings should get thinner as the length increases if you want to retain the same tension from concert to tenor, but there will be better tone, obviously, the thicker the string. It's always a bit of an adjustment for me if I pick up a tenor that's strung tight, but I do like the sound. I put concert strings on my soprano and tune it up a whole step and the tension pretty much matches my concert.
 
Ah my worries about tension must have been because the strings were new and unstretched.

I played the heck outta my uke today at Melbourne's Uke Festival picnic, and the strings feel more like how I remember them.
 
For the Aquilla strings I buy, Just Strings site lists the size and tension of all the strings in each set they sell. Just click into the set you are interested in and scroll to the bottom of page for that set for a size and tension table. I restrung an 8 string to guitar tuning and used these tables to get as close to original tensions as I could. It turned out OK though the tensions are higher. I may need to install a bridge plate to hold it without warping a little.

http://www.juststrings.com/aqu-abgt.html
 
I think that the general trend is that the thicker the string is, higher tension is required for a given pitch. Physically, the string has to have mass to enable energy at a transferrable and/or audibie level. Sounding boards and acoustic chambers and such are devices to resonate what the strings produce and transfer it to wave energy radiated from the body. Look at a grand piano, the bass strings would have to be halfway to the moon if the guage were narrow. . .

If a bass string were sufficiently long of a wimpy guage you'd have problems yes? . . . just different ones. . .

I know there's math and stuff that describes this kind of thing.
 
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