Baritone ukulele with GCEA tuning?
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SweetWaterBlue
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I suppose it depends on what you want to do with it. I converted and old 1/4 scale guitar to a baritone uke, because I wanted something even bassier than my tenor with the low G. I could get even lower with my real guitar, but its harder to play than a baritone. I have the baritone tuned to DGBE (guitar) tuning. Tuning it to GCEA would make it higher in tone and stress the bridge a lot since there would be more tension. I can just play my tenor for that, or my soprano, although I now have low Gs on both of them.
The one disadvantage of not tuning the baritone to GCEA is that you have to use different chord fingerings if you want to play with ukuleles tuned that way. Its not really that hard to just print out different chord charts for it, or make the adjustment in your head, but its a consideration. Of course if you don't need to play with other ukuleles you can just play it as if it were tuned like any uke (for chords anyway).
The one disadvantage of not tuning the baritone to GCEA is that you have to use different chord fingerings if you want to play with ukuleles tuned that way. Its not really that hard to just print out different chord charts for it, or make the adjustment in your head, but its a consideration. Of course if you don't need to play with other ukuleles you can just play it as if it were tuned like any uke (for chords anyway).
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SweetWaterBlue
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To give you some idea of the difference in sound, I uploaded a quick, poorly performed snippet where I start out on the baritone tuned DGBE and then switch the the tenor tuned GCEA (with a low G). I switch to the tenor at about 16 seconds. Presumably a baritone tuned like my tenor would sound very similar to the tenor but louder. Of course with the bigger body my "baritone" is louder, even though it only cost $10 at my local thrift store. I filed the nut to give me equal spacing for 4 strings, and put Aquila baritone strings on it. Being 1/4 scale, its very close to baritone size on the body and the scale length is right on. Hopefully you can still get the idea of the difference in sound though.
http://www.box.net/shared/6390irdb1y
http://www.box.net/shared/6390irdb1y
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kenikas
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I have one of my bari's tuned DGBE, and the other gCEA with a set of Aquila baritone strings made for that tuning. You can get Aquila GCEA string sets from MGM, and he sells a single low g string for it too. I really like the low g tuning on it since I've never really played the DGBE tuning much, and I've got guitars for that 
faithmusic
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I have one of my bari's tuned DGBE, and the other gCEA with a set of Aquila baritone strings made for that tuning. You can get Aquila GCEA string sets from MGM, and he sells a single low g string for it too. I really like the low g tuning on it since I've never really played the DGBE tuning much, and I've got guitars for that
Would you have an audio link of your baritone tuned to GCEA? I have a baritone and thinking of buying a set of Aquila baritone strings.
Thanks.
faithmusic
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Would you have an audio link of your baritone tuned to GCEA? I have a baritone and thinking of buying a set of Aquila baritone strings.
Thanks.
Thanks.
I have a Bruko bari that I got real cheap; it has a few cracks that I repaired. I don't own a tenor and really prefer sopranos and concerts. I put a set of Aquila high g baritone strings on the Bruko and it sounds good - pretty much what SweetWaterBlue said, like a smaller ukulele only louder.
strumsilly
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SOUTHCOAST LINEAR tuned GCEA sound great on my Gibson bari. , it came w/ a wound 4th string and I didn't like how it sounded at all. They have sound samples of all their strings on their site.
Here's a link to the page for baritone sound samples of Southcoast linear strings.
http://www.southcoastukes.com/index_files/bariuke.htm
You'll find links to the sound samples at the bottom of the page. For the sound of C tuning with low G, click on "Baritone Ukulele - Linear C - no wound"
faithmusic
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Thanks for the feedback.
kenikas
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Sorry faithmusic, no audiolink, I don't think you can really tell much from most of them anyway since each uke/string combination sound a bit different and everyones sound preferences are different too. I'd suggest you just get a set and try it, the Aquila set and the low g from MGM are only about $10.
poppy
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Consider the Freemont with low g personally think they have a better sound low g prefer the aquila for high g.
Tomcatkayak
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Go to Glen Rose, http://www.youtube.com/user/glenrosejazz he plays a bari with this tuning.
faithmusic
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Hey, thanks for all your feedback, guys. I do appreciate it very much!!!
ichadwick
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I bought a Beansprout baritone that came GCEA and didn't like it at all. Too shrill, flat sound. The strings were TIGHT. Hard to bend or flex. Found it hard on my fingers. I restrung it high-DGBE and it sounded and felt much better.
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