wickedwahine11
Well-known member
So since I was playing only my Pineapple Sunday, I started longing for the easier playability of my tenor ukes (not for everyone - just for me, the PS is hard for me to play without a strap and the tenors sit easily on my leg). For a lark, I put a low g Fremont Flourocarbon Blackline on my Kamaka. I came close to pulling the trigger on a low g strung KoAloha tenor last week, but finances dictate I make do with the ukes I have for right now, so I thought I would go low on the Kamaka.
I previously had a low g on my Kanile'a (Worth CT low g since I hate wound strings) and found the g string overwhelming and boomy, to the point where it was a major distraction. My fault for making an assumption that the Kamaka would react the same way to low g tuning.
Turns out, it didn't at all. The Kamaka is far more balanced (or who knows, maybe it is the Fremont strings). No one string seems to overpower the others, and it has a beautiful tone. Just to get used to it, I'm playing only it for now. I do find that I miss the sweet high bright tone of the re-entrant PS on occasion, but the more mellow, deeper tone works great on some songs.
Both my spouse and my Mom (the only two people I subject to my playing) have weighed in on liking the low g better than the high g...now my only issue is which will be my traveling uke. I'm leaning Kamaka right now. The low g is more versatile (although I still think the high g sounds better on those old songs like "Five Foot Two") and the Kamaka -- although nice -- is more replaceable than the PS.
Hmph! I never would have thought that I would like the low g. All this time it sat on my unplayed Kanile'a and I thought I didn't like it. Turns out I just didn't like it with those strings on that uke. On the Kamaka with the low g Fremont Blacklines, it sounds great.
I previously had a low g on my Kanile'a (Worth CT low g since I hate wound strings) and found the g string overwhelming and boomy, to the point where it was a major distraction. My fault for making an assumption that the Kamaka would react the same way to low g tuning.
Turns out, it didn't at all. The Kamaka is far more balanced (or who knows, maybe it is the Fremont strings). No one string seems to overpower the others, and it has a beautiful tone. Just to get used to it, I'm playing only it for now. I do find that I miss the sweet high bright tone of the re-entrant PS on occasion, but the more mellow, deeper tone works great on some songs.
Both my spouse and my Mom (the only two people I subject to my playing) have weighed in on liking the low g better than the high g...now my only issue is which will be my traveling uke. I'm leaning Kamaka right now. The low g is more versatile (although I still think the high g sounds better on those old songs like "Five Foot Two") and the Kamaka -- although nice -- is more replaceable than the PS.
Hmph! I never would have thought that I would like the low g. All this time it sat on my unplayed Kanile'a and I thought I didn't like it. Turns out I just didn't like it with those strings on that uke. On the Kamaka with the low g Fremont Blacklines, it sounds great.