Low G Question

Uncle Leroy

Uncle Leroy

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By the end of the week I will have three tenor ukes in the house. A flea a fluke and A kelii. My question is I would like to turn one of them into my low g uke. I am thinking the Flea. What is the diameter of a low g string and would I have to do any work on the nut? I would like to stay away from a wound string. Is this possible? Any comments are appreciated. Thanks very much.:confused:
 
Uncle Leroy said:
By the end of the week I will have three tenor ukes in the house. A flea a fluke and A kelii. My question is I would like to turn one of them into my low g uke. I am thinking the Flea. What is the diameter of a low g string and would I have to do any work on the nut? I would like to stay away from a wound string. Is this possible? Any comments are appreciated. Thanks very much.:confused:
Click to expand...
There are two ways you can go Low G and avoid a wound string:
1. Get a Low-G all nylon set. I have seen them but the low G string is pretty fat.
2. Get a regular high-G nylon set like D'Addario Pro Arte J71 and string them up as follows:
A String (1) as 1st string (A).
High G (4) as 2nd string (E).
E string (2) as 3rd string (C).
C String (3) as 4th string (Low G).

I have heard that Iz used this method. I string my Pono Tenor this way and I did not have to modify the nut at all.
The G and C strings will have lower tension that may take some getting used to, but now that I have done it I love it. At first I noticed that I was pulling A chords out of tune for example because the strings have lower tension and are easier to bend, but it is no longer an issue.
Give it a try!
 
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Uncle Leroy said:
By the end of the week I will have three tenor ukes in the house. A flea a fluke and A kelii. My question is I would like to turn one of them into my low g uke. I am thinking the Flea. What is the diameter of a low g string and would I have to do any work on the nut? I would like to stay away from a wound string. Is this possible? Any comments are appreciated. Thanks very much.:confused:
Click to expand...

Hi Uncle Leroy -

I have the Fremont Blacklines and Orcas on a couple of my ukes and I think those are my favorite non-wound low-G sets (can't really tell the difference between the two actually). I also like the Southcoast Linear non-wound set. Not quite as much as the Fremonts, but the Southcoast strings are pretty darn good and the strings are not as varied in size as in the other sets so the G would probably fit your nut without sanding. This might be a good place for you to start. For the Fremonts I did have to do a teeny bit of sanding in the G-string slot of the nut but it really didn't take much. The Worth Clear Low-g seems thicker than any of these and is not as clear high on the fretboard. - Mary
 
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Aloha Uncle Leroy,
All string manufactures have different guage(thickness) in their strings..there is no standard size...google the manufacture to see if they provide that information...some do..Good Luck and Happy Holidays!MM Stan
otherwise you need to make adjustments to the nut grooves....remember if you file too much they buzz and only recourse is super glue...(not the best)...me I like to find the right guage and not mess with the nut.
 
So far, I haven't changed the nut for low G tuning on any of my ukes. I had my Kanile'a in low G for awhile, and the Worth string was a little high in the slot. But I didn't want to change it permanently, so I just let it ride on top and all was fine. I now have it back in high g tuning. I wouldn't change the nut until I was sure it was going to stay a low g instrument. If the nut is removable, you might want to have a separate one for each tuning.

–Lori
 
I have the Kelii tenor in low G (Aquilas, wound). I really like it in high-G as well, especially when I fingerpick Hawaiian songs. It's got a woody traditional island sound.

But I put the low-g strings on the Kelii because my other 2 ukes don't sound as good in low-G.

You may want to just try low-G on all of them and then decide.
 
annod said:
I have the Kelii tenor in low G (Aquilas, wound). I really like it in high-G as well, especially when I fingerpick Hawaiian songs. It's got a woody traditional island sound.

But I put the low-g strings on the Kelii because my other 2 ukes don't sound as good in low-G.

You may want to just try low-G on all of them and then decide.
Click to expand...

Welcome back annod - haven't seen you in a while:)
 
I converted one of my tenors to low G and then tried the other and as much as I tried to get used to low G, I went back to high G on both.

A classical guitar D string shouold work fine without any mods. I used a D'Addario EJ45 wound string and the diameter is the same as a Aquila high G string. I also tried La Bella Studio D string, from their 413P set, it is expensive but it is flat would and it reduces some of the boom and squeak of a round wound.

I hope this helps!

John
 
70sSanO, good to know about the LaBella Studio D string. That's the same as the 14ST, right? Do you use Aquila for the rest? There is some squeak on the Aquila low-G, even though it is smoother than the Hilo wound.

marymac, I need some divertions from my studies sometimes :)
 
I use Aquilas on the rest. The diameters and tension line up pretty good with the Aquilas, maybe a little more tension on the La Bella. The La Bella string is the 14ST-Studio. It is a very nice string, there is still a little squeak, but not like a round wound.

It sounded nice when I originally instlled it, but I went back and forth with the D'Addario to compare and then tried it on another tenor. Since I have been playing high G, I was looking for a perfect low G sound that would let me forget about high G. After all the gyrations, the string had lost all the boominess as well as most of the tone and it just went thud.

John
 
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