Baritone Strings, What are you using?

Ukuleleblues

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 28, 2008
Messages
1,867
Reaction score
9
Location
Coastal SC
I want to try something different on my Bari. I am playing Aquilias on the B and E with D'addrio J68s for the wound G and G. I like the Aquilias play-ability except they have a tendency to "squeek". Any recommendations on strings?
 
South Coast

Hello there Partner,

Here's what I'm doing now for what it's worth and this is partly inspired by Glen Rose, of jazz uke fame. I put South Coast GCEA strings on my bari and it's made me really start playing it again. These strings are unwound even on the low strings and they definitely have a nice looseness to them rather than being super taut. Very sweet. Now if you want to stay with the DGBE you'd better look elsewhere.
 
If you don't like how the Aquila baritone strings squeak, do try the D'addario baritone uke strings.
They have a warm and crispy tone that is quite nice. Quite affordable too!
 
Guadalupe Custom strings C tuning one octave below mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
 
spookefoote, you gotta tell me how cuz I called them and they were ignorant of that tuning.
 
My preference in classical guitar strings. Savarez, super high tension, yellow card, 520 J series. DGBE tuning. Extra B string tuned to high D. Available on www.juststrings.com if you are interested. Great clean sound.
 
Last edited:
To me, the Baritone is the most versatile instrument in the Ukulele family. With some of the others, unnatural tunings are the norm. With the Baritone, a whole lot of things sound good.

I'd place the standard linear G (low 4th DGBE) at the bottom of the list. You can get away with it - obviously - but it's an awfully low range of notes for a body that size. To go down even lower, to an octave below C? ahhhhhh - you can get away with just about anything if you really want to.

When you raise the 4th string on the standard linear G back up an octave, you change the tonal value of the tuning by about 1-2 steps. Now you have a high reentrant G - a range that fits a Baritone to a tee. Bill Mc showed one way to do it. With us, you can use a set of our Heavy Gauge Ukulele strings, and do away with the wound 3rd.

You can do a low reentrant D tuning - Cuatro style. This gives the lowest overall range of any set-up that doesn't use wound strings - and most of the old ukulele sheet music was written in that key. (We have a Cuatro set for that).

We've formulated a nice set for linear C tuning - Kimosabe was kind enough to mention it. You don't need wound strings there either, and because of the low 4th, the range of that tuning actually fits a Baritone better than a Tenor, where most people now use it. Cowboy Mike just posted some videos using that tuning:

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/f...10-Two-Videos-from-The-Ukulele-Cowboy-Society...

Finally the Baritone really can sound good with wound strings. What you'll be surprised at, is how much better it will sound if you raise that tuning. A B flat tuning hits another sweet spot. Any of our G650 sets will work for that, but you don't need our strings (even though they're awfully good!). Any normal set of guitar strings will work there (a set with a wound 3rd will be much nicer).

We've got a bunch of tuning samples here:

http://www.southcoastukes.com/index_files/inters.htm
 
Thanks for the info Dirk. I really like wound strings and ordered a couple sets from your website yesterday, but I'm wondering whether you have any sets that might work for the linear GCEA tuning on the octave below standard? My bari is a 20" scale. I play with others so I really don't want to tune to another key. Any string selections I might try? Thanks! - Mary
 
Thanks for the info Dirk. I really like wound strings and ordered a couple sets from your website yesterday, but I'm wondering whether you have any sets that might work for the linear GCEA tuning on the octave below standard? My bari is a 20" scale. I play with others so I really don't want to tune to another key. Any string selections I might try? Thanks! - Mary

Hello Mary - Got your order - will ship it Teusday (and have a Happy 4th!). You "might could" actually use our Bass Guitar strings for that set-up. That gives you an idea how low that tuning really is. The 1st & 2nd strings will be a bit loose, but it could be workable. It's a flat wound set, so it's also "squeak free". It might be fun to play around with, but that's just a lot of string for that little body.

The no wound linear set in C will be a much better option if you want to stay in C tuning. The G650 sets you ordered will be best in B flat. Drop me a line if you want to change anything.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Dirk - I'm going to try a set of the flat wound basses. Put in the order just now.
 
Well I just got this new uke. Its a Goldtone Baritone Banjo and I believe the body size is the same as if it were a soprano or tenor or concert so the tuning may be able to be raised on it.

The strings on it are all nylon and not wound at all. It has re-entrant strings because the 4th is lighter than the third. I tuned it dGBE and it sounds real good like that. I would be curious what else would work well on it. I don't know if I can tighten these strings up to tune it gCEA or if it would cause a problem. Took me a while to figure how to set the bridge. I don't think I can even close the lid on the hardcase without flattening the bridge so I emailed goldtone as their instructions were only for a guitar and this is a banjo. The instructions were for the truss rodd I think. Any help would be appreciated.
 
Well I just got this new uke. Its a Goldtone Baritone Banjo and I believe the body size is the same as if it were a soprano or tenor or concert so the tuning may be able to be raised on it.

The strings on it are all nylon and not wound at all. It has re-entrant strings because the 4th is lighter than the third. I tuned it dGBE and it sounds real good like that. I would be curious what else would work well on it. I don't know if I can tighten these strings up to tune it gCEA or if it would cause a problem. Took me a while to figure how to set the bridge. I don't think I can even close the lid on the hardcase without flattening the bridge so I emailed goldtone as their instructions were only for a guitar and this is a banjo. The instructions were for the truss rodd I think. Any help would be appreciated.

Am not familiar with the Goldtone Baritone, but my old Tenor Banjo is pretty much a Baritone Uke scale. Regular high reentrant C works great on a regular Banjo of that scale. I'm guessing you would get the same results. While that tuning is much too weak for a wood body Baritone, on a drum body, you get a lot more volume & projection.

If you don't want to chance tightening the stock strings (you wouldn't damage the main structure, but might ruin the skin), Aquila makes a high reentrant C set for Baritones.

The only problem I had with them is that they weren't long enough for my Banjo. If yours ties off at a tailpiece, you may have the same problem. In that case, you get the Aquila gauges at the bottom of this page:

http://www.aquilacorde.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=96&Itemid=1656&lang=en

-then go here for longer lengths:

http://www.aquilausa.com/ng_strings.html

(they're having a sale on original nylgut).
 
Top Bottom